CASTLEWELLAN — Downpatrick and Newry abattoirs supply South-East Down with meat. Today the private slaughterhouse is non est. At. Castlewellan Court on Tuesday, Patrick Kelly, butcher, prosecuted by District-Inspector Reid, was fined £5 and two shillings costs for killing without a permit during the months of July, August, September and October eleven sheep for human consumption.
Mr. McSpadden, the defending solicitor, described Kelly’s business as run in a tiny shop, a room of a dwelling-house, and therefore he was not in a position to stand loss. In the summer, as he got more meat than he could sell, there had to be a curtailment. Then, to meet the harvest demand, he bought and killed eleven sheep and sold the mutton the farm hands.
The District-Inspector said that by law his duty was to put the unsold meat the Food Office’s disposal.
Mr. McSpadden stressed the fact that when the harvest came the quota was not enough. It was not as if he was carrying on a town business, and stuffing people with food to which they were not entitled. The average countryman did not consume much meat.
BALLEE — Remembrance Day was observed in Ballee Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church. There was a two minutes’ silence during the service. The collection was in aid of the Earl Haig Fund, and at the close the National Anthem was sung.
Rev. Charles Simpson, in the course of an address, said that what Armistice Day chiefly commemorated was a victory won not through war. It was the victory of that indomitable spirit in man which makes him aware of things not seen, so that in the bestiality of war he discerns a struggle of right against wrong, of decency against tyranny.
BALLYNAHINCH — A shocking fatality occurred at a point 250 yards past Ballynahinch police barracks, towards Millbridge, on Thursday night at 6.50pm. The victim was Henry Kelly, farmer, of Scribb, a widower of 54, with six of a family, ranging from 16 years downwards.
There is little to tell. As he was cycling home, without a light, he came into collision with a collision with a car driven by Hugh Cairns, of Ballynahinch, and was killed almost instantly. A local practitioner, Dr. F. G. O’Kane, was called, but could do nothing.
At the inquest yesterday a verdict of accidental death was recorded.
KILLYLEAGH — John Anderson, of Killyleagh, one of the crew of H.M.S. Glorious, is now reported presumed dead. He joined the Navy five years ago.
On behalf of the men who gave their lives in 1914-18 a wreath was laid by Sergeant E. Whan and Mr. A. Kelly on the tablet at Killyleagh Castle.
DOWNPATRICK — ‘We have Jerry in the bag!’ This was the most engaging of the individual messages to relatives and friends broadcast from Cairo hospital by convalescent members of the Forces on Wednesday night. One to send cheerful greetings back to his home in Downpatrick was Corporal W. H. Malone, and he mentioned how glad he was to read in the ‘Recorder’ of his brother’s recent school examination success.
CROSSGAR — At McMillans Crossgar poultry and timber centre the other day a hen laid an egg in the cab of one of the lorries during the driver’s brief illness.
NEWCASTLE — Newcastle Women”s Institute met on 6th November, the president, Miss Lusk, in the chair. The secretary, Mrs. McClafferty, and Mrs. Pithers gave accounts of the W.I. conference held in Belfast. In a practical talk on food economy, Mrs. Armour urged that we should eat more brown bread and buy the standard loaf, as by doing so less white flower would have to be shipped to us; that we should take our full ration of cheese, as it is very nourishing; also, carrots and all green vegetables, not forgetting parsley; that. above all, waste should be avoided. See that the outside of the loaf is used up. making as it does excellent toast; and be careful not to have food too much cooked, thereby losing a great deal of the nourishment.
SAINTFIELD — Subject to approval of the Ministry of Education, the Regional Education Committee, looking at the greater average attendance, have appointed Miss Hester Hay to be vice-principal of Saintfield Academy.
ANNSBOROUGH — The Ministry of Agriculture has announced that Annsborough has been provisionally selected as a site for one of nine factories to be erected by the Ministry of Food for the processing of potatoes.
BALLYMENA — In crossing the wooden bridge at Spencetown, near Ballymena, on her way to school, a six year-old girl, Eileen McIlrath, fell into the River Braid and was drowned.
HOME GUARD — Home Guard training was uninterrupted last week. Pikestone realised one of the mottoes of present day tactics, ‘speed saves bloodshed,’ and in a night attack on Killyleagh’s camp, P/Commdr McClurg, covering a good deal of rough country, got to his objective in a very good time and with concentrated force.
Crossgar pitted themselves against Listooder, the latter in ambush, the lesson enjoined being that contact at night means control, and one cannot get this when too spread out. Dundrum engaged in a venturesome night tank stalk.
On the 7th Dunmore had a social evening: a good tea and a large happy company.
RATIONING — Food Offices in Down have been busy issuing points books for the distribution of tinned foods. While the extra suet available in December, with dried fruit and sugar now to be bought, suggests a Christmas pudding, the public are not encouraged also to make mincemeat.
As to the length of time that tinned foods will remain in a state fit for human consumption, a university professor avers that death-dealing deterioration may be imperceptible to eye, nose or tongue. This is disturbing. Surely the authorities ought to instruct householders on methods of storage of preserved foods, giving safety factors for the various types.