OCCASIONAL NOTE

From the details of the demobilisation programme set out elsewhere it is clear that the prior right to release of those patriotic men who volunteered during the fateful year 1914-15 is fully recognised. If, therefore, there is any continued delay in the demobilisation of such men the fault will obviously lie, not with the plan, but with its execution. So far as India is concerned, the chief immediate obstacle to repatriation of “duration” men will be found to inhere in the shipping problem. The letters we have been publishing for some days past indicate that there is a rankling sense of grievance among both Regulars and Territorials in this connection, and it has been suggested that if the control were properly managed there would be plenty of shipping available for the returning troops. It is possible that this suggestion is correct; but apart from the vague satisfaction arising from what is called “relieving one’s feelings,” it is doubtful whether there is anything to be gained by harping upon it. The facts of the situation have been visualised clearly enough by the heads of the Army, and so far as the arrangements they have drawn up are concerned, it is difficult to see how they could have been fairer. Should many of our gallant fellows be delayed during the next few months they will be perfectly justified in complaining, but it does really seem as though the military authorities were emulating the admirable example of the Wild West painist, and doing their best in circumstances of very special difficulty and complexity.

JESSORE DACOITY CASE

Mr. A.T. Das Gupta, Additional Sessions Judge of Jessore, yesterday concluded the hearing of the case in which Mofez Biswas and seven others were charged with dacoity. The case for the prosecution was that the accused on the night of the 12th October last raided the house of one Ramlal, a moneylender of village Kuharkhali, and, after assaulting the inmates, carried away cash and ornaments worth about Rs 2,000. Yesterday the jury returned a unanimous verdict of guilty against seven accused and gave the benefit of the doubt in the case of the non-confessing prisoner. The pleader for the defence took objection to this verdict on the ground that some of the jurors after the case was summed up by the Judge went out of the court-room and after some time came back and retired for deliberation. The Judge, after making enquiries, referred the case to the High Court, recommending that the verdict of the jury should be set aside and a fresh trial ordered.

EPIDEMICS IN BOMBAY

BOMBAY, FEB 12

Dr. Turner, Executive Health Officer, Bombay, in the course of a lengthy report for the fourth quarter, reviewing the different epidemics during the period and how they were combated, says: The total mortality for the quarter was 20,878, of which influenza claimed 2,825, cholera 1,441, small-pox 33 and plague 15. The deaths of persons not belonging to Bombay numbered 1,344. The large increase in the mortality of the quarter is attributed to the prevalence of epidemic influenza. In reviewing the whole year, 1918, Dr. Turner observes that there has been a large influx, especially of poor people, into the city during the latter months of the year from districts affected with scarcity and dearness of food, resulting in an estimated increase in the population of two or three lakhs of people.

AN OFFICER S CHEQUES

BOMBAY, FEB 12

The general court-martial for the trial of Lieutenant McCarthy reassembled this morning. Major Ferrer, further examined, proved certain documents which were in the hands of the accused. Sergeant H. Jacob of the Brigade office gave formal evidence in regard to documents bearing on the case. As the next witness had not arrived in Bombay, the prosecutor applied for an adjournment. Captain Trapman, on behalf of the accused, opposed the application. The Court adjourned, till tomorrow morning.

SHIPBUILDING AT HOME

British shipyards have recently booked orders for well over a hundred vessels, representing a very large tonnage. This probably constitutes a record. The Ellerman-Bucknall line alone has ordered over fifty steamers on the north-east coast. The British India Company is building nine large liners, the Cunard eight , the Donaldson Anchor line and Donaldson Brothers six, Elders and Fyffes four, Shaw Savill and Albion three, and the Union and Castle and Commonwealth and Dominion lines two each. Provided labour settles down the shipbuilding outlook is very bright.