The morning headlines, breaking news, top headlines, top stories… you have them all on your modern-day platter of smartphone without which you, probably, cannot live a day. The news is overflowing, but it’s never enough. One can’t do without fresh air. So here, we bring you some breather — News from 100 years ago…

OCCASIONAL NOTE

The men of the Indian Defence Force who went to Poona for a month’s training are now on their way home and the tale of their adventures will be awaited with interest by those of their comrades who are destined to follow in their footsteps.

While the military value of the expedition has yet to be discovered, it is probable that most of the men will be found to have derived physical benefit from a month of plain living and ordered activity.

So far as can be judged from private letters, the only reasonable cause for complaint has been found in the quality of the food. The meals are said to have been at times uneatable and to have provoked on one occasion a collective remonstrance unpleasantly resembling insubordination. For the credit of the men concerned it is to be hoped that the character of their protest has been misrepresented.

No personal grievance can justify a soldier in refusing or threatening to refuse obedience to lawful orders. On the other hand there can be no excuse nowadays for failure to provide the troops in a permanent station conducted under peace conditions with wholesome and well-cooked meals.

To the men of the I.D.F., who serve only for a few weeks and most of whom can afford to buy food at the coffee shops or the canteen, mismanagement of the mess may be no great hardship, but to the ordinary private soldier it is a very serious matter and if the allegations as to the unpalatable character of the food supplied at Poona are borne out it will be the duty of the garrison authorities to look to their cooks and their kitchens forthwith.

INDIAN STUDENTS AND POLITICS

In reply to the Graduate Association’s protest against orders in connection with the attendance of students at public meetings, the Chief Commissioner holds that the present instructions are entirely sound in so far as the protection of schoolboys from the consequences of ill-considered action on their part is concerned. The policy laid down in the Education Code ten years ago is in no way changed.

All that has now been done is to lay the responsibility of deciding what is a political or quasi-political meeting on the proper authority instead of leaving it to immature schoolboys to decide it themselves and saddling them with the risk of punishment for offending against Code regulations.

With reference to the Association’s remarks that present circumstances afford no reason for the drastic measure, the Chief Commissioner can hardly believe that the Association is unaware of the character of meetings held in Nagpur and at other places. He finds nothing in the representation to modify the existing requirements of the Education Code and these will continue in operation as in the past.

SIKHS AND INDIAN REFORMS

The Tribune understands that a Sikh gathering, convened by Sardar Sundar Singh Majithia, was held at Amritsar on the 26th and 27th instant to consider the subject of reforms. Out of some hundred invitations issued about fifty gentlemen responded. A point on which the gathering is said to have differed from other bodies was that the India Council should be retained.

As regards the Indian Legislative Council two-thirds of the members and not four-fifths, as demanded by the Congress League, should be elected. For the Executive Council the gathering wanted nomination pure and simple. In the matter of the various Legislative Councils the Sikhs demand larger representation, and, in the Punjab especially, onethird of the seats to be reserved for members of that community.

THE MOHURRUM

The Madras correspondent of the Pioneer telegraphed a Cuddapah message, which said:- In the village of Chennur, six miles north of Cuddapah town, there was an unfortunate occurrence on Thursday afternoon in connection with the celebration of the Mohurrum. A hubbub suddenly started and an individual actually attacked the Magistrate with a sword, but the Magistrate escaped.

From the roof of a mosque another person shot and wounded a constable. The appearance of matters was threatening and the police were ordered to fire. The crowd then dispersed, leaving three dead on the ground. Eight others were afterwards brought into hospital wounded. Three constables were wounded and two of them were treated in hospital. A small force remains in Chennur. No further disturbances are expected.