LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 50, 23 February 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The protection has been removed from the following birds indigenous to New Zealand:—Kea, or .mountain parrot, hawks of all species, black shag white-throated shag, and sea shag. The now school building is expected to be finished in the first week in March, but the inside fittings are living pushed on with, and the building will, no doubt, be in occupation some time before the outside work is actually completed. There was a good attendance last night at the meeting of the liny Scouts, when for the first time dumbbell and club exercises were indulged in. On Saturday afternoon the boys will go out and engage in hut-build-ing, and on the following Thursday they will have further club and dumbbell exercises. At that meeting a programme for the month will be drawn up.

A cunning burglary Avas committed at Mi - . Newton King’s Avarchonso some time* between Saturday night and tliis morning says Monday’s Taranaki Herald. 110 gain an entrance, the thieves excavated a hole underneath the large sliding door which shuts oft the railway siding. The door itself was thou opened halfway. When the staff arrived at the warehouse this morning a sack of oats was found hanging to the door apparently with the object of preventing it opening to the full extent. Outside was a sack of potatoes, and the hole which had been excavated had been roughly filled in again. It is impossible to say what goods have been stolen.

The instinct of chivalry, supposed by many to he dead, was evident in the actions of a gentleman walking along one of the city streets yesterday afternoon (says Thursday’s Now Zealand Times.) A young lady was struggling against the violent wind when a sudden gust wrenched her umbrella out of her hand, blowing it over a fence onto a vacant piece of land. The gentleman volunteered to climb the fence after the umbrella. The fence was very high—and very wot. Negotiating the harrier safely he was about to jump baek on the pavement with the umbrella, when a gust of wind relieved him of In’s hat, which went np and up, finally disappearing from view altogether over the roofs of a block of building:.

Lord Haldane, speaking in Glasgow last month, appealed to citizens to do their duty in bringing the Territorial Force up' to its full strength. Obligations of serv.ee and facilities given by employers to men to join were premiums for a policy against invasion and were ehoap at that sacrifice. Even ladies eonid Help by encouragement, or, more potently, by withholding approbation from young men who failed to join the force. That principle, he believed, prevailed among the Swiss, who were a wise people. From boy to veteran, from miss to matron, all bad a duty and responsibilities to fulfil in helping the Territorial Force. Speaking to a member of the “Timaru Post” literary staff, a motor car owner said it was not fair for the papers to primarily blame the motorear owners for accidents on the road. He wont on was driving on the Fairview road on Friday last, and in front of me on the middle of the road was a one-horse trap. 1 blew the horn and the man in the trap took no notice. Coming on the trap I noticed that the reins were lying loose, and blowing the horn a third time, the man suddenly woke up, pulled the wrong rein in bis fright, and the horse swerved right in front of tiio car. To avoid a collision I shot my car up the bank and into a hole overgrown with grass, almost upsetting my car. It took me some time and much hard work to get the car on to the road again.” Dr. Wisner, a Paris doctor, discovered in 1905 that his wife was a victim of the morphia habit. He devoted himself assiduously to her and in 1910 she seemed to he cured. The death of a near relative in December of that year, however, reawakened her morbid craving, and she tried to obtain morphia from a chemist, who refused to supply it to her. But the chemist’s assistant shortly afterwards offered to sell her some of the fatal drug, and did so, with the result that she died in .March 1911. Before expiring she confessed to her husband that she had repeatedly obtained morphia from the chemist’s assistant, whom Dr. Wisner thereupon prosecuted for delivering poisonous substances without a proper prescription and for involuntary homicide. The chemist’s assistant, named Jean Mario Fortuna, was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment and order to pay a fine of £2O. The commonly-accepted theory concerning the noise of thunder is that it is caused by the closing up of tha vacuum created by the passage of the lighting, the air rushing in from all sides with a rumbling roar or a terriffic peal. It is now asserted that the noise of thunder is due to the intense healing of gases along the lino of elec - tric discharge, and the consequent conversion of suspended moisture into steam at enormous pressure. In this way the crackle with which

a peal of thunder sometimes begins might \be regarded as the sound of steam explosion on a small scale caused by discharges from the main flash. The rolling reverberations would be the steam explosion nearest: the auditor. In the case,of rumbling thunder, the lightning is passed from cloud to cloud., A scientist who had been investigating the subject, gave substance to • these theories by causing electric flashes to pass from point to point through terminals clothed in soaked, cotton wool, and he;,succeeded,,in magnifying the crack of the electric spqrk to a terrifying: extent., .j . j :: .i Al

Quito a number of well-known' citizens in the Kill suburbs were victimised last week in an impudent manner as a result of lending to ready an car to tales of distress front hr I 'fbmhl'e’ fraud, says the Otago Daily Times. In each case the latter called at a house, and, with cleverly-assumed distress she declared that her husband, friend, or neighbour was in extremis, and. there being no spirituous stimulant ’’fit hand, the lady and the object of her ■solicitude would be everlastingly gratefid, etc. In many cases the plea was a success and where no liqour was forthcoming the designing female was overwhelmed with’ directions to householders where a drop of liquor could lie procured. The persevering seeker after a reviver was fast establishing a corner in malted stimulant when ,ono victim happened to ask another, victim how her husband gentleman referred to iiad personally handed out his last and best bottle to an hysterica] stranger who alleged she was acting the flood Samaritan for a dying neighbour, explanations ensued; but the fair fraud had by that time disappeared amidst remarks*suitable to the occasion. An amazing invention that will cause a revolution in the manufacture of hoots and shoes, and he q boon and a blessing to every individual wearer, has been, after many years of toil and expenditure, perfected by one of the younger generation of inventors (says Chambers’ Journal). A scientific process for treating the leather by which it is made absolutely waterproof and impervious to cold and heat, and its wearing qualities increased by 50 to 200 per cent., is a good beginning. The next advantage is the prevention of down-trodden heels, as the heels can bo removed and readjusted by the wearer in a few seconds, and are also interchangeable, so that if reversed, say, every three weeks, they never wear down on one side. Everyone knows the discomfort and ugliness of an uneven heel, which destroys the smartness of shape of the hoot and makes it look shabby and worn out before its time; and as for the feeling of the thing, orthopaedic surgeons say that uneven heels are the most frequent and least suspected cause of corns. The new solo can he applied without pegging or handsewing. These booms are applicable to all classes of footgear from a lady’s light shoe to an army or navy boot.

That terror of the bather—the shark—is exceedingly plentiful in Now Zealand waters at present. On the afternoon of Monday Inst, while the Amokura was coming fronf the Kcrmadec Islands to Auckland, a deal of excitement was caused hy the hoy or, t.ho lookout giving warning of the presence of a large shark following tin vessel. The Ainokura was travelling at about one knot at the time, with a light leading wind. Commander Hooper called all hands on deck, and a tempting bait, attached to a heavy line and hook, was trailed over the side. For some hours the monster refused to touch the bait, although he sniffed hungrily at it several times. Eventually, at about seven o’clock in the evening, he grabbed the bait, hook and all. Ho was orawn alongside the vessel after a brave struggle and harpooned and with much difficulty hauled aboard. On being measured the monster was found to be T'ffc bin in length. Many of the boys secured a tooth as a memento. On '! hursday last, a large shark of the deadly white species, measuring lift bin, was caught in the Auckland harbour by the keener of the hulk Alexander Craig. The monster was seen swimming round the vessel. A baited hook was placed in the water, and when the shark was hooked it took the strenuous efforts of five men to land and despatch the monster. A very ugly row of sharp jagged teeth, quite an inch Irgh, protruded from the jaws which are quite big enough to take a limb off an unwary bather.

At least five minutes every day, m the middle of the day, should the business girl give to deep breathing in the open air. She should take a brisk walk daily, and she should have her sleeping'room always well ventilated. She often eats unwisely, she eats hurriedly and before many months have passed sac begins to suffer from indigestion. !i her lunch-time is short it is better to cat little and in leisurely fashion. She should cat simple luncheons, and, if possible, always some fruit. Iho girl who eats fruit for her luncheon will quickly feel herself reinvigorated.

The Bible used at the Auckland S. I\l., Court to swear witnesses upon is embellished on one cover with a large red cross that has apparently been placed there since it left the hands of the publisher. During the hearing of a case the other day one witness who had recently been having a heavy drunk and was the subject for a prohibition order, objected to the Bible as coon as he saw the cross, remarking, “That’s Homan Cathlioc.” “Turn np the other side,” laconically remarked the magistrate, and, the offending cross being hidden, the oath was taken without offending the witness’ tenderness on points of creed.

A curious position has arisen concerning the headstone that was purchased by public Subscription to mark the resting place in Kioreroa cemetery of the late Jno. Freeman, who 'was murdered in the Puhipuhi district some time back by the young native Tahi Kaka. who was afterwards executed for the crime. It has now been discovered that through some mistake the headstone has been erected over the wrong grave and the monumental mason who was responsible for the work, averring that it was through wrong information supplied by the Whangarei Borough Council that the mistake occured is claiming from that body the expenses of shifting the headstone to the right grave. It is understood that the council repudiates any liability in the matter.