NOTES FROM LONDON.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 144783, 13 September 1915, Page 3

NOTES FROM LONDON.

WAITING FOE CABINET VERDICT ON NATIONAL SERVICE QUESTION. BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH. COPYRIGHT. (Received Sept. 13, 8.10 a.m.) LONDON, Sept. 12. The Sunday Times says; “W© await the report of the Cabinet committee which is now considering the facte re- - lating to the all-important question of . national service. The country will not quarrel with their decision when accompanied, as presumably it will be, by the information to which we are entitled. The country has refused to prejudge the question at the bidding of newspapers anxious to seize the reins of government, but ijas implicit > confidence in the calm and reasoned judgment of men to whom their destinies have been entrusted. LONDON, Sept. 12. The Observer, remarking that a majority of the Cabinet committee inquiry has reported in favour of national service, suggests that if the Government as a whole does not support that view as a rule, the collective responsibility should be relaxed and every member will then boar his own moral responsibility for expressing his personal conviction. The Observer also says that a great citizen army is in the field. However varied their past political ' opinions, members are becoming almost unanimously in favour of national sef-vice. This is required far less for its immediate military advantage than the effect upon the whole industrial organisation for war. Mr. Lloyd George’s personal convictions, since his experiences and inquiries in France, are decisively on the side of national service. It is understood that twenty Unionist and twenty Liberal members of the Huoso of Commons have memorialised Mr. Asquith in favour of national service. FINANCE AND THE WAR. LONDON, Sept. 11, The committee of the British Association, reporting on the financial effects of, the war, state that Germany’s prewar debt was one thousand millions, and there is likely to be an additional fifteen hundred millions.. Britain would emerge in a better position than the other belligerents, but at a disadvantage compared with the .United States. The latter would have the cream, Britain would have the milk, and the other belligerents would have the skimmed milk. .

■ A Customs order has been issued directing that tea, wine and spirit merchants will not be allowed to clear from bond more than the daily average requirements for the last three months. -The clearance of tea and tobacco recently has been abnormal, in anticipation of further taxation, THE EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN, LONDON, Sept. 11. The Trade Union Congress urged that women who are displaced after the war be guaranteed employment. It was decided immediately to investigate Mr. Lloyd George’s charges of slackness. The Bishop of Birmingham presided at a women's meeting at the Surrey Theatre. It was resolved that the time had arrived when every fit man should bo made available for home service or the firing line; also that women’s services should be fully utilised.

SOLDIERS’ PENSIONS. LONDON, Sept. 11. The Naval and Military Pensions Committee recommends considerable advances in pensions to disabled officers and officers’ widows, orphans and dependents. The new seal© applies to the present war only. The rates for widows of naval lieutenants and sub-lieuten-ants, and army lieutenants and second lieutenants, has been raised. to the existing rates for army captains, and the pensions for disabled junior officers in both services has been increased according to the degree of disability. RESTRICTIONS ON COTTON. LONDON, Sept. 11. The Government is issuing an order that every yard of cotton cloth exported from Britain to a destination other than the Dominions must be guaranteed, not .to reach the^eosms,

LOYAL SOCIALISTS. LONDON, Sept. 11. Mr. Hodge, presiding at a meeting of the Socialist National Defence Coin nil Itee, at Bristol, referred to the intrigues of pacificists, and said he regretted the action of Mr. Ramsay Macdonald and others. If these people continued as they had been doing, trade unionists must clear them out from the Labour Party. A resolution was passed repudiating these intrigues as disloyal alike to the workers and to the nation. WOUNDED BRITISH CONSUL. PETROGRAD, Sept. 10. Mr. Grahame, the British ConsulGeneral, who was wounded in a skirmish in the suburbs of Ispahan, on September 6, is dead. The Allies’ subjects are quitting Ispahan.. LONDON, Sept. 11. Mr. Grahame is alive, and is progressing favourably. It was the viceconsul at Shirez who died after being shot. AN OFFER FROM JAPAN. ROME, Sent. 12. Signor. Biano, the Italian deputy, states that Baron Hayashi, the Japanese Ambassador, has informed him that if the Enteut request Japan to send a large army to Europe she will accept the invitation with ardour and alacrity. DISTINGUISHED SERVICE. LONDON. Sent. 12. Distinguished Service Orders have been conferred as follows : On the aviator Bigworth, who destroyed a submarine single-handed, manoeuvring for position under heavy fire from the shore batteries and from the submarine. He displayed great coolness and descended to 500 ft. and secured a good line for dropping bombs with full effect. Surgeon Basil Playne, 'for conspicuous bravery. He was several timse mentioned for gallant deeds under heavy fire near Gaba Tape. Commander Cecil P. Talbot, for sub-, marining a destroyer on the German coast on July 26. . Commander John D. Waterlpw, for mine-sweeping in the Dardanelles on March 13 and 14 through a powerfully illuminated area, under fire of four forts and numerous light guns. Lieutenant-Commander Edgar Cookson, who was severely wounded while reconnoitring a creek on the Euphrates on May 9. His wound was temporarily dressed, and he resumed command and extricated his launch from a perilous position, under heavy rifle fire. Lieutenant-Commanders G. Herbert, C. C. Dodson, and Archibald Cochrane, for submarining shipping in the Sea of Marmara, blocking the railway Hne to Kaval Bumu, shelling a troop train and blowing up three ammunition car?. ■ Captain Ernest Sketchley, who with Lance-Corporal J. Hay snowed great courage and by powers of personal leadership rallied his men southward of Achi Baba on July 13 and retook the trenches. Lieutenant Mark Singleton, commander of a launch, for intercepting and securing the surrender, early in June, of 250 Turkish troops, thus largely contributing to the capture of Amara. Eighteen ' Distinguished Service Crosses have been awarded including one to Naval Reserve Frederick Barslow, for service on the steamer Anglo-Qiliiorninn. The vessel was subjected to heavy gunfire, and he steered the ship throughout the action and maintained his post after his father, the captain, had been killed by a shell, until a patrol boat arrived and drove off the submarine.

Chief Engineer James Crawford, of the Anglo-Californian, who was largely instrumental in the vessel’s escape by maintaining the maximum of speed, despite a shortage of firemen. Acting-Lieutenant Alan Alcock, who, with Lieutenant Empson and a platoon of sixty men, defended an isolated trench at Gaba Tepe against overwhelming odds for four nights and three days. Empson, who was killed, was awarded the medal for conspicuous gallantry. GERMAN STORIES IN CHINA. PEKING, Sept. 11. The Germans are disseminating extraordinary stories with a view to turning the Chinese against the' Allies.