Stories from the Luton News: Thursday, November 4th, 1915.

Mr T. W. Hawksley, Secretary of the Luton Trades and Labour Council, wrote to call the attention of Luton Town Council to the fact that it was becoming a common practice in the town for landlords to raise the rents of the working classes, including those who had a severe struggle to meet expenses.

Cases had been brought to his notice where the man of the household was at the Front, and some cases where both father and son were fighting the country's battles while the womenfolk left behind had to complain of the extortion of the landlord.

Mr Hawkesley said instances could even be given where disabled soldiers had had their chance of earning a living made more difficult by greedy owners of property who had raised the rent, and it ws hoped that under present circumstances magistrates would not sign ejectment orders and would make some public declaration of their disapproval of such methods.

The Mayor (Councillor Walter Primett) said it was a many-sided question, but landlords who had raised rents where men were at the Front or were incapacitated were open to censure. He was personally very much opposed to such a thing, but cases must be dealt with on their merits.

Alderman John Staddon said Mr Hawksley must rest content that every case which came before the Court would have full investigation before any hardship was imposed.

• Driver H. W. 'Bert' Tarrier, 1st Lincoln Battery, Royal Field Artillery, one of the Luton men who joined the 1st North Midland Division, has been wounded in action in France and is now in hospital. The official notice received by his parents, who live at 151 North Street, Luton, states that he is seriously wounded. His left arm is broken and lacerated above the elbow and he is also wounded in the head, neck and chest.

• Pte P. Webdale, 3841, 1/5th Bedford Regt, is in the Hahnemann Hospital, Hope Street, Liverpool, with a bullet in the right leg that is to be extracted shortly. Prior to the outbreak of war he was employed in the clerical department of the English and Scottish Co-operative Wholesale Societies' Cocoa Works in Dallow Road, Luton, and is a member of the Luton Mandolin Orchestra.

• Pte W. Richardson, 3843, 1/5th Bedfords, a Mount Tabor lad, is now lying in a Liverpool hospital, hit first by a bullet passing through the fleshy part of his thigh and later by a shrapnel bullet in the right knee, the bullet lodging just below the kneecap.

• Scout A. J. Wickson, of the 1/5th Bedfords, who is now in hospital at Alexandria with dysentery, writes to his mother at 71 Dordans Road, Leagrave: "I think I have happened lucky, having a few narrow squeaks. For instance, I had a bullet go through my helmet, but it never scraped me, and once some shrapnel came over where a little bunch of us were lying, killing one fellow, wounding four others, and not touching me."

• Mr and Mrs Ball, of 22 Bailey Street, Luton, have been notified that their son, Pte W. H. Ball, has been wounded in the right elbow while serving with the 1/5th Bedfords in Gallipoli.

• Dr Ross, the Medical Officer of the Workhouse, is taking up war service, and Dr Robertson has been appointed to act as his deputy. The medical men of the town have agreed to look after Dr Ross's practice during his absence. At the Board of Guardians meeting on Monday, the Chairman observed that it was a great sacrifice Dr Ross was making, leaving a large and lucrative practice to answer the appeal for medical men.

• Ellen Plummer, a Luton woman, was sentenced to a month's hard labour at Luton Borough Court on Monday on a charge of being a common prostitute and misbehaving on the Moor on Sunday night. In consequence of serious complaints made by people living in Brook Street, Det Bacon kept watch on Sunday night and arrested prisoner while she was with a soldier. Chief Constable Teale said the complaints had been so serious that an example should be made now someone had been caught. There were several convictions against prisoner, the last being at St Albans in September 1914 for soliciting.

• Luton Town Council decided that the gas supply should be completely cut off from the Market and that each stallholder should provide his own lighting and be responsible for his lights under the Lighting Order.

• Yesterday the Mayor of Luton (Councillor Walter Primett) presided on the Luton Borough Bench for the last time during his term of office. Tributes were paid to a man "who had given so much attention and so much fairness without the slightest suggestion of bias to the business of the Court."

• The Surveyor reported to the Luton Rural District Council on Monday on his inquiries into the question of flooding in Midland Road [now Mostyn Road], Leagrave. The trouble appeared to be caused to some extent by the silting up of catch-pits between Marsh Road and the River Lea. He hoped to have the pits cleared out to remedy the flooding.

• The Hatters Gazette reports that among the tenders recommended for acceptance by the Manchester Corporation were - W. Walsh and Son, Luton, straw hats for timekeepers; C. Dillingham and Sons, Luton, straw hats for drivers etc.