LOCAL AND GENERAL

Horowhenua Chronicle, 22 December 1915, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

** rf The Chronicle will not bo published on Christmas .Day and Boxing Day (Saturday and Monday next;. The Muuawatu Times imports that it cost a dobtor 2ia at tne Palmerston iNlorth Magistrate's Court, yesterday morning to redeem u debt, the original amount of which was Is. A Melbourne cablegram reports that the charge of murder having been abandoned, Buckley and Ward" pleaded guilty to breaking into lli'e Trades' nail on October Ist, when Constable McGrath mas murdered. Buckley was sentenced to six and Ward to live years' imprisonment. •• A number oi redding drovers (says an exchange) have issued the following ultimatum:—"We, the undersigned drovers, agree to work ouly'at the undermentioned rates of pay, commencing on January 1, WHi; Droving, at per day, 255; Sunday work'time and a half. Trucking, irrespective of numIbors, by contract, 2s (3d per truck; between the hours of u p.m. and 6 a.m., time and a half to paid. All lees to bo paid hy the auctioneers when put through their hands. Freezing companies and farmers by arrangement."

Tho Greeudale correspondent of the Christchurch News writes:—"The continued dry wea-flfcer and persistent hotparching winds, have seriously affected crops and feed of all kinds. Harvest prospects are exceedingly gloomy, and sheep have been turned oil several of the grain crops. The frost of the latter part of November has done much more damage than was thought at first and the (Try nor'-westers are making tlie elFects of tho frost more-apparent. There is practically no feed on the grass paddocks now, and sheep are to be seen herded on the roads almost every day. It seems at present to bo of no use drilling turnips, as there is no moisture near the surface to start them off. and if they struck it it is unlikely that thoy could survive the present scorching sun and winds."

L_The spectacle of a man hacking "at a live electric, wire with an axe" and, jumping back to avoid electrocution as the severed wire writhed in a short circuit lent an additional thrill at tho lire Considerable risk was run by firemen and other workers on account of the many live wires among which they hod to push their way. but it was a long time before it occurred to the authorities to switch, off the current in the mrea affected.—GMiorne Times. -,

A message irom Carterton states that the railway crossing near the Bank of New Zeakmdl at Featherston where a motor car and a train collided last week was the scene of another catastrophe yesterday morning. A military transport waggon, drawn by two horses ami having about six men wuts approaching the crossing as a train ■was leaving at a quarter to" "two o'clock and proceeding to Wellington. Apparently the men on the waggon did not hear or see the train approaching and the drivers of the train did not see the waggon. The train caught the horses on the rails and the waggon wa< smashed, with wounded men lying in all directions. One horse was carried on the cowcatcher to the next cross-

Feilding punters are solid to a man on Tangihou's chances in the Manawalu Cup. This is a change from New Zealand Gup time when the winner's name was never breathed in the town. Astute Trainer Attwoodl supported a thing called Silence 'before 'the big event, and from the look of his new motor car it looks as'if it turned out a decent preposition.— Miaiwawatu Tim«c. An interesting experiment by himself was used by Professor rvirii to illustrafee a lecture in Wellington on the housefly. A fly had been allowed to walk over a prepared gelatine surface, and cultures had been'made, and it w>s found that in the foot-tracks were'oolonies of 'bacteria, prbibaibly muniberirig millions. A photographic reproduction of the oultuire was (shown on the canvas.

The follow in g advertisement, with a heart pant that discloses, another phase of the horrors oi the conflict, appears [in a Berlin newspaper:—"Young soldier, after returning from the front with one leg amputated, is deserted by his fiancee because of his physical disablement. He would now like to correspond with some woman similarly afflicted, whose love for a- man who served hie country would remain true." The Post Office notifies that instilments of pensions (old age, widows, military, miners and war) falling due on Ist January next will be paid on any date between Thrusday, 23rd December, 1015, and 2nd February, 1916 "Greetings telegrams"' at sixpence each may be sent to any telegraph offi. 1 " in the dominion during the dates 20th to 24.ih and 27th ito 31st DecemberEleven words are permitted for the address and signature and the ■wortliag of greeting will be as "follows;— <rWishyou a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year." No variation of the text of this message will be permitted except on payment of the ordinary telegraph rates, i.e. 8d for fins? twelve words and |d for each additional wori The public are urged to lodge "greeting telegrams" on the 23rcT or early on 24th to ensure delivery before Christmas Day.

The Horowhcnua County Couno'l Office will ibo closed from 24th December to sth" January, for the Christmas and New Year holidays. Private S. H. Bevan, oi Olaki, has Ibeen discharged from the hospital at Alexandria, being convalescent. Amongst recent military promotions is that of Mr J. C. JS'eill, late of Ohau, to bo a lieutenant in uiq Now Zealand! Tunnelling Corps now bound for the front. The Staff of ihe Levin Co-operative Dairy Company, Ltd, has sent us a card bearing their best wishes for tho Christmas and Xew Year season. AVe reciprocate their kindly greeting. The .mayor, councillors, the Town Clerk, and staff of the Borough of Levin Have sent The Übromcle an artistic letterpress conveying their wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year. The Chronicle .reciprocates these kindly wishes.

At the 'Vjcnd off" to the Koputaroa Maori volunteers for active serviceto be givonj. ne.M I'ndny evening—there will be tw<A''" >bxifi?us guests'of the evening as -well as two pakehas fro.n Levin. The Koputaroa Maoris' response to the "appeal for more men" has been a highly creditable one for so small a hapu.

It is not often that a ewe gives birth to live lambs, hut such a record goes down to the credit of a ewe on MY~A. Henderson's farm at Isla Bank, states the Otautau Standard. The mother is an ordinary crossbred flock ewe. Four of the lambs were bom alive.and' the fifth was still born. Three of the quintet are now thriving well, tho fourth, a Aveakly lam'b, having been knocked on the head.

Yesterday the Prime Minister (lit. Hon. \V. F. Massey) made a brief statement to a New Zealand Tiinies reporter with regard to the news of tho retirement from Suvla Hay and Auzac. .Mr Massey deprecated any carping criticism of the Imperial authorities at this juncture and urged that the duty of every patriotic citizen of the Empire at this time was to join in presenting a united front to the enemy "The cablegram referring to the retirement is not quite so explicit as we .should like, but most people will agree that under the circumstances lhe™propor thing has been done," said the I'rinie Minister. "It may hq that mistakes have been made past, but it is better to face the position and have done with it for the time being than to go on with the enterprise that' is commonly believed to have been- the result of an error of judgment. It is a matter for sincere congratulation thiafc the transfer lias been effected without loss of life."