LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 22, 18 September 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

"Snorting Notes" by "Cicero," will bo Si on p»ge. two of tins issue t„ nnc rear 4472 hours cf bright sun hineae possible; durmg .1910 the actual total was 1300, during 1911 1847 hours. The sheep returns tothe House show the the Dominion to be 23,750,153, a demise of 245,973. The SW gg* is responsible for a decrease of 190,2 b! and,the South Island for a decrease of 49,709'. One of the workl'-s largest, ranches is managed by ■ Mrs. Henrietta M. King of Texas. Mrs. King, who is 78 detains an active part in the running of her property of 1,2j0,00U aC In Japan they hold funeral services at the home of the bride's parents the night she is married. 11ns is to sho\v

that the young lady is dead to Her father and mother. Now Plymouth offers a dual attraction to-morrow in the Hunt Clubs race meeting, and the football watch Manawatu v. Taranaki. Stiattoicl will he well represented. At Bury St. Edmunds, over 200 school children competed torpiiM offered by the school medical officoi to the best set of teeth. Two of the ins prize winners were children boarded out by the guardians. On Saturday and Sunday next Dr. Elizabeth Dunn, of Waiiganui is to deliver a series of Health lalks in Stratford,, as set out in a programme appearing in another column. lhe

work of this lady is highly spoken or by our contemporaries in other places, where addresses have been given by her. , The Stratford Racing Club has made a donation of fivo guineas to the A. and P. Association as a contribution towards the prize list. A Bltodnr amount has also been voted to that kindred body, the North laranaki Hunt Club. , : ! . . The Court list for Friday's sitting of the Magistrate's. Court oieht judgment summons, thirteen civil cases; one information tor permitting drunkenness on licensed >pr<* Wises, one information for breach f a prohibition order, and one tor iu> jrigj* bicycle on the footpath. ' , '"•it is estimated (says'the "Southland. News") that the flax on •Maori Hill Estate (Waiau district) recently purchased by the Government, is •■al'iecl at £SOOO. but the vendor has resorveucutting rights over it for two .years. . At present i two ■ .mills • are. .oper.iUMg Afl the property. The danger of allowing cattle <o . wander in the vicinity of the railway line was exemplified last week,, when a special goods train from Hoiutika ran into a cow shortly after passing Kumara, and the animal was v)rn to pieces Part of the carcase was carried some considerable distance, but the train stuck to the rails. , .

A police report tabled in the New South Wales Assembly shows thai Inst year in Sydney alone 2000 street traffic accidents were reported 28 oi which were fatal. Of these, HOl-oc-curred in connection with trams, IUOI which were fatal. Since the beginning of the present year 25 persons have met their deaths through tramcar accidents

Thus Mr. J. Thomas, sen., at the annual meeting of the Ngaero Co-op-erative Dairy Company, summed up the requirements (necessary in his opinion) for the man who, under present circumstances, "whacks out the whey to suppliers: "He must be as meek as Moses and as patient as Job, the wisdom of Solomon must be his; he needs the politeness of George Washington, and the nerve of Cromwell, while the fightiug ability of Napoleon, Lord Nelson and Jack Johnson—all put together—must top him off!"

A member or the Hospital Board, chatting to a representative of the "Post" this morning, stated that the average number of patients at the hospital last year was ten, out this year it was fourteen. Occasionally there were as many as nineteen patients in the building, with the result that the corridors and quarters which belonged to the staff had to be utilised as well. He stated that the matter would be discussed at the next meeting of the Board, when a suggestion would probably bo made that a cottage should be built close by for the accommodation of the nurses, thus giving extra space.

All the White Star liners are now being equipped with deck seats, which can at a moment's notice be transformed into rafts. Each of these seats measures 9ft in length, and is provided with four metal air cases. One person can instantly change a seat into a life-saving raft by lifting up the front portion, and opening it out flat, in which position it immediately locks itself. The seats are secured to the dock by means of a lashing over a hooked' hinged pin at each end, and should the deck become submerged, the front portion of the seat floats upwards, turns the hook round and tips off the lashing, and so automatically turns itself into a raft ready for use.

Wattle Day was celebrated in Melbourne on a recent Monday, and the of the blossom and the scent of it filled every street. Every chief thoroughfare of the city was patrolled by pretty sellers of the blossoms, clad in white. Miss Grace Palotta, Miss Beckford, and Messrs. Higginson and Leslie, of Williamson's Comic Opera Company, visited the Stock Exchange, and enlivened the proceedings with musical items. An auction sale was commenced nnd several pieces of wattle were knocked down for €2, and many others ranged in price from 7s Gd to 15s. A member of the committee wagered Miss Palotta a guinea against a piece of wattle that she would not dare to kiss the chairman (Mr. Roberts'*. Miss Palotta won tlm bet. The Lord Mayor got "half a hiss" for half a sovereign from Palotta. As tho result of the celebrations over £SOO is being received for charity, and there are a few returns to come in.

The sum of £500,000 is to bo asked for by the Auckland Railway League for expenditure upon provincial railways this year. The "Trade Review" states that about £2,000,000 has been spent in motor cars in Now Zealand during tho last two years. *Aj

It is eighty-three years since the first horse-drawn public omnibus ran in England; the first public motor 'bus ran eight years ago.

The atmosphere at Ashburton one night last week was very keen, and b* degrees of frost were recorded at the Domain weather station. An uncut wedding years old was one of the exhibits in a breach of promise cane in New York, in which the plaintiff was 00 and the defendant 83 years old. Declarations of conscientious objection to vaccination, states the Hon. John Burns, rose from 57,675, or 6.3 per cent., of the births, in 1907, to 218,183, or 28.2 per cent., in 1911. A hardwood tree recently handled on the Upper Yarra (Victoria) yielded pip ings to the value, of £lls. It had -a. diameter of sft 9in at a height of 7ft I from the ground. .

A man was excused from service as a juror at the Hackney Coroner's Court on the ground that he was of a highly neurotic temperament, and it would be detrimental to him to view the bodies.

The largest railway station in the world, so far as area is concerned, is the New York City Station of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, which has an area of 28 acres; followed by the Gare St. Lazarre, Paris, with' 25, and Edinburgh Waverley with 23.

According to an official return on the subject of rat destruction in Melbourne, the number of rodents destroyed by the Council's staff of ratcatchers during the last six months was 4964, and the number of rats paid for at the city destructor under toho bonus system 'for six months May 31, was 21,844.

Shelves containing 120,000 eggs in a house built specially for their preservation collapsed tit Grenoble last month. The yolks and whites of the eggs ran out in a huge stream, and, says a Paris journal, stopped the traffic. The owner, Ml. Bourbon, states that this gigantic omelette will mean a loss to him of nearly £SOOO.

In the village of Erl, in the Tyrol, the peasants dress alike, regardless of sex. Both work hard in the fields and wear canvas or curduroy trousers, heavily nailed boots and slouch hats. And, as if to carry the deception further, the women coil their hair tightly to their heads while the men folk for the most part wear "King Charles', curls hanging to their shoulders. Erl has been called "the happiest village in the world. ' : '

American' women are quickly abandoning cigarettes,' and are now taking to pipe smoking. In smart society it if, now commbn (says a cable message to the Australian papers) to see each lady produce a tiny pipe mounted with gold or mother-of-pearl after dinner and smoke with the men. The wife.of a millionaire has created quite a sensation, by training.her pug dog to smoke ail elegant.meerschaum pipe, the bowl of .which isi s>'e"t with diamonds. 'The oddest-newspaper in the world was one named the "Wochenblatt, which w"as' published in Grunmgen, a small town of some 1200 inhabitants in the Canton of Zurich, in Switzerland. It was the only newspaper m flp place, and was at one and the same time the organ of the Liberal-Conser-vativos ..and:,.the ...Social Democrats. Pages one and two belonged to the Liberals, and pages three and four to the Socialists, and the, two parties abuse, opo another heartily .in its pages. ■! ;;';.'

: Speaking at a. social function at Ascotvale, the .Commonwealth Minister of Defence (Senator Pearce) said never in. its history was Australia so well able to spend money on her defence as at present, and it was rjght that provision should, be made now that they, were able to obtain the money required out of revenue. Referring to compulsory training, the Minister said the defence scheme, like all .other schemes, when fresh, was being subjected to adverse criticism, but he was confident that it was bore to stay. The people generally" believed that, with such a limited population as Australia posossed, they m\ist make sacrifices. A mother's hospital for both married and unmarried mothers will very shortly be available for the accommodation of fifty patients in London, owing to the efforts of- Mrs. Bramwell Booth, of the Salvation Army. The hospital will consist of a number of bungalow.s, each capable of providing for twelve cases, an arrangement which the broad and kindly lines on which the institution is to' be run jspl be seen to be necessary. So, marl J. and unmarried patients will be nursed apart. There will.be a home for Jewish women, and special cases will have special wards.

"The prime duty of the Press all qvgy Europe is to seize every opportunity to abate, to assuage, and to minimise and (as far as they can) to remove international suspicion and. international susceptibility, instead of warming these horrible things into their hateful life." These sententious words fell from the lips of Lord Morley, who was chairman at the great Press gathering in London the other day in honour of the knighting of Sir Edward T. Cook, who had been a colleague of Lords Morley and Milner, in the editorial management of the "Pall Mali Gazette."

Professor Carlton Wells ; of Los Angeles, declares that within 500 years there will be scarcely a woman left on earth with hair on her head, whilst 200 years hence a man with enough hair to make a part will he earning a large salary by exhibitnig himself in museums. An eminent brain. specialist has also doclared (according to a cable message in the Sydney "Sun") that baldness will one day be the fashion for both men and women. The time will come when, to have curly locks, will he looked on as a sign of mental weakness. They have been celebrating the centenary of gaslight in London. It is interesting to recall the arguments advanced against the new illuminant. One hundred years or more ago the clergy denounced it as ifpvofamty," as "contrary to the : jmd as "endeavouring to tulW night ipS) day in opposition to the Divine order." The lamplighters and the men engnged in the whale fisheries opposed gaslight as "certain to destroy their means of livelihood." The nobility did not want it because the brightness would bring vulgar crowds close to their mansions at night, and they actually succeeded in keeping the gas out of exclusive and aristocratic G-ros-wnor Souare until the year 1842. Manual labourers petitioned against gas because it would lessen the demand for their services; and, strangely enough, even eminent authors like Sir Walter Scott, and distinguished seientists like Sir Humphrey Davy, did their best to prevent the substitution of gas for the old-fashioned oil and can:!le?,

A gold watch which was lost during floods thirty years ago has boon recovered in a creek at Wathalla \ ictoria). Mr. Whitolaw, a surveyor, and a man named Gordon were drowned during the floods, but Gordon's watch, despite many efforts, could not bo found. The watch lias now boon recovered in a good state of preservation despite its long immersion in the water.

The finning of the New Zealand hemp market (says the "Southland News") has brought about a revival of the flax-milling industry, evidences of which are vory marked throughout Southland at the present time. In Otago and Southland there are ovei 40 irills either in actual operation or in tin course of making aiiaugement,-' for starting. Of thes;) about 3o are located in various parts of Southland. This time last year only a dozen mills wore in operation, which goes to s-low that the revival is a big one. The labour difficulty has been overcome in the majority of instances by the installation of up-to-date machinery which does the work of three men to each stripper. "Come over and play with my little boy, sonny," called the pleasant-faced now neighbour to the solemn-faced urchin on the fence between the two houses. "Is your little boy ailing from anything'?" came the child's earnest question. "No, indeed, sonny. Why?" "Cause I've had my tonsils taken out an' my adenoids removed an' my apondix cut out an' I've been vaccinated an' serumized for typhoid an' spinal meningitis, an' I've had anti-toxin injected, an' I do hope 1 won't need to have anything done to me this year, _so's for a while I can have a bit o' fun!"

Among the many wonders of the vast Florida swamps there is nothing more remarkable than the "blushing tree." It actually blushes when the rain falls upon it. The mysterious and beautiful glow of colour which, it assumes in a rainstorm baffles description. Graduallv, yet unmistakably, the green hue gives way to pink. In a few minutes the green fades from sight. Only a few half-hidden spots beneath broad branches and on its trunk is there a tinge to bo seen. The tree is as pink as the cheeks of a healthy girl. After an hour or more, when the shower has passed over, the wonderful tree . resumes its familiar green once more.

Neglected colds kill countless women and children every winter. Tonkiig's Linseed Emulsion is a sovereign, ;>;.cl immediate cure. Is 6d, 2s Gd, 4s Jd -