Digest of stories from The Luton News: Thursday, April 19th, 1917.

The remarkable injustice of the Food Controller's order on bakers was the chief point in a case at the Luton Borough Court yesterday, when Arthur G. Dumpleton, of 59 Wellington Street, was summoned for having exposed bread for sale which had not been made at least 12 hours. He was further summoned for exposing bread for sale which was not of 1lb or an even number of lbs in weight. He pleaded guilty.

Town Clerk Mr William Smith, prosecuting, said the case was the first of its kind in Luton brought under the Government Food Controller's Order. Food inspector Mr Slough went to the shop at 6.15 in the evening and asked Mrs Dumpleton to weigh several loaves. Some were correct, but several brown loaves were each three ounces short.

Defendant expressed sorrow and denied any intention of breaking the law. In regard to the weight, he was short of labour and employed two boys to scale the bread, making a little over-allowance He then spoke of the impossibility of making a loaf to come out at the even weight.

Mayor Alderman John Staddon, presiding, said it was an idiotic order, and Clerk Mr William Austin observed that it was a physical impossibility to obey the order.

The Town Clerk agreed that some orders seemed to be made without reflection. How could a baker say that a loaf would come out at a certain weight, and how could he say what the weight might be in 12 hours time? If the order had allowed "make-weight" it would have been intelligible. Such orders ought to be devised with more ingenuity because they placed burdens on men which they ought not to bear, but he had to prosecute on the order as he found it.

Defendant was fined 10s on the first summons, and the costs in the second, which was dismissed. In regard to the question raised about weight, the matter would be brought before the Watch Committee as to the instructions to be given to the inspector in future.

• News had come to hand this morning of the death in action of Pte George Soffe, the third employee from the Luton News office to make the great sacrifice. He was the son of Mr and Mrs Soffe, of Park Road West, Luton, and was engaged in the composing room when he joined the Colours if n March 1916. He was shot by a sniper in the great advance on the 11th inst.

• Mrs Andrews, of 15 Adelaide Street, Luton, received the following telegram concerning her husband Arthur on Saturday: "Regret to inform you that Second Lieut Andrews, Highland Light Infantry, was admitted to Red Cross Hospital, Letonguet, April 10th with gunshot wounds both legs. Severe. Further report will be sent when received. Regret permission to visit cannot be granted - Secretary, War Office." Second Lieut Andrews twice won the Distinguished Conduct Medal in the earlier stages of the war.

• First Air-Mechanic W. H. Lee, son-in-law of Mr Charles Robinson, Biscot Road, was home on leave this week. A scoutmaster of the 1st Luton Troop of Boy Scouts, he attended the swearing-in of boy scouts ceremony in the Scout Room, Stuart Street, on Monday evening. Mr Robinson is District Commissioner for Boy Scouts Air-Mechanic Lee is at the Engine Repair Park at Farnborough.

• On Saturday evening all the wounded soldiers and their nurses from the Wardown Hospital were entertained by the employees of the Davis Gas Stove Co Ltd. There being a balance in hand after an entertainment in December, it was decided to provide a further entertainment. The soldiers and nurses, including the Sister, were met at the gates of Wardown Park by the committee responsible for the administration of the fund, and were conveyed for tea to the Dujon Restaurant, George Street, by special tramcar. The party later proceeded to the Palace Theatre to witness an evening performance.

• Another war-widow is Mrs Smart, of 46 St Saviours Crescent, who has received official notification of the death of her husband, Cpl Sydney Smart. At the Salvation Army Barracks, Manchester Street, an impressive memorial service was held on Sunday evening for the late Cpl Smart, who died in hospital from wounds on April 6th.

• Second Lieut Young, son of the late Mr Archibald Young, of the Stock Exchange, and Mrs Young, of 'Wood Hill,' Downs Road, Luton, has been wounded in the thigh in action on April 11th. He entered the Luton branch of the Capital and Counties Bank before joining the Public Schools Battalion (Middlesex Regiment) in September 1914. He has been through the Somme and Arras campaigns.

• Sad indeed is the lot of Mrs Miriam Miller, a widow residing at 17 Oxford Road, whose only son, Pte Frank Miller, of the Beds Regiment, has been killed in action on March 15th. An officer wrote that he was killed as his battalion was about to attack in the neighbourhood of Achiet, and he had been buried half way between Miraumont and Achiet-le-Grand.

• Mrs Burgess, of 353 Hitchin Road, Luton, has received news that her son, Pte Arthur Burgess, of the Beds Regiment, was wounded at Arras on Easter Monday. A letter from his Chaplain stated that he has received wounds in the back and arms, and a slight one in the head. Pte Burgess, aged 21, who before the war worked for Messrs E. W. Hart, dyers, Windmill Road, Luton, went out to Gallipoli with the 5th Bedfords and there received a slight wound. He was afterwards invalided home with dysentery.

• Another Lutonian admitted into hospital suffering from wounds sustained in the recent advance on the Western Front is Pte Joseph Roberts, of the Beds Regiment, whose wife lives at 53 Buxton Road. He is aged 40 and before the war worked for Messrs Bird and Hudson, plait merchants, of Wellington Street, Luton. On Monday he was admitted into the Northamptonshire War Hospital.

• The request that the Stars and Stripes shall be hoisted with the Union Jack in recognition of America's entry into the war is somewhat belated. Luton is not usually backward in these things, and within a few hours of America's decision the star-spangled banner had already flown in company with the Union Jack from the Town Hall.