1941-01-24 — Page 47

THE CHINA MAIL, JANUARY 24, 1941. PANTIES STUMP QUARTERMASTERS

FORTUNES

RACKET

BLUSH LED TO TO US.

A REFORM IN THE ARMY

PANTIES HAVE PUT Quartermasters in their place. They tried to hand them out to A.T.S. at clothing parades. The girls giggled. Q.M.'s blush- ed. Now girls are not only in charge of their own undies section, but the men's also. And they don't -blush.

The Q.M.'s got what was coming to them at one of the biggest combined Army and A.T.S. centres. It was easy for them to throw two pairs of pants and woollen vests into the arms of a soldier and say, "Scram."

But they couldn't sling a khaki suit at an “A.T." It was no use ordering her to pick up the first pair of boots in sight and telling her to "swop" them if they didn't fit.

Jested-Gave Up

"Bundles of women's undies had been coming into the stores for a long time," a staff officer of the Army Ordnance Department told a reporter.

"The boys made jests and won- dered what was going to happen at the clothing parade.

"There had never been a parade like it before in the Army.

"The Q. M.'s Staff began well. Then they became embarrassed. In the end their bravery vanish- ed.

"Finally they told the girls to take two of each' and no more and hid their heads until that part of the parade was all over.

The girls will never forget that

scene.

"They enjoyed it. They dived among the shelves Bike Women rushing at drapery sale time."

Women In Charge

This scene in the

RESPECT

FOR OUR

BALLOON

BARRAGE

(By A Correspondent)

Nazi airmen have

healthy respect for our| balloon barrage. This is the

the conviction of

R.A.F. and sailors who control the barrage off coasts to prevent

Quartermas-our ter's stores taught the Army a jesson.

enemy mine-laying.

To reach the R.A.F.'s floating

Generals decided that in future village, you hop aboard a speed- women must be in charge of a store for women only,

Then someone had another idea. "Women could supply men with clothing without a blush," it was suggested.

"Why not staff

the department with women, retaining only a few men to do the heavy work."

That would free more men for the fighting units.

So now Britain's

fighting mer have their battle dress issued to them by wonen.

1

PROFITEERS

PAY £2,400

In what was worst case of its were fined £1,000 profi.eering,

boat, which whisks you through lanes of warships and convoys un- til the river meets the sea.

Instead of trim Villas, you find rows of barges and drifters rid- ing at anchor. These are the R.A.F. "sailors." homes of the They control the balloon barrage off our coasts

to prevent enemy mino-laying in shipping lanes and to protect convoys when they come to anchor off port.

Visitors Rare

the

It seems that visitors never come to the balloons afloat.

"D'you know, you're the first caller we've had since we began the job last November," said a 19-year-old corporal who is "skipper" of the R.A.F. crew on this ship, which had the encour- aging name of Constant Hope,

The R.A.F. postman is the most popular man among the balloon crews at sea. Letters from home described as the make up for the monotony of the kind, two men job. Sometimes Jerry .comes each for egg over to pot at the balloons, but he always stays high otherwise we might get a chance with our guns. He has a healthy respect for the balloon barrage whether it be on land or sea.

· Fnes totalling £2,480 were im- posed at Glasgow Sheriff's Court on Glasgow egg merchants, who admitted buying eggs from Ireland at prices above the max)- mum, and selling at more than the fixed price.

Max Schonbach and Benjamin Brazil, directors of the Egg Market. Co., Ltd., of King Street, were fined £1,000 each; Peter McCabe, ~Ltd., of Clyde Street,.,' was fined £400; Henry Healy, of Oxford Street, was fined £50; and James McGread, of Golspie Street, was fined £30.

The Procurator-Fiscal, Mr. James Adair, said the case of Schonbach and Brazil was looked upon by the Ministry of Food as the most serious of its kind so far reported.

Ireland, he said, became one of the principal sources of supply, and “something approaching a Tamo developed."

While the Egg Market Company were direct importers, they were in the favourable position of being also retailers, so that they had the retail proft, too.

Scurry Back

The bombing of London by night would be very much worse if the Nazis could repeat \their dive-bombing terror which -brought Warsaw in particular,

to surrender.

Just as we were speaking we heard the chatter of machine.... guns. On deck, we saw a Nazi bomber scurrying back into the mist from which, he had peeped before attacking one of the drif- ters with his bullets.

MAN BLOWN ON

TO ROOF

A counell inspector walking in the street was blown. 15ft, on to the roof of a bank and badly in jured by a high – explosive bomb which fell in a London shopping centre.

|

An international cur- rency racket is smuggling tens of thousands of pounds out of Britain.

A loophole in Britain's currency control has been found through which fortunes are being system- atically smuggled to America.

"Some people who fled to Am- orica and were unable to take their money with them are pre- pared to pay 50 per cent, com- mission to get some of their for- tune, across the Atlantic.

Agents of the syndicate are operating in Manchester, Liver- pool and Dublin,

A bank draft for several thou- sand pounds is sent to Dublin. Southern Ireland is within sterl- ing boundaries and enjoys almost identical privilege with Northern Ireland. Anybody

can send A

cheque for almost any amount to

Eire,

Free State Account

In Dublin or Cork or any- where else in Eire the cheque is placed to the credit of an ec- count at a bank in Eire.

The Irish agent sends a cheque to a registered business address In America; then the matter be- comes u financial transaction with an Irish bank.

There is no financial control on Eire such as is imposed on Anglo- American currency deals. COCOCCCCCCC

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