LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIII, Issue 3, 30 April 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The installation of the newly-clect- , d Mayor takes place to-morrow morning jit 11 o’clock at the Borough Council Chambers.

Those interested are reminded that the annual meeting of parishioners oi Holy Trinity Church is to be held in the Parish Hall this evening.

Mr. It. Spence left by the mail train for Wellington tins morning, where he will bo associated with Mr. Skorrett for the defendant in the adjourned case of Rohieson v. Sanson, r. claim for specihe performance. Telephone communication is now making its way into the south-eastern portion of the Borough. Several con nections are to be made, and poles for the purpose are now being placed in position;'' -

To-morrow, being the first of May, war has been declared by the Stratford Acclimatisation Society on cock pheasants and Californian quail in the Stratford district; and, judging by. the number of persons who have obtainto licenses, the feathered tribe will have an arduous task to elude their pun;a ers.

By kind permission of the Minister for internal Affairs, the Toko Settlers Picnic and Sports Association are'holding an art union in aid of funds for the Toko Domain, to be drawn on oi before 31st July. Oil painting to tin value of £2l will be the representing first, second and third. Tickets will he on sale shortly.

.The football season commences n: the Taranaki district on Thursday next. The local seniors try conclusions with Clifton on the local ground, and the third juniors enter tiro arena with the Cliftonites prior to the senioi match. Both teams will, no donor put a strong team in the field, and aithe visitors are a hard team to de feat, the local men should get to work immediately and get all toe training possible, as little or nothing has been done tip to the present. There is some reason to believe that the choice of Delhi as the name of one of the new battleships announced a few weeks back was made -at the suggestion of His Majesty himself, as a remembrance of h;s creation < 1 tin new Capital last December. It is noticeable that out of the four new battleships, three have an Ultimate connection with the Army—Marlborough, Iron Duke, and Delhi. It is being suggested from influential quarters that one of the ships should bear the name of, Havelock, and it is probable that this will be done. A correspondent had been writing to the Mirror about earthquakes, and suchlike disturbances. Another spondent, however, thought lie wool make a further disturbance, so lu wrote: “The earthquakes, upheavals.and other terrible things referred tc by your correspondent are best ox plained by the hypothesis that limitation has its analogue in the nature of the ultimate reality.” This is, you wil agree, highly illuminating and should afford the last word in tins interesting controversy, it would at least stagge: the resources of the Mirror’s correspondent to make an answer.

According to the Tokio correspondent of the. ./no Shimpo, tdie Japanese armoured cruiser Kongo, which if shortly to he launched m England, will have eiglit Klin. guns. Tins will ho a new record in the annals of naval construction. Each of the Kongo’s Min. guns will weigh 85 tons, limn' a shell of ISGOIh. weigh.t. The cost of each round w.M ho C 350; the life of the gun is estimated at 250 rounds. The sister ships of the Kongo will also mount Klin. guns. Some of these guns will he manufactured in England, the rest at the Kuro Arsenal and at the Japan Iron Works. Battleship No. 3, under construction, will be of 30,000 tons. The Japanese Naval Department have the intention of mounting 15in. guns in this vessel. The Portuguese seem to take the’i politics with them everywhere, oven (o the playhouse. The other night, a‘. Braga, for instance, in the d licatr" Vicente, a slight political d’scussion arose between a Republican officer c! the linin' and a Monarchist Councillor, which led to the officer hexing the Councillor’s ears and the Councillor breaking Ids walking stick over the office!’s head. Thereupon the officer’s friends took up the argument, opposed hv the Councilor’s, swords were freely used, and “bullets flew in all directions.” The fire-hose was then brought into play for an hour, and when everyone was drenched and the wounded wore removed, the theatre, we presume, was emptied and closed for the evening, ’lit:' Daily News correspondent. who records the scene, says nothing oi the play. Were the actors, too. joining in the fray? We trust none of them was. among the “twen-tv-two wounded, nine serimiflv.”

The To Wera football Club are holda social and dance in the Strathmore 11. II on May Tlst. in aid of the Club’s ir, A iribbnge match between teams representing Denbigh Road and Stratford is being arranged to take place at Stratford on Thursday evening next. The Jixture between the Stratford and Clifton 11. Juniors will bo played in Victoria Park, the seniors having the Show Grounds for their match against Clifton. Mrs. 11 assail, of the private maternity home, who has been‘in Invercargill owing to the illness of her daughter, leaves on her return to Stratford on Saturday next. The practices hy the Stratford Operatic Society continue to he highly successful, good work and much enthusiasm being the order of the day. Last night the , practice was no exception, and the end of June, when the performance will probably take place, is being keenly looked forward to by the public of Stratford. Mark Twain satirised the French duel effectively, but he is almost outdone by the sober report of a duel between two Parisian dramatic critics, in which the person most seriously injured was one of the seconds, wiio accidentally got in the way of the clumsy swordsmen! It seems strange that Frenchmen, who are in most matters keenly sensitive to ridicule, should not long ago have abolished that most ridiculous anachronism, the affaire d’honneur.

One of the most successful dances of the season was held last night, when the Foresters’ had a “long Plight.” The hall was well Idled, some fifty couples dancing. An excellent floor and good music combined to make the first of the series a great success. A sit-down supper, for which Mrs. Brooking was the caterer, added considerably to the enjoyment of the evenmg. The lion, secretary of the Social Committee, Mr. G. Copestake, is to be congratulated on the excellence of the arrangements. To his energies a great deal of the success of the evening was due.

The correspondent of the Daily £xpress recently declared:—“lf Turkey were to make peace to-morrow, the Arabs would continue fighting as,long as Italy attempted to impose a Government on them. The natives of Tripoli do not for a moment believe ,in the Italian promises of kindness, prosperity, and just government. In Tripoli the Arabs cannot be convinced that Italy has spent all the money the campaign is costing merely to help the natives to wealth and happiness.” Analysing'the present military situation, Mr. Ostl cr gays he believes that so long as Italy is prepared to keep, her warships ready for action she can he fairly secure against the danger of recapture. The cities of Tripoli, Ho as, and Benghazi might, says Mr. Ostler, with a little enterprise, be able to hold the other coast port and enable an advance to be made intoHhe desert.

A police officer is very anxious to express in a manner stronger than words his opinion of a gentleman from the hackblocks who came to him this morning with tales of a stolen purse, and a house in which there were many threves. / Having experience of such cases, the officer asked if the man was Sure that he had not the alleged stolen goods on his very person. The question was met with an indignant denial, and,a, point blank refusal to, a request to he allowed to search; his person. The police officer then took the case in hand and prosecuted enquiries. While doing tins die-was accosted by a man, who said that he had been given a shilling by a man on the railway station if he would go

and inform him that the missing property had been found—stowed away in oiie of his pockets. Such messages are best delivered by proxy, for a police officer, after aIL is only human.

A London Magistrate, the other day, discharged a centenarian-who-had been found drunk and incapable in the Strand. His action might, although there was no defence, have been anticipated, for the privilges of extreme longevity are so incontestable that ivo one has taken the trouble to, make them statutory. If anybody over ninety cured to steal a loaf or knock down." a policeman, we are sure that the community and the victims alike would take it'in good part. But why should there not be an Old-age Charter as well as an Old-age Pension? A piece of parchment entitling the holder to do precisely as he liked would he the sweetest reward human nature was ever offered for persevering through its vale of trouble. At all events, the centenarian has as good a claim to he placed above the law as the trade unionist.

Next July the King will out the first sod of the new South Albert Dock, on which occasion Londoners w ill have the unique opportunity of witnessing a Royal progress down the river tor the ceremony. The new dock is but part of a lingo scheme for the development of the Port of London, the scope of the proposals now before the Port Authority providing for a total expenditure of nearly fourteen and a half milfoils sterling, and covering the area from the, London docks to Tilbury. Lhe

South Albert will be the lirst of two docks intended to accommodate vessels of the largest size, and thus bring fack to Loudon some of ns. foimer prestige as the loading "ort in the world. Although the Port Authority’s programme is an ambitious <uq, :t is undoubted that The Port of London requires many millions spent upon it it it s successfully to compete against the modern docks and facilities afforded by its chief Continental rivals.

Mr. Frank Cockrell, a merchant of Chicago, refused an offer of marriage made to him hy Mrs. Edna Robinson, a wealthy woman of Portland (Oregon), who was recently divorsed. It was at an after-theatre supper party that Mrs. Robinson, recalli>i<r the 'many years of friendship between herself and her host, suggested that a marriage based on such a foundation was bound to he successful and happy. Mr. Cockrell pol tely and tactfully as possible rejected the proposal. Subsequently Mrs Robinson called him up on the telephone and informed him that she loved him deeply, and could not bear to live without him. He replied that hr valued her friendship and wished to maintain it, but he did not cher sh the feelings of a husband towards her. “Then listen, Frank,” came the woman’s reply (according to the Daily Mail). The next moment the report of a revolver shot crashed along the wire. When Mr. Cockrell reached Mrs. Robinson's hotel he found hr with a bullet wound in the region of ho- heart. “1 meant to kill myself outright,” she whispered, “hut, you see, ! have made a mess of it.” The doctors declare that, though Mrs. Robinson’s condition is grave, there is a faint possibility that she will live. McMillan and Frodric undertake all kinds of plumbing work, drainage, electric lighting, hot and cold water rnsT-iiiainnis, •*!••.. and guarantee good work and satisfaction. We are direct importers, and cash buyers of all ma--1 rid used, and give our customers the benefit in reduced prices. McMillan and Eredric, Broadway, Stratford, s