Digest of stories from the Beds & Herts Saturday Telegraph: July 28th, 1917.

• Members of Luton Volunteer Force in 1917.

For a considerable time there has been discontent in the ranks of the Luton Section of the Volunteer Force, largely due to the fact that many of the "Volunteers" are such by compulsion. A considerable number have been sent there by order of the Borough Tribunal, the exemption from military service carrying with it the condition that they should join the Volunteer Force.

The Tribunal have imposed this condition very largely at the request of the Military Representative, and in such cases the Tribunal have carefully considered all the circumstances before making the order. If a man is dissatisfied with the condition he has an opportunity of making good his claim by applying for the removal of the condition but, except in a few cases, such applications have never been made.

Now, however, there is an apparent tightening up of the Volunteer service all round, and many who have failed to fulfil the condition have come under notice, and an effort is to be made to see that they carry out their obligations.

On Wednesday night a letter was placed before the Tribunal, signed by 118 members of A Company, 48 members of B Company and 58 members of C Company, complaining of what seemed to be an injustice that one townsman was given exemption without having to fulfil any obligation, while te exemption of another townsman was made the subject of a condition. The letter signatories "respectfully and earnestly petition you to make uniform all cases of exemption."

After Alderman Arnold described the letter as "most impertinent," Town Clerk Mr William Smith said the Tribunal considered each case on its merits, and these gentlemen seemed to think that because they were in the Volunteer Corps every other man should be there also. They evidently forgot that the Tribunal knew the circumstances of every case.

The matter was then dropped.

• Pte H. G. Carter, eldest son of Mrs Carter, of 98 Althorp Road, Luton, is now in a convalescent home at Thetford, Norfolk, having been wounded at Beaumont Hamel on November 14th, 1916, and spending seven months in hospital at Manchester. Mrs Carter has three other sons serving.

• Five traders in Hitchin Road and High Town Road were each fined 10 shillings at the Borough Police Court this morning for obstructing the footpath with fruit barrels and skips. The Chief Constable [Mr Charles Griffin] said cautions had been given from time to time but goods removed were put back within half an hour, or at least the next day. All of the defendants had been previously cautioned and the only effective way of dealing with the problem on the narrow pavements was to bring them to court.

• Very high praise is bestowed on Luton's Electricity Undertaking by the Electrical Times, which says: "The Luton Electric Supply Undertaking is one of the most progressive in the country and furnishes a fine illustration of the vast possibilities of electric supply in small towns. It possesses no natural advantages that we are aware of, and holds no single record against all comers, but in all essentials such as average receipts, working costs, load factor or yield of profit, Luton is never far from the top."

• Mr Walter Blundell, of Luton, has offered his services to the French Red Cross and left for France yesterday. He has taken a motor ambulance, of which he will have charge. His destination for the present will be in the Savoy district. He will be accompanied by an American gentleman who had had previous experience of French Red Cross work.

• Temp Capt W. B. Purchase, R.A.M.C., son of Mr W. H. Purchase, of Messrs Purchase & Co, straw plait importers of Silver Street, Luton, has been awarded the Military Cross "for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty" in attending to a wounded driver with whom he remained under heavy shell fire until he died, having ordered two of his men to go to a place of safety. He had previously shown exceptional bravery and promptness in responding to a call for medical help earlier in the day, when four officers had been killed by shell fire in the battery.

• In his annual report for the year ended March 31st, 1917, Mr T. E. Maw, the Librarian, says: "There is again a large increase of books issued for home reading to record, and this constant increase in the use of the Lending Library, due partly to the increase in the population and partly to the increase in the number and value of books available, will very soon necessitate some structural alterations so as to increase the floor space and the shelving capacity of this department. The Lending Library is only about one-sixth the size it ought to have been, and the congestion at times has been so great that borrowers have gone away without books." The Library (pictured above) had issued 102,838 books during the year, as against 92,537 in 1916 and 15,916 six years previously, its first year open.