LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 88, 9 December 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Tho handsome and valuable dial lennc cup for shooting presented I). Lady Islington is now on view i. Wellington. The cup is of sterling silver, with handles, and stands o; an ebony plinth—on winch are silve shields for the winners’ names to b engraved thereon. The cup alon* measures about a foot m height, an* hears the following inscription: ‘ Aei Zealand Senior Cadets. Dominion Ir ter-Company Challenge Cup, for Shoot ing. Presented by Her Lxcellenc; Lady Islington, 1912.” A* peculiar accident happened to _ai angler (reports the Tiraaru Post). Hwas fly-fishing in the strong wind when he got a good fish on and i. its struggles to get free, it took th fly, cast, part of the line, and tin top joint of the rodall in one mai plunge to the bottom. This is an angler’s yarn, it is a true incident costly for the fisherman. It is sup posed that the strong wind tangled tin line round the rod top, so that tin reel could not play, and the resul was a general smash-up. The insurance rate for kinemato graph operators in the theatre or wa is apparently higher than the rate o insurance for combatants. Accordin' to tho London Times a policy was late ly effected in London for six month, on the lives of five hundred officer,in the Bulgarian Army. .Only tin risk of death by wounds was covered the risk of death by sickness bemj specifically excluded. covered for either £loo or £-00. 1 h premium paid was £8 8s per cent. Ai insurance for six months uas tin same day effected on the byes o kinematograph operators proceeding ti the Balkans at £lO 10s per cent fo six 'months, which was rather mor than was quoted a week previously Although business was actively trails acted at £lO 10s, underwriters raise: their rates later to £ls 15s.

Touching upon the regrettable de pletion of tlio ranks of tlie lUaon inc In- the hand of death, Mr J. T. M Hornsby at a house-warming in tlx Wairarapa, feelingly deplored the los interest in the Maori, for whom h had the greatest affection By tli provisions of an Act winch had >ce placed upon the Statute Book the IS a five people were faced by the dread ful possibility of being completely ah sorbed by the pakeha. There arc evei some Maoris who are trying to d f away with their own race, and win themselves no longer desire to he i Maori. Mr Hornsby considered tha steps should be taken to pieseiv from extinction and oblivion such dis tingnished character and nohle tiaits as those possessed by the Maori raci A story of an adventure at a shoot mg gallery in Auckland was told h* a named Kokchee Toree who went to Mr Eccles’s chemis shop on Fridav evening last nith pea rifle bullet in the fleshy part o' his nose. According to the victim ho was looking on at a shooting gal lory in Queen Street and was standiii} behind a man who was shooting, whei a bullet rebounded from the meta shield behind the target and entered Ids nose. The man who was iiinp at. the time stated that directly aftelie had fired a shot he heard an ox elamation behind him, and looking round, found that the Japanese had r bullet in his nose. The bullet waf extracted by Dr. do Clive Lowe, wig was in the shop at the time, and thr victim went away, apparently little the worse for the accident.

Secret service men of the I nited States Government arc searching the South Sea Islands for a certain Hawaiian from the island of Maui, whr it is believed has been selling poisonous scorpions to Chinese in Honolulu anxious to get rid of their’ children Infanticide, by scorpion and otherwise, among the Chinese, has increased so terribly that the authorities have started a searching inquiry, which ha: led to the hunt for the scorpion dealer of Maui. Practically all the babies that die mysteriously are unwanted gilds, and in nearly every case tinparents promptly ascribe the death to the bite of a scorp’on, and are ready to produce some more or less poisonous insect in support of the statement. The authorities have no doubt that infanticide by scorpion bite is a growing practice, and orders have been given to hunt down the scorp.on dealer at any cost.

In oi'der to find out if the population was sufficiently large to enable Ngaruawahia to separate from the County (states the Te Awamutu Post) a census was taken last week and disclosed the fact that the town contains 650 people, being 150 above the required number lor separation, and 172 above the last official census taken about the same period of last year. A canny Scot once made the discovery that London was a very expensive place to go to ; but if he had gone to Dunedin at Show time of London, and had to part with 6iPj —“cash in advance”—for hod and breakfast before he was shown to his bedroom, it is just possible (says the Tuapeka correspondent of the Star) he’d have broken down completely, and passed out altogether. That was the charge exacted at one establishment in Dunedin, where ordinary “bed and breakfast” can be obtained for 3s. Several of the country folk who were in town last week came to the conclusion that some, at least, of those engaged in catering for the public were out to make money.

An Ashburton farmer who has just returned from a visit to the Old Country, tolls a story, which is reported in the Guardian, illustrative of the average farmer’s wife’s desire to belittle New Zealand produce, and also exhibit her knowledge of geography. The incident happened in Ayrshire, and is guaranteed as “strictly true.” The guid wife: “Aha! Yer New Zealand butter is no sae good as ye were sayin’, Mr K— tells me that twa shipments cam’ in an’ it wasna guid. It was tainted.” The New Zealander: “That is rather a serious charge. Can you tell me at what factory the butter was made, and what port it was shipped from, and the name of the vessel in which it was-shipped?” The guid wife: “Oh, I dinna ken oeht aboot that. But it was some place in Queensland, onyway I” We often hear of three acres and a cow, but at the meeting in the Sydney Town Hall recently to form a “Twilight” home for aged women, the suggestion was put forward for a slightly smaller area of ground and a kitten. “Oh, a full-grown cat, surely!” came as an aside. “I think that women, wherever they are, will have pots,” remarked the speaker of the moment. “I am sure they Avill want something young about them. Why I, or you or you (pointing down the row of seated women) would he unbearable if we were always cooped up with only old people. We ought to have young folks in the home as well as the aged, and not think about being old.” A timely suggestion that all the young people available should be encouraged to visit the home saved'the situation.

Barmaids in the Dominion, even under present conditions, have an enviable lot as compared with 'their unfortunate sisters in similar employment in the Old Country. A Dannevirke licensee, just arrived from a trip to the Old Country (says the local paper) learned while on his tour that in Killarney at least in good class hotels the fair Hehes go on-duty at 8 a.ra., and remain in the bar dispensing “the amber tinted pathway to the soul” and other more or less comforting liquids until 11 p.m., without a break, even having their meals taken to them. They get no half-holidays, have to work in the bar from 12 noon to 3 p.m. on Sundays, and get the magnificent remuneration of 16s_ a ■ week. Fancy any of the Dominion barmaids working under such conditions for such remuneration. It is too much to ask any sensible person to'imagine in "these days of unionism and industrial strife. The Postmaster-General, discussing at Dunedin the future of wireless, says it is proposed, when the Imperial chain of wireless stations is completed, that arrangements be made for the , transmission of messages from Australia to the United Kingdom for 2s per word, against 3s per cable, though lie has no official information on the matter, which will require some discussion. It is impossible to predict, what will be the ultimate development ■ of wireless. Within the last two or three weeks he had received a confh / dential communication from which there is every reason to believe that wireless telegraphy over long distances of two thousand miles or more will be possible, at a speed much greater than, that of submarine cables. A station similar to that at Awanui is to be erected near the Bluff, and will be gone on with immediately the latter is finished. With station at Awanui, Suva, Raratonga (which is dependent on French action at Tahiti) and Tahiti. The Pacific will be widely ranged. He is hopeful that the conference next year of representatives of Canada, Australia, and New Zealand will lead to practical steps for the laying of an Imperial cable between Canada and Britain.

The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals should be interested in a lawsuit arising from the will of a Russian Princess who died early this year. Among her bequests was one for £IOOO to a toy terrier, Gipsy, with the proviso that her pet. should be entrusted to the charge of a certain very old friend, whom she named. Within six mouths Gipsy followed her mistress to the grave; and, as even the most daintily-fed and luxuriouslyclothed and bejewelled of toy terriers cannot run through money at the rate of £BOOO a year, her legacy was practically intact when she passed away, rite lady who had tended Gipsy to the last took it for granted that on t.ho dog’s dcatli she would succeed to the property; but she has not been allowed to remain in possession of it undisturbed. A claim lias been formulated on behalf of an offspring of Gipsy’s, who, being a puppy of high degree, was duly registered at birth. The claim lias been heard, hut as the question is one of momentous concern to the canine race, the judges arc taking some time to consider their verdict. Six stowaways on the ionic were brought before Dr. McArthur at Wellington. 'i'he six men stowed away on the lonic at Hobart, and all they could say in defence was that there were no other ships available and that they had worked all the way across the Tasman. A good story is told of one of the men, Bernard O’Reilly, who is said to have been the chief Actor in a strange comedy. It is that when the lonic was lying out in the roadstead just prior to sailing from Hobart, an excited man, presumably a passenger, dashed down the landing steps, fell into the company’s steam pinnace, and with breathless exhortations urged that ho be immediately conveyed to the liner, which was just weighing anchor. All steam was put on, and the launch shot out in pursuit. The lonic’s gangway was lowered and the passenger scrambled aboard am’dst congratulations from the others round the gangway. “Faith, ] thought I’d nearly missed her.” he gasped. This was O’Reilly and this was the way lie left Hobart. With the others ho was fined £-1 10s and given the option of spending a month ui gaol. As the six men only possessed a, total capital of one shilling and nincpencc their late was sealed.

A movement is on foot amongst ' European residents of Huntly to erect a monument to the memory of the late “King” Mahuta. Subscription lists are to be opened at once. Referring to the training ship Amokura, the Prime Minister stated that a very much larger sh'p was to be equipped to carry on the work of training New Zealand boys for the sea. Edward Elam, a young farmer, of Stamford, Kentucky, died recently from hydrophobia, which developed a few days after he had been bitten by a negro in a fight. The Bega correspondent of the SydTelegraph reports that a Jersey cow in Mr John Koellner’s herd Bega, is giving three gallons ot milk a day, testing 0.4 in the morning and 8.2 in the evening.

It has been announced that the new titles of the Balkan sovereigns will be; Emperor of Bulgaria, King of Montenegro, King of Albania, and King ol all the Serbs. It is also stated that Triple Alliance intends to make the Duke of Abruzzi King of Albania. A record has just been established by a Ford Pioneer motor car, which covered the journey from Auckland to Wellington, via- Taupo, Napier, and Pahiatua, 496.1 miles, in two days seven hours. Deducting stops, an average running speed of 21 miles an hour was maintained. A .Christmas tree and sale of produce is to be held in the Foresters’ Hall on Thursday, December 12th, in connection with the Stratford Presbyterian Church. “Father Christmas” is to be present in the afternoon and evening and therefore the children should be taken along. The presence of the noxious weed, ox-eye daisy, is noted on several sections in Stratford borough. The wped has been allowed to flower in placet, along Pembroke Road, and one section in particular looks quite pretty from the road just now, leading tin uninformed to imagine that the dais; was neing cultivated. Stratford presented a more than ordinarily busy appearance on Saturday, even for a week-end. The country was in town in force rejoicing ii: tire summer’s day and shopping. T was a harvest time for the man behind the (counter. Yesterday’s weather was superb in its wealth of golden radiance. . The fog that followed last evening disappeared at the sight o' Old Sol to-day, and again we all rejoice and ate glad. The services at the Roman Catholic Church, Stratford, were special, and there were large attendances of wpr shippers throughout the day. The early morning service denoted the commencement of the “Forty Honrs’ Adoration,” while a large number of young people celebrated their first Communion. The Rev. Father Maples offi dated. ■• ■ I The winners of the various event; at New Plymouth dt the Fire Brig ades’ demonstration on Thursday re ceived gold, medals, and the secern prizes consisted of silver medals witraised centres in gold. In additim to the above medals which were pro vided by the executive (states the Herald), special gold medals were pre sentecl by? Messrs W. J. Williams,; S. J. Whiteford, and Captain W. H Griffiths. “In this land of free and compulsory education, do you mean to teh me that you cannot read or write?’ “Yes, sir,” The question was made by Mr T, W. Stringer, K.C., during the hearing of a case at the Chrstchurch Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, and the reply, came-from a jockey who was giving evidence regarding a certain rabehorse. “Extraordinary,” mur mured Mr Stringer. “Where were yon born?” “In Oamaru,” said the witness.

The Royal Alfred Aged Merchant Seamen’s Institution, winch carries on the great humane work of grant.ng a home or a small pension to tnose British merchant seamen, who, after the age of sixty years, are considered past further service, is making a specup appeal for funds. In a communication from the Secretary, Mr J. Bailey Walker, 58 Fenchurch Street, London, E.C., the ' writer says: “Although thousands of these aged public servants have been given a home or pecuniarily assisted by this Institution, the tide of deserving old sailor appli-r | cants flow® day by day, and we are powerless to stem it until new friends Come forward with their annual subscriptions or donations.”

A serious fire occurred at New Plymouth on Saturday resulting in Messrs J. H. Cock and Co.’s large warehouse being gutted. The insurances arc £I7DU in the London, Liverpool, and Globe Office. Messrs Cock and Co.’s stock was insured for £3400 in the same office, and Messrs Archibald Clark and Co., who leased part of the building, had their stock insured for about £6OOO, in the New Zealand and South British Offices. A suspicious circumstance in connection with the outbreak, says the News, and one that will probably form the subject of an exhaustive inquiry, is the fact that the fire originated in an open lean-to at the side of that portion occupied by Messrs A. Clark and Sons.

In the tramway case in Melbourne before the Arbitration Court, Mr Justice Higgins commented on the great number of dismissals of unionists by the Brisbane Tramway Company. “Supposing,” he said during the case, “I do not order you to give preference to unionists, will you undertake, for your company, that you will not discriminate between unionists and nonunionists, and that you will treat the interests of unionists and non-union-ists upon their merits?” Mr Frew (who appeared for the Tramway Co.): “I will undertake to consult the company at once,” Hid Honor: “1 desire you to. lam loth to tie the hands of any company as to preference to unionists, supposing your company is willing to undertake not to discriminate hereafter in the matter.” Mr Frew: “Victimisation.” His Honor: “I did not use that word; it is bad English.”

Figures, it ha« been said, can be made to prove anything, A case in poin .M? shown in the discussion over the iVw South Wales public debt. The Minister for Works proves to the satisfaction of his party that the indebtedness per head of the population since the Labour Government took office had increased by only 14s 6d per head, while the Opposition, on the other hand, after critical analysis, make it out to be something over £2 4s lid. ,Nd doubt the position is on a par w'th that of our Dominion in the days of the late Liberal Government, when there was always considerable discrepancy between Sir Joseph Ward’s figures and those of the members of the then Opposition. What Treasurer Allen will have to say to the London financiers in. the coming months should make interesting reading when compared with his figures of the “good (or had?) old timed”!