Stories from the Beds & Herts Saturday Telegraph: April 8th, 1916.

The Vauxhall Motors works in Kimpton Road as extended by 1919.

Vauxhall Motors' turnover in 1915 amounts to £411,584, as compared with £260,670 for 1914 and, in order to cope with the important orders on hand and the increasing demands on production, it has been found necessary to make large extensions to the works.

With that object in view the necessary steps are being taken to obtain the consent of the Treasury to the issue of a further 100,000 Ordinary shares.

The company's report for 1915 shows, after charging all expenses of administration and allowances for income tax, depreciation etc, a profit of £50,263 which, with £5,765 brought forward, makes £56,028. The profit in the previous year was £21,950.

• About 500 invitations have been sent out for the opening by Princess Victoria on Monday afternoon of the splendid YMCA hut provided at the Artillery School at Biscot Camp through the generosity of Mr and Mrs Stewart Hubbard. We understand Her Highness will travel by the 12.15 train from St Pancras and will be met at Luton by Lady Wernher, but whom she will be entertained to lunch at Luton Hoo. The Princess and Lady Wernher will motor from Luton Hoo to the hut via Park Street, George Street, New Bedford Road and Lansdowne Road and arrive in time for the opening to take place at 2.45. The Princess will later be entertained at the Town Hall by the Mayor before returning to London on the 5.30 train.

• A prisoner who thought someone was having a bit of fun with him because he was deformed was fined 40 shillings, or 21 days in default, when charged at Luton Borough Court today with failing to answer a notice to present himself for military service on April 3rd. Frank Skuse, a dyer and cleaner lodging in Bute Street, was told that it was possible that had he been sent for medical examination when called he would have been free. He was handed over for military escort.

• A young Luton dyer who had had his exemption certificate withdrawn following an appeal by the Military Representative, failed to be allowed to have the case reopened when he appeared before the County Appeals Tribunal, sitting for the third time at Luton Town Hall on Thursday. He was the son of the partner in the dyeing business whose loss would be said to mean that "certain ladies would go without certain hats of certain colours". An older employee who had taught him his trade was no longer physically capable of carrying on the work.

• A Luton conscientious objector who had said he would not kill even a rat or mouse that got into his bedroom and did not like the company of soldiers satisfied the Tribunal that he had obtained farm employment, after his case had been adjourned. He was given conditional exemption while he continued to be so employed.

• At the Luton Borough Tribunal on Wednesday, a hairdresser and tobacconist objected to having to close his business down while a German in the same trade was allowed to remain open. He submitted that if he went to war he would be absolutely ruined. He was given conditional exemption on domestic grounds.

• Many married men appeared to be unable to remember their date of marriage. In one case at the Luton Borough Tribunal, the Clerk said: "Surely you know when you got married! It is the one event of your life, surely."

• During the Wednesday hearing, one appellant made the statement that he had discovered certain secret processes in the preparation of varnishes which were being used in Government work. Members of the Tribunal and the Military Representative suggested he should have his secrets over to his partner and that it would be unpatriotic to refuse the Government these secrets. The Telegraph observed: "What an extraordinary idea! If the Government can pay huge prices to inventors for machines of destruction why should the inventor of a chemical process be expected to part with it for nothing?"

• On Wednesday evening a concert was given in the lecture hall of the Park Street Baptist Church, the programme being provided and rendered entirely by soldiers of the 2/4th Leicester Regiment. There was a large audience, and the several numbers were enthusiastically received.

• Mr Harry Vardon, six times open champion, went round the Luton Hoo golf course (bogey 72) in 71 on Saturday morning. His opponent in this friendly game was Mr Arthur Brown, and officers at the Luton Hoo Convalescent Hospital were interested spectators. In the afternoon, the two golfers took a round on the South Beds course.

• Last night a tramcar ran into the rear of one of the Davis Gas Stove Company's motor lorries which was stationary in Dunstable Road. The back of the lorry was considerably damaged.

• Pointless statistic from the Telegraph. If a man shaves for 40 years and takes a quarter of an hour over each operation, at the end of the period he will have wasted 152 days.

• Luton Town's run of largely disappointing results in the London Combination continued at New Cross today with a 3-0 defeat to Millwall. The result left the Blues at the bottom of the table, a point behind Queen's Park Rangers who had a game in hand.