Abergavenny Chronicle

II. CONTACT PATROLS. I [BY RECORDS.] I Well, I must say I do admire those scout3 that fly 20,000 feet above the earth." Ah! Give me the contact aeroplane. They don't do so much manoeuvring—but they come down here to help us." Thus did Tom, the infantryman, express himself to his chum, as they stood in a front-line trench, watching a fight between twenty or thirty scouts three miles above. But," persisted his chum, if our scouts were not up there clearing the sky cf Hun machines, the contact planes would act be able to do their work." But may be it's the contact men who blow their horns to let us know they are I watching and waiting to help us. It is they who tell our gunners exactly where to drop their shells, so that they shall fall upon the Boches when they are holding us up or preparing to attack us. And then you know what happened at Bullc- court." No, I wasn't with you then." We were lying in shell-holes between two thick rows of barbed wire, just in front of the enemy's trench, held up by a devilish nest of machine-guns. We ut.ed up all our bombs and ammunition in trying to knock them out, but we couldn't manage it. So we dodged back behind a ■friendly tank, and joined other troops in a cunk road about- two hundred vards to the roar. The Boche enfiladed us, a: d made three or four attempts to bomb us out, but wo held the road. About seven in the evening a contact plane few over us. It was so low that we saw the observer wave :i3 hand. The enemy anti-aircraft and machine-guns fired madly at the machine. It dived, turned, climbed, and ucw round in large circles, but always returned to us. The mere sight of the machine was as good as a tot of rum on a cold morning. c Suddenly it flew back over our battalion headquarters, and dropped a message bag. We saw it distinctly. Within a couple of rniuutss our artillery put down a fine barrage on another road three hundred yards beyond us. We wondered if the Boche were going to attack lE, so we re- mained keenly alert. But nothing hap- pened. After dark we were relieved, and then we learnt exactly what had taken T'laoe. The Boche had massed nearly a T housand men in their sunken road mean- ing to attack -us before we could be relieved or reinforced that evening. But they reckoned without that contact machine. Thev were spotted. The bar- rage scattered them, and the attack failed to develop. So probably but for that con- tact machine I should not have been talk- ing to you now."

BY THE WAY. Random Jottings about Men and Things. Customers Not Easily Suited. There is sore trouble in Vienna among the men of fashion. They resent being charged ESO for a suit. One of the leading tailors of that city, however, has written to the l'ress to asK how can the price be less when a yard of material costs £ 20, and goes on to prophesy that "an elegant suit will soon cost 3,000 crowns—which means E125 m Engiisn money. British buyers of clothes, please take note. I The Colour Question. The gloom of the Picture Palace—the appropriate ahmo- sphere for s-eeing pictures-- is produced by ruby lights. I I I The Coal Controller wishes these ruby iignts abolished and small candle-power white lights substituted. If this were done in each Picture Palace in the country, an enormous saving of electricity would be effected. White lights have been successfully tried it has been found that they do not interfere with the comfort of the people or the appearance of the pictures. No Poker. It is announced that one of our big railway companies has abolished the poker in each of ? I -1 the waiting-room fireplaces. The joke about this announcement is that most wait- in g-room fireplaces in England for years past seem to have been destitute of pokers, pro- bably because it was thought that they might be stolen. Still, it is satisfactory to know that many people are convinced that pokers waste coal, and that this winter they ought to be put awav, out of the reach of any of those thoughtless individuals who would make a continuous use of them. The man who has to poke the fire with his walking-stick will not overdo it. A New Blue Stamp. The new blue sixpenny War Savings Stamp is arousing I ? IVI-Lat is it for I curiosity. What is it -for? It is for the benefit of those who desire to back up the men at the iront by War Savings but who are not members of Associations. Some people prefer to act on their own," and we believe that a goodly number of workers are taking advantage of the scheme. Of course, the idea is to save for a rainy day, but one man said to a friend, I've bought half-a-dozen for my stamp col- lection, they will be valuable some time. Nearly all post offices and many shopkeepers sell these stamps. Thirty-one of them stuck on a War Savings card entitle the holder to a full 15s. 6d. War Savings certificate. Dim Those Lights! In various parts there is an unnecessary use of gas and electric light in certain houses, shops, hotels and restaurants. To burn one single light that can be done without is an offence under the Fuel and Lighting Order. Some shops, for example, light up their premises extravagantly as a method of advertising their importance. There are three good reasons why this waste should stop. Firstly, because it is illegal; this is a warning. Secondly, because it steals the coal which is wanted for building shins to bring over American soldiers and food; hi" is a. patriotic and common-sense hint. Thirdly, it means less warmth for our n-iel in the trenches at Christmas this is an appeal to the best feelings of all honest citizens. V. Wood for Fuel. Local Fuel and Lighting Committees are to be allowed to fix the maximum price for iuel wood. No one will be entitled to buy more than two tons of fuel wood in the year without a permit from the Local Fuel Overseer. It is not proposed to interfere with the gleaning of tim ber for fuel wood by cottagers and villagers with the con- sent of the landlord. Nor is it intended to prevent workmen in sawmills receiving fuel wood in accordance with past custom or under any wages agreement. Nor is it intended to prevent the owner of fuel wood from making reasonable use of it for his own purposes. Nor is it intended to stop the sale of fuel wood up to two tons locally in country villages where the actual cutting of timber is proceed- ing. Except in these special cases it is in- tended to bring under control the whole of the fuel wood available for consumption daring the coming winter. It is hoped that timber will be available in all except the lane industrial centres at a maximum de- livered price of about 40s. a ton. The price will be less nearer the points where fuel wood is produced. Where to Cet Most Wood. Fuel wood will be available in the greatest quantities in the Southern Counties of Eng- land. such as Oxfordshire, Hamnshire. Somerset, Hert- fordsh ire, Bedfordshire, Surrey and Sussex. In Scotland there will be large supplies in the fir wood districts, notably around Perthshire. The idea is that the fuel wood shall be con- sumed as near the point of production as pos- sible. to save transport. For instance, Somer- set" won clkwill not be brought to London hut will -o to Exeter. 8.:c., Devonshire wood will o tn Plvmonth. Hampshire wood to Southamp- ton and Portsmouth, and so on.

OUR DUTY. I I have appealed to my fellow- workers of Great Britain to do their job here. They have done wonderfully, J but this is a time that tries men's 50US. The men at the front are wiilirg to make the supreme sacrifice, and it is our bounden duty to them to make the greatest physical sacrifice possible that this war shall not -be lost or endangered. This is th; time for service, for grit to do and to dare." MR. SAMUEL GOMPERS, President, American Federation of Labour.

{ MERVILLE BRIDGE. I [British Official* When the British found themselves back In Merville, they had the task of dealing with a blown up railway bridge.

THE WOMAN'S PART. I I The Store Rooms. I [Bx MAEGABET OsBOExr..] I Store-rooms are old-fashioned, but this winter we shall be returning to lamp-light j or candle-light, mittens, and possibly even the quilted petticoats of our great-grand- mothers, so that it is quite proper that we should have store-rooms, a habit we have almost given up since the days of telephone orders to the shops and tradesmen's delivery vans in every village. But, compared with our great-grandmother's, our war-time store- rooms look very dull and poverty-stricken. It is unpatriotic, even were it possible, to hoard rationed foods and delicacies, but households in the country should keep a week or two's common groceries in stock to guard against sudden failures in supply. For instance, it has often been difficult this um- mer to get vinegar or mustard, though there was no real shortage Jams and Jam-Pots. The store-room or cupboard should be dry and cool. The driest shelf (one will be enough nowadays) should be kept for the jam. Jam-pots should not touch the walls or each other; they should be looked over every week or two, and, if the jam shows frothing through the glass, it should be re- boiled with a little more sugar and water before worse befalls it. If the paper covers of earthenware pots are discoloured, the jam should be tested and the pot re-covered. Any jam made with salt should be set by itself and not used till it is four or five months old. Jam made with a small amount of sugar and no salt should be used early. Bottled fruits, too, should be looked over frequently, especially if the autumn is damp. It is better to eat it early than to let it spoil. Home-dried vegetables should be stored in tins and dried herbs in corked bottles. Marrows and pumpkins should be hung from the ceiling by tapes. Storing Apples. Apples are precious this year. The better kinds should be laid in rows on shelves, not touching each other. If space is a difficulty, it is worth while to wrap each apple in paper and to lay them on shelves or in crates or boxes, several layers deep. Bat constant care is needed, for one spoiled fruit will infect others. No apples should be kept in a larder, as they have a most penetrating smell and butter or milk pud- dings will rapidly taste of them. I Irocerics. I Groceries should not be left in paper bags, but be stored in jars or tins. Tea and coffee especially lose their flavour if exposed to the air. Coffee flavours anything that stands near it, and rice, sago, flour and oatmeal are rapidly deteriorated by damp. If potatoes are kept in the store-room, they should be protected from the light, or they will turn green. Soap should be cut into pieces and left to dry. Matches of course, need dry storage. I The Rubbish Store." So inuch for the orthodox stores. But anyone who has a spare outhouse should keep a "rubbish store" as well, and should keep it tidy and not like a glory hole. Here will be stocked sun- flower and artichoke stalks and woody gar- den refuseJ which will serve instead of kindling wood. If these are cut into lengths of about a foot and tied in bundles when the garden is cleared they can be gradually dried either in the sun or in an airy out- house and can be kept till required. Empty jam cartons, dried orange-peel, empty match I boxes (or better still, boxes re-filled with used matches), bits of cork, scraps of linoleum,, straw-board, card-board, cotton-reels-.all or any of these should be kept "against a rainy day," and need not look too untidy if they are arranged with judgment, either sorted in boxes or heaps or wrapped up in news- papers, each packet containing enough to light or to revive one fire. I Transforming a Ouilt. If any housekeeper has in linen cupboard an old down quilt or a crib or bassinette quilt that is no longer in use, it may now be promoted to the living-room. If the quilt is large, run two parallel lines of machine stitching up the middle, and cut it in- half between the lines very little down will es- cape if this is done. Then make a case for it of a dark cotton voile with an all-over pattern. This may be new or it may be someone's outworn summer frock if times are very bad and the frock was pretty. Sew a small gilt safety-pin securely on to the corners of the transformed quilt, and anyone who feels the cold in the coming coal shortage days can have it over her knees without feeling too much of a molly-coddle j if it slips off, the safety-pins can be used [Continued at foot of next column.]

HUN PRISONERS PASSING ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUNS. I [British Official In this picture, reproduced from a photograph taken on the British Western Front In France, the capturetf Germans seem to show traces of having suffered from food shortage.

FOOD TOPICS. Items About Production aL i Rationing. j [By SMALLHOLDEE. "] J The address delivered on September 21st 'L I Mr. Clynes, the Food Controller, to a number I of representatives of trades councils, co- ? operative societies and other Labour interests, | was of peculiar interest and importance. One '? of the points made was that, whereas, un:il %►. recently, the Ministry of Food had had to deal with the food problem of the Ln.ted Kingdom, the problem now to be dealt with was that of the Allied Nations, not only in regard to supply and purchase, but in regard to distribution as well. The peace offensive of the enemy," said Mr. Clynes, has been answered-by an effective military offensive of the Allied powers, and we can back up that military offensive by an effective food offen- sive. The food offensive takes the shape of giving to the Allied Governments an exclusive power to procure from many parts of th wur ld the food supplies of the world outside the Central Empires and Itussia. These measures must have their effect upon the German mind, and at worst they are much more human than the barbarous measures used by the enemy in its prosecution of the war." Shipping Difficulties. I It is important for the public to realise how the food problems of the Allies are at every point bound up with the question of shipping. In distant parts of cur Empire, such as Australia, New Zealand, and even South Africa, there are large stores of food I which would be available could we spare the ) transport for these long voyages. But we cannot at present. Of the American soldiers, with their equipment, armament, and sup- plies, who are pouring into Europe now at 1 the rate of about eleven thousand a day, more than three-quarters are being carried in British ships, thus constituting an enormous drain upon our tonnage resources-so heavy a drain as to make the losses by U-boats a com- i paratively negligible quantity. The time of I our ships must, therefore, be economised, and I for this reason we are compelled to buy the I vast bulk of our imported meat supplies in j North America, which happefis to be th< I dearest market at the moment. Mr. Clynes makes no attempt to disguise the fact that in regard to some articles of food, such as meat, our difficulties are bound to grow. At the same time, he entertains no doubt at all that they will be overcome. The Price of Milk. f. Considerable criticism has of late been levelled at the decision of the Ministry of I Food to increase the price of winter milk eventually to the producer to 2s. 3d. per gallon. Even some of the farmers, who appar- ently stand to benefit by this Order, have protested that the price to be paid to them i3 more than they desire. Other considerations, however,, have actuated the Ministry, who have taken the line that, milk being so valuable a food, especially for women and children, every encouragement must be given for the production of milk. Were such pro- duction not remunerative, farmers might be inclined to convert their milch kine into butcher's meat, which is a consummation not to be desired. In this connection, it is to be 4 noted that power is given to local authí rities to see that no poor mothers or young children need go without milk. It can be supplied to them free or at a low price in case of need. As Mr. Hoover, the American Food Adminis- trator, recently pointed out, the price of food is a secondary consideration. The supply is i the thing. Without that, the amount of money available for purchase would be a j matter of no account.

? U A JUST AND DESIRABLE PEACE. | W THAT are the conditions of a just and W VI durable peace? The first indispensable con- vvi /A\ dition, in my judgment, is that civilisation ?\ M should establish beyond doubt its power to enforce its m \y decrees. As long as there is doubt left in the mind v? ? of either the offender or the defender as to the (Kj ? irresistible character of this power, once it is f)\ W challenged, this war wiH not have achieved its purpose. W (M Victory is essential to sound peace. The Prussian (0/ Aa military power must notcnly be beaten, pdf Germany //? XX itself must know it. The German people must know M \W that if their rulers outrage the law of nations the W7 J? Prussian military strength cannot protect them from  punishment. There is no right you can establish, ABN national or international, unless you establish the (?) .?. fact first that the man who breaks the law will meet ?c\ s?y inevitable punishment. And unless that is accom- \'? \U pHshed, the loss and suffering and the burdens of I ? this war will have been in vain. We shaH have to. A) ? repeat the horror, and our children will have to repeat ?\ W/ the horror, of war. Do you realise what this war w ? means? We went into it with an equipment which fy) /?\ every soldier regarded as perfectly adequate. So it A\ W was to every conception of war which had been formed. W ?/ What has happened ? Discoveries have been made vv/ ?) in the art of destruction which, if we had only time Aj ?( to perfect them, would simply destroy and crash M W civilisation from the face of the globe. You can see VY/ ? now what these weapons of war are. High explosives; (? powerful artillery that were never taken near a battle- A\ w field before; cities bombarded at a distance of seventy W uj or eighty miles-and there is no reason it should not Wl be a hundred—bombarding aeroplanes getting more W and more powerful, and more and more destructive; W submarines; poison in the air. That is the result of W Aj three or four years of intense thought and human  ? ingenuity. Give a man that most terrible of all A\ W things, give him twenty or thirty years of conccn- W (?) trated thought on these lines, and what is to happen \\n A\ to the ne?t generation? This must be the last war M or, believe me, there are men to-day who will see the V^ V/ !ast of civiMsation." W ?A last of civilisation. —??. LLOYD GEORGE. M  t?7 (Up )

[Continued from previous column.] I to anchor it to a chair or a gown. And if we may finish with a word that is not about store cupboards, now is the time to see that cracks in the boards and spaces under the j doors and wainscots are filled up. We I must not shut the windows because the ?r€9 are small, but we can do without floor (ir:il giits which are cold without being wholesome, and are convenient lines of communication I for germs CUT THIS OUT. f. I MISCELLANEOUS RECIPES. f Celery and Bacon Toad.—INGREDIENTS.—1 head of celery, 4 rashers of bacon, 4 oz. flour, 1 pint milk, oz. fat, salt, pepper. IIETIIOD -Put the flour into a basin with a pinch of salt, break the egg into it, then stir in I half the milk and beat the mixture well. Ad,i 4 the remainder of the milk, and let it stand an hour. Trim and wash the celery, and cut it into inch lengths; parboil it in salted water. I Grease a pie-dish, put in the celery and tlia I bacon, cooked, and cut in dice. Pour over the I batter and any fat left from frying the bacon. | Pake in a moderate oven for 45 minutes, cat in j squares, and serve hot. This can be made with the outer stalks of celery, of which the heart has been used for salad. The bacon should be cooked when the previous day's breakfast is made, aiul, if a, double quantity of batter is made, half can ba left for pancakes the following day. Dried egg. make excellent batter. Home-Made Candied Peel DIEN TS. 4 oranges or lemons, } lb. sugar, i pint water, f a Pil-ICII of Salt. METHOD.—Peel the fruit, keeping the peel in nice shapd pecs, and put in cod water enough to cover it; add a pinch of salt and leave three davs. Drain the peel, plunge in boiling water and boil till quite tender. Make a syrup with t pint of the water and lb. sugar, put in the peal, and simmer for half an hour. Then lift the peel on a sieve, scatter over a little ETIA sugar, and leave it to set. Store in a dry wooden box. The fruit can. of course, be eaten the syrup left from the peel can be used instead of sugar for stewing fruit.. Braised Cabbage and Sausage.-INGRP, DIENTS.—1 caUbage, lb. breakfast sausage, 1: large onion, 1 table-spoonful fat, pepper, salt, nutmeog, y 1 dried egg, 2 oz. bread cruiiibs. METHOD.—Parboil the cabbage, drain on a I cloth and put in a casserole or pie-dish with Kr the fat and chopped onion. Covpr and cook in 1 a moderate oven for 45 minutes. Cut the sausage into thick slices, brush with egg and i roll in bread crumbs and chopped onion. Let I the crumbs dry, fry quickly in hot fat and dish I up on the cabbage. t Liver Cake.—INGREDIENTS.—1J lb liver, 4 oz. I fat bacon, 1 dessertspoonful cooking fat, 1 onion, i Lb. bread crumbs, 1 egg, tea-cup milk. METHOD.—Chop the liver finely. Cut the bacon into dice, and fry with the fat and the minced onion. When the onion changes colour, add the liver and fry a few minutes, stirring all the time. Remove from the fire when the liver browns, and turn the contents into a basin. Pour the boiling milk on the crumbs, cover and leave for five minu'es, then beat to a paste and mix w? fotlr i fthe liver, season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg or sauce. Add the beaten egg. Grease a. cake tin and press in the mixture. P,,Bake in a.' fairly hot oven for an hour. Turn out and serve with gravy. When cold, it can be sliced a-nri aaten with salad. Me