LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 82, 3 April 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A complimentary social is to bo tendered to the Hon T. Mackenzie, Prime Minister, in the Town Hall, Hit ham, on Wednesday, the 10th inst. In March rain fell at Ohavve (Hawera) on 14 days, a total of 5.28 in. being registered. The corresponding month last year gave 2.06:n. on two days. In 1907 there were ten days on which rain fell, and a fall of 7,51 in. was recorded —the heaviest fall for the month for twenty years.

Even in these days of the typewriter the value of good handwriting is brought into prominence on certain occasions, says the Eltham “Argus. The handwriting of applicants for the position of cadet in the Town Clerk s office was carefully scrutinised, and some who wrote a “bad fist were promptly turned down. One 'ambitious applicant for the cadetship in the Borough office-said that if lio w-ero selected lie would do all ’in'liis power,'to bring Eltham into a prominent' position in New Zealand, says the “Ai-gfis.”' HO, is 19 years of .a«e r and I’iv'ck. ,at Christchurch. 1 The ' Council thought that Eltham must manage to make headway without that applicant’s assistance; his talk seemed rather tall for a youth of Jus age.

“T attribute my present position to the land boom of 1908,” stated a judgment debtor from Wellington in the Eketahuna Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday week. '‘Then you have been speculating,” remarked counsel for plaintiff., “Your assumption is entirely wrong,” replied the debtor, 1 “I aip two or three hundred pounds to the bad through others who had ■speculated being unable to pay me.” Russians are very careful about the way their tea is made. They infuse it in a porcelain.or earthen teapot, and drink it from glass tumblers so annealed that there is no danger of the hot liquid breaking them. Their tea is always made of water at the first boiling—an important matter. The tea brewed in the teapot is made quite strong, but the tea-glasses are but one-third filled with this tea, and then filled up with boiling water. This gives a delicate., fine-flavoured glass of tea;

The spectacle of Maoris gathering sea-eggs is one which is to be seen nearly every Sunday, and often on a week'day, at Takapuna beach. The natives confine their operations to the vicinity of the rocks, and work industriously among the pools that are left by the outgoing tide. Groping about among the silt, they trace the c-ro-s with great precision, with the result that they generally have wellfilled sacks.to bring away as trophies rf the chase. The sea-egg, on the outside, somewhat resembles the body of a porcupine. It contains a mass of dark liquid, which is swallowed by the Maori with great relish, but which to the European looks decidedly nauseous.

Miss Helen Gould is not only one of the wealthiest American women, but, at the same time, is one of the most philanthropic. She is a qualified riWse, and is going to England shortly to make a study of routine work in London’s great hospitals, and other charitable institutions. A good story is told of her answer to a poor child she was entertaining by showing her over the treasures of her beautiful home. The child pointed to a very fine statue of Minerva, enquiring whom it represented. Then the child asked_ if Minerva was married. “No,” replied Miss Gould, “she was the Goddess of Wisdom.”

A somewhat' peculiar position arose in connection with the cadetship in the Town Clerk’s ollice, says the Eltham “Argus.” It was generally understood that applicants were to be of the male persuasion, but an application was received from one of the gentler sex. it was decided to give it proper consideration, though probably had it been known that applications from females would have been entertained others would have been forthcoming. Tile appointment of a young lady ’might have an advantage in the office at the. salary offered (£75 a year) whereas a youth might be looking out for something better in a year or two. But on the other hand, young ladies have a habit of leaving ’positions in order to gpt married. During the year a committee of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce has had in hand the drafting of rules for an Association of Chambers of Commerce throughout the Dominion. It is proposed to register the association under the Incorporated Societies’ Act. It is hoped that the association will be an accomplished fact within the imxt month, and that a conference of tl? chambers will be held in hi ay or ( .June next. The names of Messrs. W. ■J. Duthie and A. A. Corrigan are mentioned in the chamber’s annual report as Wellington*delegates and representatives respectively at the British Imperial Council of Commerce meeting in London in June next.

Mr. Newton King has received the following cable from his Sydney agents re nicies: Heavies and mediums firm, others lower.

The,) jninunl general meeting of the Stratford Golf Club will be held in the Borough Council Chambers at 8 o’clock ion Wednesday, the 10th inst.

A start was made this morning on fhotpaintiug of the Courthouse. It is not exactly a long-felt want, but the building needs a coat of paint badly enough. We 'understand that Messrs. Judd Bros, have sold their dairy farm on the T.Vinki Road and have purchased Messrs*., J. and P. O’Connor’s sheep farm of, eight hundred acres at Tututawa? Messrs. C. and E. Jackson condnoted 1 ’the negotiations.

The average attendance at the Stratford , school for the quarter ended March .31st was 674, which is by far the highest average which has ever been recorded at any school in Taranaki. In view of the disadvantage under which Mr Tyrer and his staff have had to work during the past quarter, this result should be highly gratifying to them, as also should it to tile children attending the school and their parents. At;)tho gymkhana, to bo held on Easter Monday, a nominal charge of Is will bo made to the grounds, and as tiro, sports are being held for the specific purpose of raising funds to augment the grandstand accommodation,‘the charge will be made alike to members of tire Association and the gcnoi’hl public. However, even if a higher I’‘charge 1 ’ ‘charge had been decided upon at flje; gate, we feel sure that, consi'dcHiVjg the purpose, both members of the Association and the public, would pay ; with pleasure, quite apart from the very line programme of amusement That will he put on.

At the meeting of shareholders of the Stratford Co-operative Dairy Company yesterday, Mr Mason, a veterinary surgeon, who has the highest credentials and was exceedingly well spoken of by several of the dairy -farmers present, brought forward a proposal Ao form a veterinary club, on the.sagie lines as, say, a Friendly SoMembers of the club would contribute 25s a year, and for this they'Would get Mr. Mason’s services free,; the member to pay the cost of medicines required. The proposal was well received, and a strong committee of representative men was elected to go into the details of the scheme and report at a later date. Lecturing at the Camera Club in London on the subject of the Panama Canal, Dr. Vaughan Cornish gave some striking figures to show the scale of the engineering operations in progress. A million shots of dynamite, he said, were fired in the canal area every year, and a train of 17 trucks, all loaded by means of steam shovels with the debris from the excavations, was despatched every 90 seconds in the course of the eighthour day and the six-day week. One result 1 of the opening of” the Panama Canal,'next yearsaid Dr. Cornish, would be to diminish the journey from 1 ‘’Liverpool to San Francisco or Western Canada by 6400 miles. It was curious that the canal would bring Yokohama nearer to New York than to Liverpool, the reverse being the case at present, but the distance from NewO’York to the Philippines would bo pVteticaJly, the same as by the older route.pi It was usual to depreciate the early French work on Panama, but the Frefich did about,one r fifth of the ,labourffivhich had been carried on up to the present, and among American engineers!, at least, he found nothing but admiration for the way in which the'French had grappled with the undertaking. ’