LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 65, 9 November 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

To prevent any possible misconception with regard to the case of the lav re(tried to as i uoearmg before the Juvenile Court at Stratford yesterday, it might be well to state that the lad was not a member of I he Stratford Post Ollico staff.

Mangawcka district, has put up some hig records in the way oi lambing tiiis season (says the local paper). Mr Maher, out oi' -10(1 ewes, doc lied 135 per cent., and on Mr. Russe.l’s Ohingaiti station 5000 ewes jmt i p an exceptional record of 111 per cent.

The November issue of the ‘W indsor Magazine’ is to hand from Mr. H. J. Hopivins, and is a notably varied and interesting fiction number, containing a very attractive budget oi good reading matter. A number of complete stories by favourite authors give a special character to this issue, and all are admirably illustrated by distinguished artists. An agitation is now in progress in London to have the noisy hooting of motor horns forbidden. Representations have been made on the subject to the Home Secretary. Mr. George Moore, the novelist, has written to the Minister protesting that men and women lying in hospitals are being hooted to death.

The sheep guessing competition at the Palmerston Spring Show was won by Mr. W. Bridge, of Feilding, who guessed the correct weight, 921 b i4oz, thus securing the £lO prize, Messrs. W. Bridge, J. S. Black Feilding), and B. C. Eglinton (Bauraai), tied for second place, their respective guesses being 921 b 3oz, 921 b soz, and 92Jb soz.

When the Mayor of Christchurch visited the works at Lake Coleridge on Saturday (says the ‘Lyttelton limes’) he saw a tramline which, lie believes, is the steepest in the world. It is about 100 ft long, and for every nine inches that it proceeds it rises 12 inches. It is so steep that the trucks have tops securely fastened in order to prevent the shingle from falling out.

To win no bigger wager than a box of cigars, a workman, William Berger, Jiving at Montargis, France, undertook the other day to swallow a fork. The foolhardy fellow won the wager, but lie nearly lost his life as a consequence. A surgeon, however, who was promptly summoned, succeeded in removing the fork, and Berger is reported to bo recovering trom the ill-effects of his reckless act. Our esteemed contributor, “Laverock,” asks us to correct an error which appeared in last night’s “Dog Lore.” The amended paragraph reads: “All dogs must be registered by the New Zealand Kennel Club (even if registered in the New Zealand Sheep Dog Trial Club), if entered in any class other than specially local classes, which are confined to dogs owned within a radium of 20 miles of the Show.” In reference to an Auckland telegram re the General Grant expedition, a representative of the May Salvage Company in Dunedin states that May has the necessary'rights over the location of the wreck, and it would be impracticable for anyone else to attempt salvage work there. It is rumoured in Dunedin that a company with a capital of £IOOO is being formed in Sydney at the instance of Captain Sorronsen,who was prominent in connection with the original expedition to recover the treasure.

The West. Coast of the South; Island

has never been conspicuous for Sunday observance, and a member of the Anglican Synod attributed a good deal of the cause to Labour Unions. “If you

go along the street on Sunday morning,” he said, “you will see many men about, and the'stranger might think they were going to .church, but that was not so. Sunday was the great day for Union meetings, and the school committee also met on that day; in fact, on one occasion, he found the school fence being mended on Sunday.

A resident of Kaponga had an exciting adventure at the - Jlpuuake beach on Labour Day. At low tide ho went out on the rocks, and underneath one of these lie espied an octopus. The “devil fish” saw the man at the same time, and immediately advanced to the attack. The man was armed .with a sheath knife, but, not caring to come to close quarters, hunted round and found a long stick, to the end of which ho lashed the knife. The knife was then driven home into the body of the octopus, which in the meantime had been steadily crawling up the rock after its prospective victim. Immediately it was struck the octopus shot up a tentacle, which reached within a few inches of the man’s hand. For a considerable time (states the Okaiawa correspondent of the Hawera ‘Star’) the creature clung to the lance and the rock, and resisted all efforts to dis'odge it. After a while the tentacles began to relax their tenacious grip, the lance was withdrawn, and a few more blows ended the struggle, the octopus being dragged ashore in triumph. Referring to anonymity in the press, the London ‘Spectator’ observes that the scheme in Australia for requiring political articles to lie signed before a general election was the device of a Labour Government, to reduce the_ alleged influence of capital. Thus capital was to be compelled to lower its visor and reveal itself. “One cannot imagine a more foolish plan. But,” says , the ‘Spectator,’ “in this country there is no charge of corruption against an onymous journalism. It is rather a charge of cowardice. Why not be a man and say who you are? In our judgment the demand for more signed articles than there are now is an entire mistake. Our own . feelings at least when we read a political article are that the arguments ought to be offered on their merits, and that it is a matter of profound indifference whether they are written hy John Jones or Tom Smith. Frankly, too, we rather like the notion of oracles emanating from an organ of opinion which has traditions and the sort of impersonal dignity which frequently belongs to great organisations. We find the personality of John Jones and Tom Smith, particularly if we happen to know him, rather a distraction, and occasionally even an impertinence. We fancy that our view corresponds with that of the vast majority of newspaper readers.”

Mrs. Robert ,Grant, a lady well known and highly respected in the Wairarapa, died at Gladstone on Tuesday evening. Mrs. Grant, whose maiden name was Margaret Sutherland, was horn in Sutherlandshire. Scotland, in 1834. She arrived in Melbourne, Victoria, in 1862, after a nine months’ voyage in the “Herald of the Monring,” and a year later she came to New Zealand, where she married Mr. George Grant, of Sutherlandshire. For a time they resided at Lyell Bay, near Wellington. From there they went to the Lower Valley, and finally settled at Gladstone on a farm which became known as Bannockburn. In 1885 Bannockburn became celebrated as the scene of the first High! and gathering in the Dominion. The settlors from the surrounding farms and stations were, many of them, Highlanders, and in the wool shed they regaled themselves with haggis, athol brose and other delicacies, following this up with Tullochgorum and foursome reels, bagpipe music and Gaelic songs and recitations. Mrs. G rant’s husband died about thirty years ago. and since then she has lived occasionally at her Gladstone home and Masterton. She leaves a family of nine sons and en» daughter

—Mrs. A. Stevenson, of Kaitawa, besides 38 grandchildren and two greatgrandchildren. A teaspoonful of Tonking’s Linseed Emulsion three times a day. and flic worst cold is beaten off. Is Cd, 2? 6d. 4s 6d. x

A Bordeaux professor has discovered that electricity cam take the place of food. Still, a Sunday-school treat at which electric currents replaced the staple article would be justly considered a shocking affair.

Coles, a police constable who was charged at the Supreme Court, Nelson, with theft committed while on duty, was sentenced to eighteen months’ imprisonment.

A huge croud, numbering 39,000, assembled on the occasion of People’s Day at the Christchurch Metropolitan Show on Thursday. The weather was splendid, and tlie gate takings £1377 !s. . It should be pointed out that though the extra express trains now being run between Auckland and Wellington do not appear to lie so heavy as the ordinary evening expresses when they arrive and depart at the Auckland Railway Station, the traffic between intermediate stations, especially between Rotorua and Wellington, already fully justifies the running of the trains, states an exchange. Mr. Robert McMillan, when addressing the Country Press Association’s gathering in Sydney last week, told of a -man who described a band programme. He said the band played “Rule, Britannia!” to please the Englishmen present; “The Marseillaise” / was for the Frenchmen ; “The Campbells arc Coming” for the Scotchmen; and “The Wearing of the Green” for the Irishmen. “Then,” he said, “they played “For those in Peril on the Sea,” and that was one for the Germans.

The Wanganui Education Board’s experimental farm at Marton is attracting attention from outside. Under the guidance of the two agricultural instructors of the hoard (Messrs. Banner and Grant), the boys work a plot of five acres. This property has been given by Mr. J. G. Wilson, who also lends his horses, implements, and tools for the work; The board has built a room, which is used as a lecture room and as a store room. Mr. Grant has hopes that the area of land will be extended and stocked with animals, also with a building where the boys could live, so it would then be possible for the boys to stay there for a week and look after the farm, under the supervision of the the board’s instructors.

At the annual meeting of the Taieri and Peninsular Milk Supply Company at Dunedin, the chairman said the prospects of the dairy industry : were never so bright as at the pres- ■ ent time. The difficulty of obtaining suitable labour for milking was seriously felt, with the result that many farmers wore giving up dairying wherever the land is suitable for other products. The system of homo separating would, he was afraid, have a serious effect on the quality of export butter. In his opinion the law regarding the branding of export,butter required serious consideration. At present home-separated cream which had never been near a creamery was branded “Creamery butter.” Whey butter made at a cheese factory was also branded “Creamery butter.” This would probably have a bad effect on New Zealand dairy produce. The monthly meeting of tlie Domain Board was held yesterday afternoon, when there were present: The Chairman (Mr. G. N. Curtis), Messrs. W. P. Kirkwood, T. H. Penn, and R. McK. Morison. A discussion ensiled.on the indiscriminate granting of, pieces of land in the northern, eastern, and other portions of the domains.. It was pointed out that with each grant of land, the grazing fees were reduced proportionately. The Domain Board had insufficient funds already, and this reduction could not ,be faced. However, the Board was quite prepar|ed to grant the three requests for I land, provided the amount lost in | grazing was made up by the tennis j clubs and by the church, which walit--1 ed a horse paddock. The Stratford and W.Y.M.I. Tennis Clubs had both applied for space for six courts each, adjoining the croquet club’s grounds. The following motions were carried: i “That the W.Y.M.I. Tennis Club be j granted permission to lay down six 1 tennis courts in Victoria Park behind I the Wesleyan Church, the ground for I the courts to be laid off under the di- | rection of the Board.” Also, “that in J view of the Domain Board granting | permission for use of a horse paddock J in Victoria Park, all bodies occupying | the Park for sports, recreation, or for | other purposes than 1 grazing be charged a fee of £l. The Board will not bo liable for erection of fences or other purposes.” Sir Gerald Strickland, who succeeds Lord Chelmsford as Governor of New South Wales, is a K.C.M.G., an honj our conferred upon him in 1897, and is 1 the sixth Count Della Catena. Ho I holds the degree of B.A. and LL.B., I and is a barrister-at-law. He was | born at Malta on May 24, 1861, and I is the son of Captain Walter Strickland. E.N., and Louisa Benici, heiress !of Sir Nicholas Sceberras Bologna, I K.C.M.G. He was married in 1890 to Lady Edeline Sackville, eldest daughter of the fourth Earl De La Warn His career has been an interesting one. He received his education at the Oscott College, Birmingham, and the_ Trinity College, Cambridge, and obtained his honours in law in 1887. He travelled round the world in 1883-4, and in 188 G be was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the Universal Volunteers Battalion, Suffolk Regiment. In 1888 he became the Chief Secretary to the Government of Malta, and held various posts in military and public circles, in addition to the presidency of the Maltese Committee of Privileges. He introduced English into Malta as the principal language for education. In 1902-4 he was the Governor of the Leeward Islands. and from 1904 to 1906 he was the Governor of Tasmania. His appointment to the Governorship of Wesern Australia followed, and he still holds the office. He received the honour of C.M.G. for his service as chairman of the Malta Cholera Committee, and for his negotiations in Rome in 1889 regarding the Imperial veto on appointments to the See of Malta he received the thanks of the Colonial Office. While in the Leeward Islands lie was successful in establishing central factories at Antigua for sugar and cotton. His publications include correspondence and remarks on the Constitution of Malta, while he also contributed to the “Encyclopaedia Britannica.”