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100 Years Ago | 14 November 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 | 14 November 1918

OCCASIONAL NOTE

Lord Ronaldshay and Mr. Ironside could hardly have dated their appeal on behalf of King George’s Fund for Sailors more happily than on the day after the greatest victory ever won by the forces of civilisation. Mr. Ironside naturally took advantage of the occasion to point one of its most striking morals, and to enquire what might have happened to Great Britain and to the Empire if British sailors had failed in their duty. The terms of the armistice concluded with what is left of Germany lend fresh emphasis to the moral. Foch’s genius was the spearhead which administered the coup de grace to the Hun empire, but the shaft which enabled that genius to come into play was largely compact of the pluck and determination of the British Navy and mercantile marine. These are the men without whom civilisation might have gone down before the German savages, and these are the men for whom King George’s appeal is now made. As Mr. Ironside points out, India in general and Calcutta in particular have reason to be grateful to these heroes, for not merely has their safety been preserved intact, throughout the war but their prosperity, individual and collective, has been very largely increased. In these circumstances a handsome response to this appeal is the least acknowledgment a generous public can make of a debt of gratitude which cannot possibly be estimated in terms of money.

EXTENSIVE THEFT OF QUININE

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The Moochipara police searched the quarters of one Jatadhar Dass at Dhurrumtollah Street, and arrested him on a charge of being in possession of several phials of stolen quinine valued at Rs 3,000. It was ascertained on enquiry that the man had come to Calcutta from Tezpur in Assam where his brother Priyalal Dass was employed as the medical officer in charge of the Adabari Tea Estate. At the instance of the Calcutta police the Tezpur police took up the enquiry; Priyalal Dass disappeared, but was subsequently arrested on a charge of having stolen the drug from the Adabari Tea Garden medical store by forging letters purported to have been written by other doctors of the estate requisitioning the drug. Priyalal and Jatadhar were placed on trial before the Extra Assistant Commissioner of Tezpur who, on Saturday last, sentenced the doctor and his brother to six months’ rigorous imprisonment each.

STEAMERS BUILT IN INDIA

The Bombay is one of a fleet of small steamers built and being built to the order of the Government of India for service on the Indian coasts. Six of these vessels are being constructed in Government dockyards. They are of composite construction and are built of materials produced almost exclusively in India and by Indian labour only the boilers and engines being imported. Their dimensions are 125 feet by 23 feet by 12 feet. The vessels are of roughly 540 tons displacement and will have a speed of 9 knots. The Bombay is the first of her class to be launched in western India. Her sister vessel the Calcutta was launched from the Government dockyard, Kidderpore, about three weeks ago.

THE NAVYS PART

The King-Emperor has sent the following message to the Naval Commander-in-Chief, East Indies Station: Now that the last and most formidable of our enemies has acknowledged the triumph of the Allied arms on behalf of right and justice, I wish to express my praise and thankfulness to the officers, men and women of the Royal Navy and Marines with their comrades of the fleet, auxiliaries and the Mercantile Marine, who for more than four years have kept open the seas, protected our shores and given us safety. Ever since that fateful August 4th, 1914, I have remained steadfast in my confidence that whether fortune frowned or smiled, the Royal Navy would once more prove the sure shield of the British Empire in the hour of trial. Never in history has the Royal Navy with God’s help done greater things for us nor better sustained its old glories and the chivalry of the seas. With full and grateful hearts the people of the British Empire salute the White, the Red, and the Blue Ensigns and those who have given their lives for the flag.

MOST CRUSHING TERMS EVER IMPOSED

The newspapers publish a large “Victory edition” to celebrate the world’s deliverance from Prussian militarism, paying a simultaneous tribute to the King, Queen, statesmen, generals and admirals who have led the Empire and its Allies to the victory of democracy. The papers declare that more crushing and more humiliating terms were never imposed on a great power, but that they are not too severe against an enemy who cannot be trusted.

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