LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 39, 9 October 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

“Sporting Notes,’ by “Cicero” oppear on page 2 of to-day’s issue. It was reported in Eltliarn yesterday that as high as 12s 6d a day was being offered • for labour—ordinarily handy men—for the Manga told factory,' and that these were not obtainable;

According to information receive i in Wellington, two more whalers and a factory ship for the New Zealand whaling industry are at present on their way out. The whalers are named Norwegia and Zealandia, each of 100 tons, with a length of 11.2 feet and a beam of 21 feet 5 inches. They left Sandefjord on 6th August, bound for New Zealand, and are expected at Newcastle any time now for coal. The factory ship is named the Polynesia. She is a vessel of about 3827 tons, and was formerly known as the Tokio. The whalers have left Hobart for New Zealand.

Regarding the price of fat beef, an uuloubtod authority the other day expressed the opinion that the day was not very far distant when a bullock

going SOO lbs. could not be bought for under £ls, or, perhaps, £l(i. The prevailing epidemic of cheese-making, with the attendant slaughter of the calves, the same gentleman considered, was one of the factors making for sudli a state of affairs.

According to a fetter received by a lady resident of Auckland from Winchester, Hants, England, a phenomenally wet summer has been experienced at Home. Day after day has been wet, gloomy, and depressing, with the sun scarcely ever “It is affirmed by very old residents,” she writes, “that there were more wet days in June, July, and the beginning of August than had been known for years past. One strange result has been mentioned to me. The money that had been saved up for holiday trips that never came off lias been diverted into business channels and shops, theatres, and places of amusement are doing exceedingly well. But I long for Auckland’s bright sun and blue sky, which my friends believe cannot be so constant as I always tell them they are.’ Thirteen is proverbially an unlucky number, but for Dr. Woodrow Wilson, thl Democratic candidate for the Am-

jrican Presidency, it lias hitherto >roved a sort of mascotte. T)r. Wilson was the thirteenth president of :he Princeton University, and was ?lectod in the thirteenth year of his professorial career at that well-known American seat of learning. In fact, all the most important events of his life were associated in some way or other with the number 13. It is, therefore not niton-ether n hnd omen

that the railway ear in which he is sleeping and eating while on his present campaign should contain exactly 13 persons, the number it will continue to accommodate until the end of the Presidential fight. The biggest deal in landed property in the history of New York was made recently, when a corporation headed by Mr. T. Coleman Dupont bought the site, No. 120. Broadway, on which the Equitable Life 'lnsurance building stood before it was burnt down last January. The land cost £2.800,000, or £56 8s a square foot, which is con- / sidered cheap for property in the heart of New York’s financial section. The corporation intends +£> erect a skyscraper 36 storeys high, costing £3,200,000. The building is expected to be completed in ■ May, 1914. and although it will not be as high as the Woolworth Tower, now nearing completion. by about 20 storeys, tbe now Equitable building will be the largest office building in the world, occupying a whole city block.

An interesting custom of the blacks in the Kimberley district of West Australia was spoken of by Dr. Eric Mjoberg, of Sweden, in Sydney ._ The blacks, said the doctor, are in the habit of “burying” their dead in a tree, in which they place him on a litter. They don’t believe in a natural death, and always find somebody guilty of the demise of their tribesman. What they do is to place a number of stones underneath the litter on which the corpse rests,; calling the stones by'the name of each person the deceased knew hr life. In a week the body begins to decay, andi the fluid from it flows down. The name of the atone ion. which it drips is taken to be the name of tlie man w7io ; murdered the dead black. The whole tribe then set out after that man, andt slay him. most ’effectually;'• In the tase of a dead boy, which was shown m one of the lantern slides exhibited by Dr. Mjoberg, the latter said that the drips fell on a stone' which represented a native named Tarrago. ’ “Thereupon the tribe,” said the doctor, “sent /a message to Tarrago informing him that they would like to see him very much. But Tarrago heard of the matter, and travelled with haste to fresh territory.”

I fisome five months Mr. Albert j Peppier, a resident of Christchurch, 1 and though a German by birth, a naturalised British subject of over 30 years’ standing, conceived the idea, of revisiting his native land. He took out a ticket and proceeded to Germany, via England, but to his astonishment, as soon as he set foot in the Fatherland he felt the clutch of the military fist, and on protesting, was informed very politely that he was the son of his father, and a German subject who had evaded the, law of conscription, and must there and then proceed to make good the deficiency. Protest seemed unavailing, until at last he declared himself to he a naturalised British Officialdom, used to every wile, shilled, and asked the traveller for his papers. Ho had not got them—they were in New Zealand. So—well they would see—he could send for them, but until they arrived he must not leave Germany. Mr. Peppier had spoken the strict truth as to being a naturalised subject of King George, the papers were duly forwarded to Germany, and should be there by this time. Lockjaw from the cricket ball is the latest medical scare. Recalling that an objection was recently made to an Australian cricketer who used resin on bis fingers in order to get a better bold of the ball, the “British Medical Journal” says this is far better than the plan adopted by many other bowlers. The writer continues:—One of our best professional bowlers wets the tips of his fingers against his tongue every time that he walks from the wicket on his way to take his run before delivering the ball. And we have seen a member of our own profession, an excellent all-round cricketer of the present day, do exactly the same thing. We should have expected him to set a better example. The licking of his fingers-hy the bowler is nearly as bad as the licking of the ball itself. Were there a crack or other small raw surface upon the bowler’s lip it would be a perfectly simple thing for the genus of lockjaw which the ball had picked up from the dust of the field—iheir natural home—or even for the pallid, cqrkserew-like microbe of another terrible disease, to find an entrance info the living tissue, and there to establish its loathsome colony.

A Gorman cabinetmaker has constructed a pair of water shoes, with the help of which he walks upon the water. He has already crossed Lake Ammer, in Bavaria, 12,000 feet wide, in two hours. These water shoes are really two long narrow boxes of pine wood, snuared off at the rear <pnd. and shaped like the bow of a boat inrront. To preserve his balance the traveller grasps two upright posts. At the outer edge of each boat or shoe three small paddles shaped like rudders are fastened. These move on hinges, and are worked by a sliding mechanism that is operated by the traveller pushing his feet forward alternately, somewhat like a boy learning to skate. He can travel rapidly and with safety on smooth water, although the apparatus is probably not fit for use in stormy weather. Those who have tested it assert that it does not tax the strength as much as rowing a moder-ately-sized boat. The inventor uses bis water shoes almost every day for crossing the lake and transporting his ton’s and a moderate iimcns: o; :.ig-

The local Chinese are to-day celebrating the anniversary of the Chinese Republic.

The Opnnake-Okato cycle road race will be held on the 30th hist., starting from Opnnake at 11 a.m. Sounding taken on the Wanganui bar yesterday showed a depth of 22ft Gin, which is six inches better than any previous sounding.—Press Association wire. A lady once wrote to twenty-five friends and told them she was giving a “White Elephant” party, and that each guest was to come and bring the absolutely most useless thing she possessed—and the whole twenty-five women turned up with their husbands. •JH The firebell rang last night shortly ■' before 8 o'clock, and the Brigade turned out in good style, only to find that some bullrushes and other weeds were blazing harmlessly in a creek in the Public Works Department’s paddock south of the Victoria Bridge. “New Zealand is the only country in the world- where there is no colour line,” said the Hon. Dr. Pomare in the course of a speech at the re-union of the Christchurch High School uld Boys. “If war was declared to-morrow I am certain that you would find the pakeha and Maori fighting together in defence of the British Empire.” The retiring secretary of the Taranaki Centre of the N.Z. Athletic and Cycling Union (Mr. J. H. Thompson) informed a “Post” reporter this morning that the prospects generally for athletic matters during' the ensuing year were very bright. He was of the opinion that the new blood on the executive would tend towards the general good of sport in Taranaki. The Chinese Government has appointed October 10th as a day of rejoicing in commemoration of the commencement of the revolution, winch led to the establishment of the Kepublic. In Wellington the Chinese, recognising Che inconvenience +o the general public of this holiday following immediately on a half-holiday, are celebrating the holiday to-day. the local shops are also closed to-day though the reason is far to seek, since Thxirsday is our half-holiday. It is reported that a couple of Wellington detectives are at present at French Pass investigating'the suspicious death of the man Brisenden, which occurred a few weeks ago. Ihe unfortunate man, it will be remembered, was one of the crew of the Ternx Nova. His body was found in the water, but the inquest showed death was not due to drowning, hut evidently as a result of a fall, the neck being broken. Foul play was suspected. Desirous of divining the intentions of the Oriental section of the laundry industry in regard to the rise noticeable in’the washing bill, a Wellington reporter sought speech of one Joe Lee, and presented a “pidgin” statement Of what had happened in the “Enlopean” section. Mr. Joe Leo smiled blandly. “AT li’,” said he. “Allee paipe now.” Which, boina; subsequently interpreted, meant that the Chinese laundrymen had previously boon .doing business at a higher rate than his ‘‘Enlopean flen.” The Court of Appeal to-day in Wellington are hearing argument in the case the Merchants’ Association v. the ! King,, an appeal from the decision by i the Chief Justice (Sir Robert Stout), ■ i /granting tini order that the Association , i j should produce and : allow > an inspect , lition of their minute >book. Sir Robert V stout held he could order: the- procluc; i ,-tion of the minute book even before he E ; could »ay s what the evidence therein i i might or might not be revelant to that action. Appellants contend: that information was sought to form the basis of other proceedings. Messrs Skerrett, , K.C., and Treadwell, appeared for applicants, and the. Solicitor-General, and Sir John Findlay for the Crown. Mr. C. P. Lindegreen, Dominion Organiser of the New Zealand Political Reform League, mentioned last evening that ho was endeavouring to 1 get Mrs! N. Ton Stunner, : honorary organiser of the ladies’ branch of the t New Zealand Political Reform Lea- ■ guo, to address a meeting in Stratford and form a ladies’ branch hero.

■Mrs. Yon Sturmer would probably arrive in Stratford next month. The ■ President (Mr. T. C. Fopkes) paid a compliment to the woi*k accomplished by the ladies of Stratford in the : Cause of Reform, and stated that lie held no doubts as to the success of such a branch if it were formed. 1 A Christchurch detective who had knowledge of the facts told a reporter that he had come upon a very honest hoy selling the “Evening News.” On Tuesday a man came in from the country and gave the lad a sixpence, as he thought, for a copy of the journal, and received 5d change. The next afternoon the same man was stopped by the boy, who reminded him that it was not a sixpence he had given but a half sovereign. The balance, he added, could be got from the office. The man thought awhile, then went and got the money. He gave the hoy 3s for himself, and others who were aware of the circumstances bought two dozen papers from him.