Alcohol sales hours to be restricted

 

Digest of stories from The Luton News: Thursday, March 1st, 1917.

George Hotel 1908

  • George Hotel, Luton, in 1908.

Following a good deal of speculation in Luton and district, all doubts have been set at rest by the publication in The London Gazette of the Order in Council scheduling the area as one to which the Defence of the Realm (Liquor Control Regulations) shall be applied.

The new Order brings into line Luton and district with the neighbouring counties. But it will not hit the Trade as hard as it otherwise might have done because of the Government's declaration that brewing will be restricted to 10 million barrels per annum, as against the former total of 26 million barrels.

The regulations issued by the Central Board have not yet been received in Luton, but they include the hours of sale - 12 noon to 2.30 pm and 6 pm to 9 pm. It will be noticed that Dunstable is included in the schedule, and thereby comes to an end the anomaly of a town in which the hours of sale are longer than those of the district around.

It is a tribute to the general character of Luton that employers have not felt it necessary to take a step of this character previously. There has unquestionably been a serious waste of money and time, apart from the question of physical deterioration, and in certain quarters there has been excessive drinking among women and the consequent neglect of home and children. The new Order will undoubtedly tend to ameliorate these evils and, judging by the results in other towns, can only have an efficacious effect upon the community at large.

  • The members of the Luton Borough Tribunal met in camera last night at the Town Hall to further consider the impasse brought about last week by the expressed intention of the Military Representative (Lieut H. Gardner) to appeal against all conditional exemptions granted to men under 31 in the first two categories of military service - general service and garrison service abroad. The Tribunal sat for nearly two hours, and we understand the situation was very fully considered, correspondence which has taken place being laid before the members and replies to same outlined.

  • Owing to urgent necessity the Beech Hill Y.M.C.A. hut was re-opened on Tuesday under the supervision of Mr H. D. Bulford, leader of the Princess Victoria Y.M.C.A. at Biscot. It is very important to keep soldiers physically fit and adequately occupied in their leisure hours, and the wholesome recreation provided by the Y.M.C.A. is a necessary adjunct to military training.

  • Mr Benjamin John Harfield Forder, of Whatcomb, Blandford, Dorset, who died on October 2nd, aged 67, left estate valued at £170,423 gross, with net personalty £154,427. Mr Forder, it will be remembered, resided for some time at Luton at Bramingham Shott, now known as Wardown, and was succeeded by Mr Halley Stewart when the latter acquired a controlling interest in the firm of Messrs B. J. Forder & Co, of the lime and cement works.

  • At 5.45 on Monday afternoon the Fire Brigade were summoned to a fire at the Panama Hotel, Waller Street, where the window curtains of a front room on the second floor were alight. Mr M. Scott, the landlord, had pulled down the curtains and thrown water over them, so that on arrival the Brigade found a few rags smouldering. The fire was probably caused through the fusing of an electric wire near the curtains.

  • On Friday afternoon, Harold Woodhouse, of 3 Park Way, employed at the Midland Railway Hotel, was pushing a truck up Dunstable Road when a horse attached to a plait float, belonging to Mr Hart, of Windmill Road, ran away. A collision with the truck was the result, the same being considerably smashed. Mr Woodhouse, who received a slight concussion, was taken home in a cab.

  • Mrs Holliman, of 82 Princess Street, has received official intimation that he son, Pte Harry Holliman, Q.U.R. of the London Regiment, lies dangerously ill in hospital in France. He is 25 years of age, single and her only living son - Pte Thomas James Holliman, of the Beds Regiment, was killed at Hill 60 in May 1915. Harry Holliman was educated at Chapel Street and Waller Street schools and had been employed at the Co-operative Society branch in Naseby Road.

  • Mr and Mrs James Wilson, of 67 Frederic Street, have had the sad news that their son Pte Frank Wilson, of the Border Regiment, has died of wounds in France, where he had been for only three weeks. He was 19 years of age and had been taken dangerously wounded to the 2/2nd London Casualty Clearing Station, and died from the gunshot wounds three days later, on January 31st.

  • Mrs Lawrence, of 59 Ashton Road, Luton, has received the sad tidings of the death in France of the youngest of her five soldier sons, L-Cpl Charles Lawrence, of the Beds Regiment. He was 20 years of age and was wounded by shrapnel on February 13th, and died three days later.

  • Yesterday morning a youth named Walter Edward White, 17, of 22 Rothesay Road, whilst employed at Mr Scales', straw hat manufacturer, 60 Old Bedford Road, overbalanced and fell 20 ft down a hoist, landing on a brick flooring. He was removed to the Bute Hospital, where he was found to have escaped a broken limb or any serious injury.

  • There was another failure in the electricity supply on Tuesday night, more comprehensive than has been the case for a considerable time as the whole of the Electricity Station was shut down, with the exception of the separate plant for the tramway system. Several large firms closed down and sent the employees home, while shops and houses had to revert to the naked gas jet or the rushlight. It required 90 minutes hard work before the machinery was going again - transformers and an alternator had broken down at the same time.

  • We regret to record the death of Mr Herbert Cowley, of 'Tralee,' Cromwell Road, which took place on Thursday morning. He was born near Manchester in 1860 and had lived in Luton for 24 years, becoming cashier and then secretary of hat manufacturers Messrs Carruthers Bros, King Stree and George Street West. He represented the firm at Luton Chamber of Commerce.

  • Mr Walter Smith, of 348 Hitchin Road, and formerly a private in the Beds Regiment, died on Wednesday of last week [February 21st]. He joined up on December 18th, 1914, and was discharged as medically unfit on September 20th, 1916. During his period of service he was stationed at Newmarket and Lowestoft with the Anti-Aircraft Section of the Royal Defence Corps. He was buried with military honours at the General Cemetery, Rothesay Road. He leaves a widow (Nellie), two sons and a daughter, and is included on the Luton Roll of Honour.

  • The weight of sorrow in the Wernher family has this week been increased by the death on Saturday of Lady Wernher's brother, Mr F. J. Mankiewicz, of 2 Whitehill Court, London, S.W., and a frequent visitor to Luton Hoo. Lady Wernher attended the quiet funeral at Golders Green Cemetery on Monday afternoon.