LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 38, 27 January 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Owing to an oversight, the name “Mr. A. F. Grant, Hawera,” appears in our report of the proceedings at Wednesday’s Scottish function. As a matter of fact the gentleman intended to he indicated is Mr. Grant, manager of the Union Bank. Stratford. , A Westport Press Association message states that the stone roof of the Westport Goal ( Company’s Cascade mine fell for a distance of 20 yards, blocking the outlet. Eight men were shut in. Rescue parties: got to Work and released the imprisoned men, aftertwo and a half hours’ work. None of them wore injured. What is believed to he a world’s record in transforming standing grain into bread was established by a farmer living near Beliot, Kansas. Just_ 30 minutes elapsed between the time when tlie wheat was cut and when the, grower took the first bite of a biscuit which had been made from-it. As soon as the grain was threshed it was rushed a mile -and a half to a mill, ground into flourj and then taken to jj baker, who made the biscuits. The previous record is said to have been one hour.

Wooden nutmegs are not unknown in America, but in Germany it is said they have “board bread.” Sawdust may not appeal to the palate as a di- , gestible or appetising substitute for flour in the making s of bread, says an English . exchange, but all the same, there is a large bakery in Berlin turning out 30,000 loaves of sawdust bread daily. The sawdust is first subjected to a process of. fermentation and various chemical manipulations. Finally, it is mixed with one-third part of rye flour, formed into loaves, and baked in ovens like any other bread. A peculiar condition following on an accident to a horse is described by the Waiau correspondent of the Christchurch “Press.” A ploughman was negotiating a somewhat difficult turning, when 1 one of the leading horses stumbled, causing the other leader to fall over the first one, and the point of the ifirst horse’s hames stuck into the other’s chest. . By the time the horse arrived at its stables its body was double the ordinary size, the action of the animal walking causing the wound to act as an air pump, filling itself with air between the skin and flesh. It was some six weeks -before the horse resumed its normal condition.

The report that the Hon. Huia Onslow's present unfortunate condition was the result of an accident received whilst mountaineering, is, it seems, quite incorrect. The latest version, which is said to he the truth, and nothing but the truth, is that the Hon. Huia, whilst on the Continent holiday making, went to bathe with some friends, and, in diving into an apparently deep pool, struck his head on the rocky bottom with such force that his neck was all but broken, and injured his spine to such an extent that an almost complete paralysis took place at once. He was brought to England with as little delay as possible, and taken to the residence rf his older brother (now Lord Onslow), where he still remains under modcial treatment.

“I notice by the papers that the Hon. Mr. Mackenzie has been stating that the tourist traffic does not pay, said Mr. A. W. Hogg, to a reporter recently, in the course of an interview, “and t don’t wonder at it not paying. Why, the whole of the traffic in the Rotorua district is being carried on by an Auckland syndicate. Rotorua is entirely in their hands—they have control of all the stores, places of resort, etc. Even the most popular bath at the Wonderland, Wimkarewerewa, has been leased to this syndicate. From Rotorua to the Tanp.o Lake—the latter by the way, being twenty miles long and being equally broad—the distance is fifty miles. The journey is broken by an accommodation house at Waioiapa, which is also in the hands of the same syndicate. If tourist traffic is going to fall into the hands of svmlicatem I don’t wonder at it not paying the Government, and this is not the sort of thing that should be allowed.”

The D.O.A. notifies in this issue that Frederick William Johnson, Te Acra, has filed a declaration of insolvency. “It won’t he long,” declared a member of the Waikolui County Council (Poverty Pay), “before there will he statute law compelling ail local bodies to adopt the system of rating on the unimproved value.” Miss Bredow, of Stratford, who had such a narrow escape in Palmerston recently, at a railway crossing, is now almost convalescent, and has returned to her home. Mr. Hurley, of Palmerston, who was with her at the time, is still suffering from the shook. The Postal and Telegraph revenue for the quarter ended December 81, 11)11, was £817,754, compared with £819,817 for the corresponding quarter of 1910. The total of deposits in the savings banks during the last quarter was £2,705,625, and of withdrawals, £2,561,296, the excess of deposits, over withdrawals being £144,328 (compared with £281,365 for the December quarter of 1910). A special Weights and Measures Committee of the British Central Chamber of Agriculture by its branches recommended unanimously that all agricultural produce, including milk, but excluding other liquids, should be sold by weight. It reported (with a minority of one) that the most suitable weights were the lb., the cental (1001 b), and the short ton of 2000 lb, and recommended that ,after ia period of two years, contracts under any

other system between Home traders should lie unenforceable.

An advertisement appears in er column drawing attention to tho fact that the Supplementary District Electors’ List in connection with the poll on the electric light question will close on Wednesday, 7th February, at 5 p.ra. Ratepayers only will be allowed to vote on the question, arid.it will be just as well for those who have recently acquired property in the Borough to see that their names are on the roll, and in the case of married people, that their'wives or husbands, as the case may /be, are also on. The list may be inspected at the Town Clerk’s office.

At the Eltham Magistrate’s Court yesterday nine lads belonging to Stratford were charged with having, on January 10th, disturbed an audience in the Town Hall, the occasion being the performance of “A Dancing Tour of the World.” It had been Intended to charge three of the accused with using obscene language ip a railway carriage, and one with the theft of a bottle of chocolates, valued at Bs, but these charges were dropped. All the accused pleaded guilty, and were fined 10s, with 7s costs. Mr. Stanford appeared for accused. In the' present instance the names of the offenders are not published by us, it being recognised that the offence was largely or wholly owing to natural exuberance of spirits, but a repetition of the offence would not ; earn similar' kind treatment.

The Rev. F. (T Evans, late Vicar . of St. Mary’s, is ,;to he Archdeacon of ; Taranaki; so Bishop Crossley announced at the institution ceremony of the Roy. Colville last evening, says the “News.” He prefaced the pronouncement with a high eulogy of the work done by -the Rev. Evans;land added that the new Archdeacon’s functions 'would not, always keep ,hinr in New Plymouth. In addition to being Arch-, deacon of Taranaki, the Rev,; Evans,,' ,’j would, under the Bidiop, have po'supervise all’ Home 'Mission !wqr|: south of Auckland. He would also, place, himself at the,' disposal of Tire speaker .' from tinie to time 'to fill vacant cures, for the time heifig, the filling'of-which *' was one of his J (the speaker’s) most pressing considerations. However, the major part of tlie_Jate vicar’s time' would be spent in the Taranaki Archdeaconate, where he had won so many friends.

• The Seaside Ihcnic on : next promises to be a, great sjicqess; 'i Jie whole of, the business .premises, ip Stratford will be closed that day, The farmers’ throughout the district are making arrangements well beforehand! to go, and let all the children he there. Everybody is requested to take bathing costumes with them, as a, number of large tents are to be erected for women, children, and men. Hot Water and milk will be ready on arrival of the first train, the School Committee having arranged for the caretaker to go in the day previous. » Quite a rush is setting in for tickets, and the sale will he kept on till 9 p.m. on Wednesday, should the tickets hold out. There is, as usual, only a limited supply, so early application is necessary. Country schools who intend coming should obtain their tickets not later than Monday, so that if they run short a further supply can be obtained at once.

During a thunderstonn at midday last Thursday, Mrs, H. Manhardt, of Liuwood, together with her son and daughter were seated at the dinner table when there came a crash'of thunder which temporarily stunned them. On looking round they found 'that the' room was filled with a thick smoke. * Presently they looked about them, and found that it came (from a paper ornament which had been destroyed by lire, and lighting was obviously the cause of it all, and its track was found near the 'bottom of the garden where a strip M as torn off a wooden rail, and a section of netting-wire was fused. The discharge had then run along the clothes line, which was attached to the house, fusing the nail which fastened it, and splintering a hole through the weather boards to the kitchen. It had ran across the roof, leaving a trail of burnt wood, and turned aside into the scullery, where it slightly burned the wooden part of the sink and flattened out a piece of brass chain attached to ihe tap. A large iron dish lying in the sink had a deep dent made in it and a small hole.

A petition lias been filed by fifty odd Maori electors in the Horou Maori Council district at Port Awanui courthouse (Poverty Bay) regarding the validity of the recent poll, when voting was in favour that no liquor should be supplied 'to natives. The principal grounds on which the petitioners base their objections to the poll are that the polling booth at Hick’s Bay wos never opened on the day of the poll, and a large number of electors were in consequence debarred from exercising their votes. Also that the polling booth at Maraenui was closed at 8 p.m. thus shutting out a number of voters. There are also one or two legal questions . There is an objection raised that a majority of electors who were qualified to vote" did not carry the proposal that liquor should not be supplied to the natives » in the Horou Maori Council district, that a recommendation by the Maori Council to the Governor fd proclaim the district was not a valid recommendation. This recommendation is the ground work of the election, and section 46 of the Licensing Amendment Act 1910, provides, “that the Governor, may, on recommendation of the Maori Council of any district under ti’o Maori Council’s Act, 1900, proclaim such district as a district in which provision of section 46, of the !4c'"'snig Amendment Act, 1910, shall apply.”

Mr. Dick Arnst, the well known athlete, was married in Sydney jirterday to Miss Amy Williams. The in ide is the nurse who .attended him in his recent illness.

The work of improving the track to the Stratford Mountain House, which has been delayed owing to bad weather, is being pushed on, and though a good deal requires to be done before motor-cars can use the road with safety, it is hoped soon to make the track fit for such traffic. Mr. A. 0. Man’s car, went-to-within half a mile of the Mountain House to-day, but there aie some pretty rough places to negotiate, thougn horse vehicles should have no difficulty in getting through. Last night there was a false alarm of lire, the bell at the southern station being rung. The members of the brigade were on their way to a practice, and turned out promptly, only to find that a rubbish fire was the cause of the disturbance. It seems necessary to remind residents within the Borough that a permit for rubbish fires in the open air must be obtained from the Town,Clerk. On such a permit being obtained, the'Town Clerk notifies the Fire Brigade officials. Had such permission been obtained last night, there would have been no false alarm, and the Brigade would have been saved considerable inconvenience.

Some go-as-you-please philosopher has laid it down as a basicaxiom that the world is composed of two more or less equally divided sections of people—-the “sharps” and the “flats”, and usually the . whole of humanity suffers from the painful delusion that he himself and ho himself only constitutes the “shrewdie” party while the rest of humanity to his mind, is in the ranks of the numberless battalions of the “mug” party. (Which is all by the way, uninteresting, unnecessary, undignified, and untrue —but ouite harmless.) The otner day a New Zealand journal was guilty of publishing a typographical error which turned “what might have been a seriou? accident” into resembling a description of a pantomime harlequinade. Tne paragraph was as follows:—“A youth named Morgan, while bathing in the Lane Cove River, was seized by a sharp. Two of his companions beat the monster off .Morgan was fearfully mangled, and c:ed. The loss of a postal packet from the mail bag travelling from Rerekapa to Waitara has coriipletely puzzled tne authorities, says the “Mail.” It appears that the mail was made up at the Rerekapa, office last Sunday, and conveyed to Okau, where it stayed under surveillance until Monday, when it was carried on. to meet the contract coach... The missing packet consists of, several letters registered, in which tjiere is, a considerable sum of money. These letters were wrapped up in a'brown paper parcel, and put inside the general mail bag, which the postmaster at the other end is sure was properly sealed up. When the bag was opened at the Waitara Post Office on Monday evening it was minus the letters, and enquiries since have failed to make good the loss. The matter is causing the officers of the postal service much worry, and it is hoped that something will soon transpire tef Solve the mystery. “