LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXV, Issue 9, 9 January 1913, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Bringing coals to Newcastle would appear to be hardly ‘in it,” with tak‘ing sand from Wanganui to Non Plymouth; still, the fact remains that there were two trucks of rivei sand eu mute for New Plymouth In the early train this morning, ‘ and these were labelled Wanganui. A railway official stated that the sand; was screened at New Plymouth, and then utilised by drivers of the locomotives for the sanding apparatus when the rails are slippery.

]t is rather interesting to note tin comradeship which exists between regiments in the Imperial and Colonial services, in all parts of the world. During the past few months, negotiations have been going on between the nth Regiment Taranaki Rifles, and others, for affiliation, and Captain Dampen has now received word that this affiliation has been effected with the 57th Regiment (Middlesex), Duke of Cornwall’s Own, better known as “The Die Hards,” to which regiment Captain Dampen was attached before joining the New Zealand Defence Forces.

The body, of the late Mr Rboddy MacGregor, who was lost overboard from the Tangihna as the bowling party of which he was a member was returning to Auckland from Dargavillo on the night of the Ith December, was recovered on Friday. It was found floating off •Beach Point b\ Captain Edward Pook. The Dargaville police were communicated with, and they went down and took* charge of the body, which was brought on to Aratapu. ' After the long immersion in the water the features were quite unrecognisable, but identity was established by means of the watch and chain and other property found in the clothing. As an inquiry had already been held the Coroner did not deem an inquest necessary (states the North Auckland Times), and gave a

certificate of burial on proof of identification, The remains were conveyed by the Tuirangi for interment at Auckland.

Your best companion on your weekend trip is a packet of Recent Cigarettes. Smoke them and share in the Great Free Gift Scheme. s

It is stated in W ellington that at least two important Labour measures will be introduced by the Government when Parliament next assembles. One will consolidate the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act and the other the Shops and Oliices Act. Each Bill will also embody the policy proposals of the Government.

In the Supreme Court, Taranaki District, on the 21st December, his Honor .Mr Justice Cooper granted probate of the will of Eleanor Askew, late of Midhirst, widow, deceased, to Francis Koightley and Askew Keightley, both of Midhirst, the executors appointed by the will. Mr Stanford (Spence and Stanford) was counsel in support of the application. The Government will, it is understood, open for settlement very shortly the Slierenden block in Hawke’s Bay. The block consists of the Sherenden Estate and some similar estates adjoining which have been acquired and consilidated into one block for reading and other purposes. The whole of the land will be made available for settlement almost at once.

Cases are to be brought shortly by the Police Department to finally determine whether power is given by the legislation passed last session to exclude unregistered barmaids from employment in private bars and portions of hotels other than public bars. The Crown Law Officers have already reported stating that the legislation of last session meets this requirement. “Carpenters are in great demand by employers, not only in Wanganui, but all up the Main Trunk line and other parts of my district, and I could place a large number of competent men in employment at once,” remarked the local Labour Department’s inspector to a Wanganui Herald representative on Monday morning.

This story of “the biter -bitten” is taken from an exchange:—JAh Kim dropped a five-pound note of his own manufacture in the street at Shanghai, and lay in wait till Ah Wong picked it up. Ah Kim then forced Ah Wong to give him a one-pound note as his share of the booty. Ah Kim offered the note in payment for some tobacco, only to find that it was the handiwork of a rival forger, and in the end he obtained twelve months’ free lodging in gaol. A serious accident was narrowly averted on the itoterson River* on Roxing Day (statellrxhe Sydney Daily Telegraph). The steamer Outhrey, with 300 excursionists aboard, bound for Paterson, struck a rock at high tide. The impast caused the vessel to list till her deck was awash. -An oil launch and some small boats on the l iver were quickly to the steamer’s assistance, and landed 250 passengers, who then walked to Mindaribba railnay station, in order to return to Newcastle. Others remained on board till the steamer Shamrock, sent from Newcastle, arrived on the scene.

A Masterton correspondent writes: If an index of the prosperity of the Wairarapa were needed, it- is to be found in the bankruptcy returns. These have just been issued. A comparative statement for the past three years speaks for itself. In 1910 there were twenty-four bankruptcies, with £9922 Os lOd in unsecured liabilities. In 1911 the number had fallen to eighteen, with £5992 7s 6d in liabilities.- Last year there were only thirteen registrations in insolvency throughout the whole district, with unsecured liabilities amounting to £4OOB 14s sd. ,

Considerable interest was created at the Olympia Cycle' Show by one of the exhibits on the Scott stand, where the new Laird-Menteyne-Degaille machine gun, which is being manufactured by the Coventry Ordnance Works, has been mounted on a mo-tor-bicycle. The handiness of the gun in this position is somewhat remarkable, and as its weight is only 1611) it can easily be carried in the firing and , skirmishing line like a rifle. There is a decided advantage in the fact that the gun can be carried on the bicycle itself and not in the trailer, as in the case of the Maxim. It is stated that successful trials have been carried out with the gun at Enfield and that a trial order has been received from Canada. “I cannot understand your Council wishing to retain in its Borough so insanitary a stables,” writes Mr Herbert Chesson, District Health Officer, to the Stratford Borough Council. It is now quite a long time since the Department condemned the Club Hotel stables, and the Council took the matter in hand, passing a resolution to the effect that the buildings were not insanitary, and that minor repairs only were necessary. In his letter, Mr Cresson says: “I am afraid I cannot agree with your Council in this matter. The least that could possibly be done to make these stables at all decent would be the- removal of the present flooring entirely, the laying down of new floors in good cement, etc., etc.” In the letter before this, the Health Officer would not hear of anything -but complete annihilation, eo his present demands are not quite as exacting as formerly. At the present time New Zealand is practically the only market open to the Cook Islands,' and Auckland in return supplies the group with most of its requirements in the way of meat, butter, and merchandise. A strange thing, howeer, struck Judge Mac Cormack during his eleven months’ sojourn in the group, says the Auckland Star. In all the islands there is a big and growing demand for vehicles. ' Yet New Zealand manufacturers have no say in the Cook Island market. Hundreds of American gigs and wagons are imported, and they are landed at Raratonga for something like £l4 cheaper than the New Zealand made article, despite the fact that the American manufacturer has to pay a duty of 33 1-3 per cent, while the Dominion vehicle can he imported free of duty. Seeing that labour in 'America is as dear as it is in New Zealand, the. position is a somewhat peculiar one. For perhaps the first time in the history of American Courts, a Judge lias ordered a man to refrain from work in order to keep peace in his family. The ease, the Chronicle 4N, is that of a hard-working man who married a woman with a fair income, relieving him of the necessity to work. The man, Joseph Cirsch, worked for the sheer love of* it, but was arrested on a complaint from his wife because the fact that he worked disturbed the household. She complained that she could not stand bis conduct any longer, and asked the Judge to put him under bonds not to work. “Do you mean that lie is overworking himselft” the Judge asked. “No,” the wife replied, “1 mean that work does not agree with him and that he ought to be made to stop it. He is a moulder, and a good one; but when be is paid off he buys liquor, and then comes home and beats me. 1 have got plenty of money, and can support both him and myself, and I can’t stand it when he works.” The Judge declared that the application was a little unusual, but finally made an order compelling the man* to be an idler.

“My time,” said the multi-million-j airo, “is worth twenty pounds a min-, ute. “Well,” said the friend casually, “let’s go out this afternoon and play two or three thousand pounds’ worth of bowls.”

“I am as much a working man as you aro, though 1 do not always have an eight-hour day,” said Dr. Crossley to a working man audience at Auckland. “Then you’re a sweated bishop,” came the. witty rejoinder.

Shearing at Mr J. McHardy’s r “Glenone,” near Ruanui, Pat Robertson, a Wanganui shearer, shore with the blades 1217 sheep in 5\ days, the shearing hours each day being nine hours. His best tallies were L!2O, 227, 228, and runs 49 lambs in 1J hours, and 47 eAves in Tj hours.

Under the heading “Autumn Fashions,” Punch gives the folloAving extract from “The People’s Journal”— The elder bridesmaids Avore dresses of amethyst silk taffeta and black picture hats to match, and Avore j breeches the gift of the bridegroom.” Our contemporary judiciously refrains from adding any comment. The groAvth of early potatoes is carried on to a great extent at Jersey, in the Channel Islands. A letter received by Mr D’A. Grut, of Pahiatua, from a' relative in Jersey, gives a glowing account of early potato cultivation in that part. The Avriter states that this year nearly half a million of money has come into the Channel Islands for potatoes. As many as 22 steamers were being loaded at one I time with tubers. V

The *sporting papers are exploiting a new toy that is some kind of cousin to the motor-boat. Roughly described, the machine consists of a stout pole, some Bft. long, with a float at one end, and a propeller at the other. The sAvimmer—or floater, or passenger —: lies along the pole, and rests his feet on tAvo little cross bars. When adjusted to the Aveight of tire user, the latter is supported just under the surface, and is able to control his speed and direction at Avill. It is stated that the machine is still in the experimental stage, and its inventors. entertain great expectations of its development.

A sea voyage is often prescribed j for persons Avho need a tonic, and, apparently a rest on the ocean wave has a good effect on butter as well. At a meeting of shareholders of the Parua Bay Dairy Company it was stated that a consignment of butter had been second graded in Auckland on account of feed flavours in pasturage in the district, yet Avhen the butter reached the Home market it had improved to such an extent as to he first graded. “It was evident,” the chairman stated, “that the flavours had disappeared on the voyage.”

An educated man giving the name of Langston Beresford and claiming td he a relative of Lord Charles Beresford was arrested by the Nelson police on Friday on a charge of vagrancy. It Avas discovered, however, that his real name was Henry Langston Day, and as Day, he appeared at the Magistrate’s Court on Saturday to answer the ; charge. As drink Avas. his only failing and he had a prospect of a job, he Was remanded until Tuesday, Avhen if ho obtained employment or left the tOAvn, the charge Avould he Withdrawn'. Day was found on the school promises at Richmond (states the Colonist) on the same evening, and ■again he had to appear before the Court.

In one of the great colleges of England there hangs a frame enclosing a few sentences of which (Abraham Lincoln is the author. Here is a-sam-ple which might well be placed upon the wall of every office and business house in the civilised world: “I air not bound to win, but I am bound, to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live up to the light I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right, and stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong.” The idea that one “must get there whatever cost” is one of the worst ideas that can be accepted in any place of education or business, but “get there” is the gospel of the business <man to-day.—G. B. Shaw. A sad accident occurred near the mouth of the river Mokau at about five o’clock last night, says the Waitara correspondent of the News, by which a New Plymouth High School lad named Harold Hirst, about sixteen years of age, elder son of Mr Hirst, manager ot the Bank of Australasia. New. Plymouth, lost his life. Hirst, together with two other boys, had jusl joined the High School party, camping near the river, and were not awart of the Headmaster’s exploit instructions that no bathing was to be clone during his temporary absence. The tide was running out at the time, and the onlookers saw a huge wave catch the four boys, another lad having joined the party, and after it passed, the heads of only three of the boys could be seen. A lad named Norman Little had a narrow escape, being assisted ashore by his brother.

Probably the plans of the new Parliament Buildings will have to await a full meeting of Cabinet before their final adoption, and present indications are that a full meeting will not take place before January 23rd (says the N.Z. Times). The plans themselves have been ready for some days, and that part of the structure which will bo erected forthwith is estimated to cost about £120,000. This portion will be built over the foundations at present visible on the grounds, and when the new structure is ready for occupation, the wooden building will ■be demolished to make way for completion of the whole edifice. The question of calling for tenders will he considered by Cabinet, and it is considered unlikely that anything will be done in the absence of the Minister of Public Works (Hon. W. Fraser). Another factor is that business people have not yet become quite settled again after the holidays. Preliminary work has oecn completed by the Public Works Department, and everything is in readiness for the sillier structure.

An elephant paid a visit to a tobacco shop near the Gar <le Lyon, Paris. 'lfe recently, swallowed several pounds of * snuff, and 200 or 300 cigars and wrecked the shop. M. and Mine. Vaux wore in their room on the ground floor, just behind the shop —which is also a restaurant—when Mme. Vaux awoke her 5 husband and said she heard burglars. M. V aux got out of bed and picked up a revolver. Just then the trunk and head of an elephant appeared through the wall, most of which fell on Mme. Vaux, and husband and wife, in their night attire climbed out of a window at the back and disappeared. The elephant, which had escaped from a circus proprietor, had lieen frightened by a dog, and lost his temper with a carrot hung outside the tobacco shop as a sign, because it . was painted tin and not good to eat. In lees than a quarter of an hour he succeeded in leaving nothing standing except the walk, and only the outer four of those. He then followed his keeper quietly enough to the circus.

A Wellington bride Avas presented by her father with a doAvry, equivalent to £IO,OOO. | The New Zealand Teachers’ Insti-' tute by 42 votes to 7 has outed the ( proposal for text-books in schools, j Combined pedagogism is of opinion J that the State should not meddle with, religion. in the mcaiiAvhile Canon Garland seems to be taking a avcll-| earned rest.

The ’Wellington Times says: “Tim slaughtermen want another rise. They propose to play cut-throat with the freezing companies by demanding 30s a hundred. The companies are making a wl'y face, but ’tis said that in view of the scarcity of labour they j Avill have to acquiesce. This means j that ‘Pater Families,’ ‘Pro Bono Publico,’ and ‘Mother of Nine’ will have to pav another penny a,pound for chops. The meat companies cannot afford to take the bump. All their capital is sunk in reserves.

„ “We want,” says the Taranaki Herald, “a steady influx of people with a moderate amount of capital, who can afford to buy small farms and improve them and procure the best dairying stock obtainable. There is a handsome living to bo made out of an ordinary 100-acre farm in this district if the farmer is not overburdened with mortgagees and has sufficient capital to farm on proper lines. Canada cannot offer anything better to the man of moderate means Avho Avants to make a pleasant home for himself, and the Government Avould be doing a good thing for the country if it could induce a feAV thousands of that class of people to come here.”

A GreytoAvn farmer gave a Masterton resident (who had come doAvn from the “dry area” during the holiday season) a fine sAicking pig for Christmas. The animal Avas placed in a sack and deposited in the back of the buggy, the visitor driving off for home on Christmas Day. Next morning (says the Standard) Avhen driving to the factory, the farmer’s horse shied, and investigation led to the discovery that the Christmas box (a “sack of crackers”) Avas rolling over and over in the pig’s attempt to get home. It Avas rescued and sent back to the farm. On Ncav Year’s Eve, just as the local hand was playing that passage of “Lead Kindly Light —“the night is dark, and 1 am far from home”—the Mastertonian Avas passing Avith the same pig in the bugg\. The horse shied, Avith the result that the pig Avas thrOAVn out, and the sack becoming undone, the animal immediately scampered off to the farm, Avith visions of Avhey and mangolds in front of it. Thereupon a stirring drama was enacted, the pig eventually beating the visitor in the race for life.” Judge of the farmei s surprise (on hearing a commotion outside) Avhen he opened the door to hear the sorroAvfm tale of “the pig that came hack.” The porker was eventually killed and taken to Masterton. No risk the last time!