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100 Years Ago | 1 Sep 1918

On this day a century ago, these were some of the news items The Statesman readers got to read about India and the world.

100 Years Ago | 1 Sep 1918

OCCASIONAL NOTE

The retirement of Mr. Page from the American Embassy in London on the ground of ill-health will be deeply regretted. Since it is not customary in American public life to conceal the real causes of action under a polite subterfuge it is probable that the announcement means what it says and that Mr. Page’s health is suffering from over-work.

Mr. Page was appointed shortly before the war to a post in which the strain during the past six years must have been prodigious – alike during the early period of the world conflict when the interests of thousands of private Americans in Europe needed protection; during the succeeding period which was characterised by some friction between the two countries, owing to the operation of the blockade; and during the eighteen months which have followed on American’s participation in the war.

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Mr. Page’s retirement may afford an opportunity for a hardly for a more successful one. Mr. Page knew little about public life and nothing about diplomacy when President Wilson sent him to London.

He was known as the cultured journalist who for a period edited the Atlantic Monthly and more recently as the energetic founder of the World’s Work. He has shown that a journalist can sometimes do other things besides write and the President will find it difficult to find even a trained diplomatist to do the work of the Embassy better than his predecessor.

GIRL BURIED ALIVE

Mr. Baidya Nath Ghattack, Additional Sessions Judge, Faridpur, has disposed of a Sessions case in which a woman named Soudamini Baishnavi was charged with attempting to kill a girl aged about 9 years by burying her alive.

The case for the prosecution was that the accused had been the mistress of one Baikuntha Malo, a widower, for two years past. Baikuntha has a daughter named Amari, and contemplated giving his daughter in marriage, and, with the money obtained as dowry, marrying again.

On the 24th June last Soudamini, who lived in a different house, came to Baikuntha’s bari and decoyed the girl to a jute field, where, after taking some ornaments from the girl, she buried her in the jute field.

A neighbour was attracted by the cries of the girl and, with the help of another, rescued her. The Judge found the accused guilty and sentenced her to rigorous imprisonment for 8 years.

IMPORTANT CASE AT MIDNAPORE

An important civil case, materially affecting the position of co-operative societies with unlimited liability, has been recently decided by a Subordinate Judge of Midnapore.

The Khelar Balarampore Union Bank, Ltd., instituted a case against eight persons, who were stated to be members of the Changual Co-operative Credit Society, for the recovery of a large amount due on three bonds executed by the officebearers of that society. The suit was contested by one defendant only.

The Subordinate Judge, in a lengthy judgment, dismissed the suit on the ground that it was not maintainable in its present form. He was of opinion that there was nothing in the Acts or bylaws which enabled the creditor of the society to sue the members personally while the registration of the society was still in force. The plaintiff Union should have sued the Changual Society and not its members, as it still existed as a corporation.

INDIA AS A GERMAN VASSAL STATE

The Zurich correspondent of the Morning Post quotes extracts from German newspapers showing that great efforts are being made to prevent the public losing heart. The cheering prospect is painted of adding India to Germany’s vassal states.

The Conservative Suddeutsche Zeitung declares that the fact cannot be too insistently proclaimed that this is psychologically the right moment, which perhaps will never return, for Germany to hold out her hands to Indians. The Stuttgart Neues Tageblatt protests German sympathy with “the tormented population of India,” and seeks to show that Germany and India to a certain extent are war allies.

ARMENIAN REFUGEES IN PERSIA

The following telegram has been received from Lieut.-Col. T.W. Haig, British Consul General at Ispahan:- Owing to the cruelty and oppression of the Turks the surviving Armenians fled from Turkey to Persia after offering a brave and successful resistance to the Turks, but through exhaustion and lack of ammunition were forced to retreat.

Two thousand Armenians from Van left Mamadan southward on August 19. We appeal to their compatriots to do their duty in rescuing the remnant of these heroes. Funds are urgently needed. Haig, British Consul General, Honorary President, Julfa Armenian Refugees Relief Committee. A meeting of the Armenian community will be held at Mr. Galstaun’s house, at 5-30 P.M. on Wednesday, to consider this appeal.

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