14. The fourth Report of the Civil Service Commission (A.R., 1912, Chron., March 14) made ninety-seven recommendations as to reforms in the constitution, appointment, and system of promotion of the service. It found that the basis of the service was sound and its organisation efficient, and it proposed certain reclassifications, harmonising them with the educational system; recommended (with certain reservations and some dissentients) the permission of transfer from one department to another, and made a number of recommendations as to women, favouring compulsory retirement of most grades on marriage.
15. The Yorkshire coal strike virtually closed by a ballot of the miners, in which 27,259 voted for returning to work and 11,393 against.
18. Death of King Edward's well-known wire-haired terrier Cæsar while under an operation.
20. Announcement that Mr. Justice Pickford had been appointed a Lord Justice of Appeal, vice Sir R. Vaughan-Williams, resigned.
21. Announcement of the appointment of Mr. Montague Shearman, K.C., and Mr. John Sankey, K.C., as Judges of the King's Bench Division, and of Mr. Justice Channell's resignation.
—At Köslin, Pomerania, the second Burgomaster Heinrich Thormann, was arrested as a savings-bank clerk convicted of embezzlement in 1910. He had escaped from custody, fabricated a diploma giving him the degree of Doctor of Laws, entered the Civil Service, and married a wealthy wife.
21-24. Visit of the King and Queen to Paris. (See Eng. Hist., Chap. III.)
23. Celebration of Shakespeare's birthday at Stratford-on-Avon; the American Ambassador proposed the toast to the memory of the poet at the luncheon. The German Shakespeare Society also celebrated at Weimar the poet's birthday and its own jubilee.
24-25. Gun-running in Ulster. (See Eng. Hist., Chap. III.)
25. At the Crystal Palace, in the final contest for the Football Association Cup, Burnley defeated Liverpool by one goal to none. The King was present and presented the Cup to the victors.