College servants join union at Cambridge . by our Cambridge correspondent . the first trade union branch for college servants at Cambridge University was formed last night by 40 men and women - porters , gardeners , kitchen staff , and maintenance workers . Mr A Butterworth , assistant national officer of the national union of public employees , who advised them on how to form the new branch , said afterwards that there were more than 1,000 men and women working in Cambridge colleges who had no agreements on pay or working conditions . the union will strive to bring them all into membership and seek for them rights equal to those of similar workers in local government , the health services , and at other universities . from what I have already heard , the pay and conditions in Cambridge are below those operative under agreements we have elsewhere . Mr Butterworth added that one of the first tasks of the union would be to ask colleges to establish agreements . each college has autonomy . but perhaps the colleges may agree to some form of negotiating jointly . no contribution . the ministry of housing and local government has rejected a proposal by Barnes borough council to contribute five guineas from the rates to the Fleming memorial fund for medical research . the ministry considers that contributions to such a fund should be met from voluntary donations rather than from rates compulsorily levied . the day everything went backwards . by our Luton correspondent . the south eastern electricity board yesterday apologised to consumers in Leighton Buzzard , Beds , because a technical error caused their electrical machinery to operate backward . the trouble started on Thursday afternoon with a fault on the main 33,000 volt transmission line and an attempt to end the three and a half hour blackout by temporarily linking secondary lines was abortive . Mr Terry Lestor , production manager at a clothing factory , said : everything went haywire . a light came on warning that power was restored and the bench motors were started . sewing machines worked backwards and the vacuum pressing plant instead of holding garments down blew them into the air . other factories sent workers home because there was no power . an electricity board spokesman said yesterday : a letter of apology and explanation has gone to the major consumers . we have explained that a new supply system will come into use in 10 days and this should never happen again . driving ban on Judge . fined in drink case . Judge David Eyfion Evans , a county court judge in the mid-Wales and Shropshire circuit , was fined &amp;pound;50 and disqualified from driving for 12 months yesterday for driving while under the influence of drink . Judge Evans , who appeared at Builth Wells , was ordered to pay &amp;pound;38 19 s costs . his address was given as Plasgwyn , Aberedw , in Builth Wells . he pleaded guilty . Mr D Prys Jones , prosecuting , said that on September 22 , Judge Evans &apos;s car collided with a stationary car at a cross-road at Howey . the other car was driven by a Mr Elwyn Jones , who saw Judge Evans in the driving seat of his car looking dazed . he did not get out and did not answer Mr Jones when he asked what he thought he was doing . the two cars were freed , and the judge reversed away . Mr Jones again tried to speak to him , but without success . Mr Jones followed the judge for over three miles , Mr Prys Jones said . both Mr Jones and his son , who was with him , had said that the judge drove erratically . his speed varied from about 30 to 50 mph . eventually the judge stopped and told Mr Jones who he was . he got out of the car and Mr Jones had said he staggered on the road . Mr Jones supported him to stop him from falling . eventually the judge agreed to allow Mr Jones to drive him home in his own car , but on the way began to use threatening language , and tried to grapple with Mr Jones . Mr Jones stopped . two police officers then arrived and one helped the judge towards the police car . impeccable record . county court Judge Rowe Harding , of Swansea , for the defence , said that he presided over a meeting of the mid-Wales and Herefordshire branch of the magistrates &apos; association at Llandrindod Wells which was attended by Judge Evans . he had what appeared to be a bronchial cold . Dr John Emrys Jenkins , said he had attended Judge Evans since 1958 . his condition had resulted in outbursts of anger and he had been sharp in his tongue . I am perfectly sure they were not the result of alcoholic drinking . Dr Jack Abbot Hobson , physician at the Middlesex Hospital , London , submitted a report on the judge &apos;s condition . he said that on the morning of September 22 , Judge Evans took three bottles of light ale and a sherry with his lunch . in the afternoon he attended a meeting at Llandrindod Wells . he tried to appear normal , although he did not feel well . Dr Hobson said that Judge Evans was examined at the Middlesex Hospital , and it was found he suffered from a condition which could produce symptoms of drunkenness , make him unsteady in his movements and in his eyes while his speech might be thick . it could also result in mental disturbances . Mr Alun T Davies , defending , said that the judge &apos;s driving record was impeccable . twelve months ago he passed the test for advanced motorists . there was no question of him driving again until his condition was remedied . cashiers coshed and robbed near bank . two cashiers employed by independent milk suppliers Ltd were attacked by three or four men armed with coshes and robbed of about &amp;pound;2,000 at Elgin Avenue , Maida Vale , London , yesterday . they were knocked to the ground outside Barclays Bank . one cashier was taken to Paddington general Hospital for treatment . the gang escaped in a car , which was found abandoned nearby . costs for Lord Mayor . byelection case dismissed . the Manchester Stipendiary Magistrate ( Mr F Bancroft Turner ) yesterday dismissed a summons against the Lord Mayor of Manchester ( Alderman Lionel Biggs ) alleging that , as returning officer at the Moss Side parliamentary byelection , he failed to discharge his statutory obligations by not being present on October 25 to receive nomination papers - handed in by Mr Walter Hesketh , the British union movement &apos;s candidate . Mr Bancroft Turner awarded 20 guineas costs against Mr Hesketh as a contribution to the defence costs . Mr Hesketh said that on October 25 he and Mr Max Moseley , his agent , visited the town hall to deliver the nomination papers . the returning officer was not there and , for 5 minutes , town hall officials were unable to obtain the Lord Mayor . Mr Hesketh said : for a long time we were wandering through the passages of the town hall until I was finally obliged to defer the submission of my nomination papers . matter of courtesy . Mr F P R Hinchliffe , for the Lord Mayor , said that Alderman Biggs , as returning officer , had the right to appoint a deputy - in this case the town clerk - who , in turn , was authorised to appoint deputies . Mr Moseley agreed with Mr Hinchliffe that Mr Hesketh had received an invitation from the Lord Mayor for all the candidates to attend the town hall with their nomination papers on Friday , October 27 . Mr Hinchliffe : was your reason for not accepting the invitation to appear on Friday because you did n&apos;t wish to be associated with the other candidates in any way ? - yes , that was one reason . Mr Hinchliffe said it had been a practice in the city , as a matter of courtesy , for the Lord Mayor , to extend an invitation to all the parliamentary candidates to attend at the town hall at a certain time with their nomination papers . it was done to prevent the returning officer or the acting returning officer from being incarcerated in a certain building from 10 a.m to 3 p.m on five successive days . Mr Moseley said that the election officer ( Mr Norman de Gruchy ) told him at the town hall on October 25 that he was no more authorised to accept nomination papers from Mr Hesketh than a corporation dustman . in evidence Mr de Gruchy said he did not recall saying he was not authorised to accept the nomination papers . in dismissing the summons , Mr Bancroft Turner said Mr Hesketh and Mr Moseley had been labouring under a sense of grievance and , to some extent , it was a legitimate grievance . the important consideration , however , was that if a member of the public wished to be nominated as a candidate between certain statutory dates at certain times , his position should be carefully safeguarded . Minister rejects corporation &apos;s high street plan . by our own reporter . a proposal by Southend corporation for a second high street , parallel to the existing one , has been rejected by the Minister of housing and local government , Dr Charles Hill . in a letter to the town clerk published yesterday , he says that the fundamental defect was that the street would serve both for shopping and as a through-traffic route and the mixture of functions would be a hindrance to traffic and a danger to pedestrians . the proposal formed part of a development plan for the town centre providing for the expansion of the shopping area , a civic centre , an office block area , a bus station , car parks and an inner ring road . a public inquiry held last year recommended that the scheme should be rejected . the Minister , however , has said that he is prepared to amend it to include all but the new high street and shopping area . a spokesman for the corporation said last night : we have had the full text of the inspector &apos;s report which runs to over 120 pages &amp;hellip; there will be a report to the next council meeting . Mr Hannen Swaffer . Mr Hannen Swaffer , aged 82 , the journalist , is to enter University College Hospital , London , today for a minor operation . he expects to be out in two or three days if all goes well . Soviet Minister on tests . no radiation danger . Mr Konstantine Rudnev , a deputy chairman of the Soviet council of Ministers , arrived in London yesterday from Moscow at the head of a seven-man Soviet delegation of scientific and industrial experts . he said that it was considered that the level of radioactivity resulting from Russian nuclear tests is not dangerous . Russia was not proposing to supply dried milk to children as a result of recent tests , he added . Mr Rudnev , who was chairman of the state committee for defence technology until last year , was asked what benefit the recent tests brought to Soviet scientific research . he replied : I personally am not a specialist in nuclear weapons and I can not add anything to the official statements of the Soviet government . family killed in bungalow fire . a former Bristol Rovers footballer , Mr John David Hamilton , his wife Margaret , and their three-months-old daughter , all died in a fire in their three-room bungalow at Hall Lane , Olveston , Gloucestershire , yesterday . firemen called by a neighbour discovered the bodies buried under wreckage . Mr Hamilton had apparently gone to the baby &apos;s bedroom and was still clutching her . another neighbour , Mr Edward Greaves , and his son , who tried to get inside , were beaten back by the heat and smoke . by the time the fire brigade arrived , he said , the bungalow was a roaring mass of flames . more students from the dominions ? by our own reporter . the council for education in the commonwealth believes that , in spite of the establishment of new educational institutions in commonwealth countries , the number of students coming to this country will increase . informed opinion , the council says , puts the increase at 10 or 15 per cent . the council , in a memorandum to the Robbins committee on higher education , expresses the hope that the committee will estimate the demand accurately and allow for it in its recommendations . two new organisations are envisaged . one of these might keep questions of technical education and training for commonwealth students under constant review . it should concern itself with personal cases , and help in the distribution of students . it might be empowered to use quota systems and other methods to control distribution . 