***

Mr. EDWARD BACKHOUSE, the Stockton-on-Tees Peace candidate, is reported to
have had his first public meeting broken up. He is now of the opinion that
it serves us right if the War goes on for the present.

***

Kent rat and sparrow clubs are offering one shilling a dozen for rats'
tails. The price is small, but, as the President of a leading club points
out, the vendor is permitted to retain the balance of the rat for his own
purposes.

***

Some exception has been taken to Mr. H.W. FORSTER'S statement to the House
of Commons that only 250,000,000 sandbags have been used by the Army in the
current year. Several privates home on leave have assured us that they
themselves have filled at least that number while waiting for a single
counterattack.

***

A Scottish allotment holder, in the course of digging the other day,
discovered three sovereigns, a silver watch and a gold ring. Since this
discovery the authorities have been so overwhelmed by applications for
allotments that there is some talk of extending the Scottish boundary into
England, in order to cope with the business.