Digest of stories from the Beds & Herts Saturday Telegraph: March 30th, 1918.

A visit to the Luton Food Office at the present time is quite edifying. There are papers, tickets and cards of almost every tint and size, each sporting an instruction or an authority concerning food - meat, butter, margarine or sugar - in some other places milk tickets, but fortunately we have been saved that trouble so far in Luton. We have only made a beginning at present; if necessary milk, cheese, tea, jam and other necessities will follow.

For the moment the meat card is the ace, for that is the chief bone of contention. A butcher can only sell meat if the customer is registered with him and produces the meat card, and must take off the coupons according to the amount sold. Even if the butcher cannot provide the quantity of meat to which the customer is entitled, the coupon for that period is no longer of use at the end of the specified term.

It is laid down in these directions that the butcher must divide his meat as fairly as possible, but if the first customer expects to get his full quota he may be disappointed, for if the butcher had doubts about being able to supply the full quantity to all his customers, he must give only a portion - but he will collar the coupon all the same.

One or two other points which customers will be well advised to note are that the butcher may refuse to sell if the customer wants credit. Neither can a customer change his butcher without the consent of the Food Office.

It is worth noting that these are not merely directions but actual law, for an infringement is a breach of the Defence of the Realm Act, and that means on conviction liability to a fine of £100 and six months imprisonment.

• The many friends of Major F. W. F. Lathom (above, left), son of Mr H. W. Lathom and clerk to the Luton Divisional Justices, will deeply regret to hear that he has been severely wounded. His father has heard that while in action on Tuesday his son received a gunshot wound in the right leg, causing a compound fracture of both bones below the kinee. Major Lathom, a holder of the Military Cross, is now in a Red Cross Hospital at Rouen.

• Sympathy during their ordeal of anxiety will be extended to Mr and Mrs Crawford Cunningham, of 35 Cardiff Road, Luton, who have received an official intimation that their son, Lieut J. Crawford Cunningham (above, right), aged 24, is missing. It is now reported that he has been missing since March 21st. On March 18th he wrote to say that he was about to go on a tour of observation for several days, and on March 21st the German offensive began.[Two weeks later it would be reported that Lieut Cunningham was a prisoner of war at Holzminden in Germany.]

• Luton Town's match today again the Signal School (Dunstable) has attracted the biggest gate since Southampton played on the Town ground last September, despite the khaki lads from Houghton Regis not being present in such large numbers as previously on account of the restricted railway service. After Butcher missed a penalty, the visitors took the lead twice, only for Kent to equalise on both occasions before half time. Despite a strong wind in their favour in the second half, the Blues could muster only one most goal, Butcher making amends for his penalty miss by scoring the winner eight minutes from the end. A 3-2 defeat was no disgrace for the visitors, however.