GENERAL ITEMS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16546, 20 November 1915, Page 7

GENERAL ITEMS

BRITISH MINISTERS RETURN. LONDON, November 19. (Received 1 Nov. 20, at 0.15 a.m.) The members of the British War Committee have returned from Paris. MAJOR CHURCHILL. JOINS HIS REGIMENT. , LONDON, November 18. Major Winston Churchill has left London to join the Oxfordshire Hussars in France, DOCK LABOURERS AND LIQUOR DEPUTATION OF PROTEST. CANTEENS TO BE ESTABLISHED. (Times and Sydney Sun Services.) LONDON, November 18. The London dockers went in a deputation to the Central Board and expressed their resentment of the liquor restrictions. They declared that stimulants were essential. Mr Ben Tillett added on their behalf that Parliament's temperance record would not compare with that of the dockers. The Chairman of the Central Board promised the establishment of the canteens considered to be essential. Mr P. Snowden, M.P. (Labour), speaking at Sheffield, said that the prohibition of treating in London had reduced the hotels' takings by between 15 and 25 per cent., while convictions for drunkenness had declined. BRITISH FINANCE BILL. INCOME TAXAMENDMENTS. LONDON, November 18. The Chancellor of the Exchequer's (Mr M'Kenna) new clause to the Finance Bill was carried. Mr M'Kenna agreed to exempt all soldiers and sailors whose incomes do not exceed £300 a year from the increased income tax. NATURALISED PRIVY COUNCILLORS. LONDON, November 18. Judgment was reserved in the Speyer and Cassel case. [The case is one in •which Sir Edgajr Sperey, P.C., and (Sir Ernest Cassell, P.C., both naturalised Germans, have had their right to remain in the Privy Council challenged.] COMBATING ENEMY TRADE. ACTION IN AUSTRALIA. MELBOURNE, November 19. The commonwealth Prime Minister (Mr W. M. Hughes) has announced the suspension of all enemy trade marks. An organisation of women has been formed to combat German trade after the war. ALIENS IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA. DEFRANCHISING PROPOSAL. ADELAIDE, November 19. In the Legislative Assembly a Bill has been introduced withdrawing the franchise from all naturalised enemy aliens during the war and for five years after the war. COPPER FAMINE IN GERMANY. WESTPHALIAN FARMERS DISCON . TENTED. (Times and Sydney Sun Services.) LONDON, November 18. (Received Nov. 19, at 5.35 p.m.) The German press states that the copper famine is acute. The Bremen Cathedral roofs have been dismantled, and the churches compelled to hand over the metals. The farmers in Westphalia have discontinued butter-making, complaining of the maximum prices fixed by the Government. LOSS OF THE ANGLIA. A SURVIVOR'S NARRATIVE. HEROIC RESCUES. LONDON, November 18. (Received Nov. 19, at 5.25 p.m.) Signaller Hunter, who had been in the trenches for 11 months and was invalided (sick), and board the Anglia at Boulogne on Wednesday morning, gives the following account of the sinking of the ship: "I was on the convalescents' deck, taking tea and sandwiches, when suddenly I heard the sound of the ship's plate breaking up. A loud boring and whirring was followed by the dull noise of an explosion. I and five comrades tried to get a lifeboat off the davits, but the ship heeled while we were loosening a rope. My foot was jammed between the boat and the deck and I lay hanging over the side of the ship, head downwards, until the Anglia, making a big list, released my crushed foot. I regained the deck. The Anglia was now nose down, and the waves were breaking over the bridge. A number of us gave our lifebelts to the badly wounded, and told them to jump into the sea. Many hesitated, as the sea was very choppy. (Received Nov. 19, at 7.20 p.m.) "MeanwTiile the collier Lusitania was approaching, but she hit a mine when 300 yards off. The destroyers coming out from Dover got alongside the Anglia, which was settling fast. I saw steam issuing from the deck in great clouds and expected she would make her last plunge every moment, so I jumped. I had no" lifebelt, and had never been able to swim a yard in my life, but I knew I had to go for it this time. I had seen fellows swimming in the baths at Hampstead, and just did like that. I got hold of a log of wood to which three were clinging. A few minutes later we passed a man with a badly fractured arm, a chum, and I got hold of him and paddled alongside the log again. The water was terribly cold, and he begged us to let him go, but we managed to get his right leg over the log and fouT of us got our knees underneath him. "We must have been in the water 35 minutes. Time after time men came alongside, hung on for a few minutes, and then disappeared. It was simply awful to see their faces as they went under. Eventually a destroyer lowered a boat and picked us up. Perhaps the most terrible sight was when a destroyer was coming slowly alongside the Anglia. The warship's men shouted to our fellows, ' Jump.' Lots of them jumped, but two missed the deck of the destroyer, fell between the vessels, got flattened out and sank." THE HOUSE OF LORDS. AN UNSATISFIED PEER. LONDON, November 18. • (Received Nov. 19, at 8.35 p.m.) ' Lord Ribblesdale, in the House of Lords, asked a series of questions regarding recruiting, the main ones being: JVYhat number of single men the Government con- ! sidered it necessary to get, and what shortage would mean the introduction of conscription. Lord Lansdowne said it was absurd to imagine that tho success or failure of : Lord Derby's scheme would be determined ' by the attitude of a few unmarried men. He was not prepared to say how many single men were necessary, or what short-

age would justify compulsion. It was not easy to decide what were essential for the civil service. Country tribunals were' formed all over the country to decide these questions. As soon as the time allowed had expired, Lord Derby would report to the Government, which would then decide whether the experiment was a success or a failure.