LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXV, Issue 13, 14 January 1913, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Senator Root defines a real diplomat as a man who can stretch hands across the sea without putting, his £qo.t jp it. During November 4308 persons arrived in the Dominion, as against 5248 for the corresponding month of 1-911. The departures numbered 2055, compared with 2854 in November, 1911. Debt is so much a part of church existence that the position in Benalla (Vic.) is quoted as perhaps unique. There all the churches are free of debt, and the Melbourne Spectator (Methodist) asks if there are any other towns with a similar record.

At the Christchurch Meat Company’s freezing works at Burnside operations for the season do not commence till about the middle of February, so the slaughtermen’s dispute has not so far touched Otago. Ordinarily, says the correspondent of the Lyttelton Times, about twenty-four butchers are employed there. The old Palmerston Guards are making a great bid to be the first company formed of the National Military Reserve under the new regulations. The movement started at Palmerston North a week ago, says a correspondent of the Lyttelton Times, and at present there are forty applications for membership, including ten men with war medals. Major Garner, formerly commanding officer at Napier, heads the list.

Statistics published in Germany indicate that there are at present in Europe over 7000 living centenarians. Bulgaria comes first with 3888, there are 1704 in Roumania, 573 in Servia, 410 in Spain, 213 in France, 197 in Italy, 113 in Austra-Hungary, 92 in England, and only two in Denmark. Longevity preponderate® in the Balkan region, and is at a minimum in Scandinavian countries. That Wanganui was not established as a dairy produce grading port before its time i® shown by the fact that produce is now coming forward in such volume that the storage room which sufficed last year is now quite insufficient to cope with the rush, and the freezing company at whose works at Castlecliif grading is carried on has been compelled to undertake the erection of a new store to meet the difficulty. Dairy farmers are haying a good time, and the industry in this district is showing great expansion, a correspondent states.

Mr Cyril Davenport, in his book on jewellery, says that “there was an old custom in the Isle of Man according to which an unmarried girl who had been offended, by a man could bring him to trial, and if ho were found guilty, she would bo presented with a sword, a rope, and a ring. With the sword she might cut off his head; with the rope she might hang him; or with the ring she might marry him. It is said that the latter punishment was that invariably inflicted.”

According to a letter written by Captain W. B. Rhodes in 1870 to Mr R. Walton, it appears that the first cattle imported into Canterbury were landed at Akaroa, Captain Rhodes having purchased fifty head from a Mr Rust, of the Hunter river, New South Wales, at £IG per head. The cattle were nearly purebred Durham or Shorthorns from the herd of Mr Potter McQueen, M.P., England! The cattle wore brought out to Akaroa in the barque Eleanor, and wore placed in charge of Mr W. Green, manager for Captain Rhodes, who then had a run extending from Ruran to Akaroa. Green’s Point, where the obelisk stands, is named after him. The first draft from this herd was sold to Messrs Hav and Sinclair, of Pigeon Bay.

Land agents are a welcome source of income to hospital boards. Under the Act, the board gets the agents’ licensing fees, which should in the Stratford district amount to over £25.

The Church of England Men’s Society has arranged for the commemoration of the lirst Christian service held in Australia to take place on January 26th in the Macquarie-place reserve, Sydney.

IA motor car agent in Carterton said 1o have sold at the rate of a per week during the year just ended. For this year—a week only of which lias passed—he has already booked nearly a score of orders.

The Xgaere Dairy Company has started to manufacture casein from skim milk. Instructor Petersen, of the dairy division, is at present in Xgaere giving advice and assistance for a few days. What is said to be the largest haystack in the world now stands near the warehouse at Corcoran, Tulare County. The gigantic setting contains 1600 tons of baled alfalfa, and, with a height of more than 40ft, covers 10,000 square feet of ground. At least two important Labour measures will be introduced by the Government when Parliament next assembles (says the Dominion). One will consolidate the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act, and the other the Shops and Offices Act! Each Bill will also embody the policy proposals of the Government. At the second Advent Conference at Prahan, Melbourne, Mr J. Urquhart, in the course of an address made the following statement.: “The International Association for Sunday Schools has issued the lessons for 1913. What is found in,that book? Downright infidelity. Every school under this International system will have to put these things into the minds of the young people, who “will be subjected to this tremendous conspiracy. Must men and women go on to everlasting death without a hand stretched out to save them because of infidelity? The majoirty of missioiiers to-day do not believe the Scriptures. There should he a new method—a movement of belief. There is need for a demonstration.”

White canaries were exhibited for the first time as a class at the Internal anal Cage Bird Show, at the Royal Horticultural Hall, ' Westminster, in November. Four of the eight shown were spotless white with pink eyes; the others have faint streaks of green or yellow. A pair which won the first prize belong to Mrs William Gould, of South Street, Park Lane, W., and were recently brought with great care from Medina, Arabia. “They were very delicate in health when they arrived,” said Mrs Gould, “but I fed them on cod liver oil, white grapes, and sweet apples, and they are now much better.” Mrs Gould hopes to breed a black and white canary by crossing a pure white 1 with a yellow canary. 1 ■ ' .

Some interesting statistics have linen compiled in connection with the advance of education in the Hawke’s Bay district during the’ past few u years. The average attendance for the last quarter was 545 greater than the average attendance for the corresponding period in 1911. Despite the fact that there was a large amount of sickness experienced, particularly noticeable in June and September, another pleasing feature was the fact that the percentge of attendance —B9.7—was the highest the district has known. In 1907 the registration average was 9409; now it was 10,829., On December 31st the roll showed that there were 11,131 children under the control of the board, an increase of 500 on the previous year. This, says the Napier Telegraph, is ah implant evidence of the steady growth of the district. The Wyndham Farmer states that two anglers beheld an unusual spectacle one day during the holidays, while indulging in trout fishing on the lower waters of the Minihau stream. Suddenly a heavy commotion in still water near the bank startled the anglers, who noticed a good sized trout being roughly “handled.” Closer investigation proved that a monster eel had seized the trout by the head, biting into the fish’s eye, and was literaly dlrowning it. A lad accom- ' panying* the anglers jumped into the water and frightened the eel away. The trout, which was in its last throes, and was easily captured, proved to he a two-pounder. What between shags and eels, to say nothing of the guddler and the sportsman, the “spotted beauties” have a bad time of it.

Some time ago the general convention of the Episcopal Church in America empowered bishops to grant permission to “Christian men,” though unordained and even not members of their own communion, to give addresses in churches on special occasions. This caused much consternation amongst churchmen, until the bench of bishops interpreted the canon a® discriminating between the occasional address permitted to an expert on some subject and on some special occasion, and the ordinary sermon, and gave no permission to others than those duly licensed or ordained to minister in their church to preach sermons. What the Sydney Church Standard terms a “scandal,” has, however, been caused in California. The rector of Pasadena, in the diocese of Los Angeles, is collaborating with the Presbyterian and Congregational ministers of that city in a series of Sunday evening union services, at which the three congregations worship together. Not only has the rector preached in one of the other churches, but the minister of an “alien” denomination occupied the Episcopal pulpit. The “Living Church” has protested against this deliberate setting up of the “open pulpit,” which is said to be altogether against the feelings of thousands of loval churchmen.

New York society Is holding up its hands in assumed horror at the spectacle enacted at a fashionable hall at Long Beach, New Jersey, as the result of a wager started by two men as to which lady owned the largest number of evening difossos. Two'i| ladies accepted the wager, and repeatedly went to their rooms and redescended to the ballroom wearing each time a different dress. About the thirty-fifth time the ladies made their appearances at longer and longer intervals, says the New York correspondent of the London Daily Mail. Finally, one of them declared that the thirtyninth was absolutely her last dress. After a prolonged wait her rival appeared in a bathing suit, and on this the gown score was declared equal. The wagers were increased, and the judges were about to declare the match a tie, when the second lady descended in a silk bath-robe, pinned ip two places at tVe bottom, roped in at the waist, and adorned at the neck with a lace collar hastily torn from a blouse. This was also adjudged a gown, and its owner awarded the prize, on condition that she wore it throughout the vest of the dance,

An elderly man was caught by Constable Giddens in a Melbourne furni-j ture factory on a recent Saturday night. When cornered he shouted:: “Shoot me if you like.” After a violent struggle he was handcuffed.

Inquiries made at the Labour Department (says the Lyttelton Times) show that not one of the 50 immigrants who reached Christchurch on Christmas Day from Port Chalmers has applied for employment. Indeed, 1 very few inquiries of any kind are be-, ingjitfceivetl just at present. ThY Ashburton Mail states that a fire which started in the river-bed on Sunday last destroyed one of the Ashburton llifle Club’s ammunition tanks and about 1000 rounds of ammunition. The flames spread over about 25 acres, and burnt a good deal of grass. |

A wealthy and somewhat eccentric ex-deputy, M. Garret, who retired from political life in France manj years ago to live in an Alpine grotto in ,Savoy, has left his fortune to his native town, on condition that each year a prize of £4OO be awarded to the most perfect girl, both physically and morally, in Savoy.

One or two Masterton settlers who were offered tempting prices for their wool at the shed, and who preferred to take the risk and try their luck at the Wellington kale, are now lamenting their indiscretion. One man who was offered lid per lb for his clip at the station, could not get lOd under the hammer. A remarkable, example of the mem-J ory of animals is reported from Apiti district. Some time ago Mr Watson drove some animals from his farm at Apiti to a new section which he had taken up near Te Kuiti. Among the beastswas a bull which, after spending a few days on the Te Kuiti property, decided that he would go' back to his old home at Apiti, and although the distance is about 180 miles, lie arrived there safely.

During the month of December the Eltham Co-operative Dairy Company manufactured 50,0731 b of butter, and ' the total payment for butter-fat, at ' the rate of 11 id per lb, amounted to £2074. The average test for the month was 3.55, states the Argus. During the same period the company manufactured 6857 cheeses, weighing from 801 bto 851 f) each. The rate of payment was Is per lb for butterfat, and the total payment reached the substantial sum of £10,014; the combined payment for butter and cheese suppliers reaching the handsome total of £12,088 for. the month.

Sa«y the Waikato Times:—A lady

visitor from Wanganui performed a! Very praiseworthy feat by undertaking! and accomplishing the climb to the top platform of the 1 Frankton water tower. The lady was Mrs Price, and when we mention that shp is in the third month of her eighty-third year it will be seen that the feat is indeed a remarkable one. She was accompanied by friends, and showed less fear m the ascbpt than some of the youthful members of the party. A photo of the group, which included a nve-months’-old baby, was taken while the party .itas on the look-out platform and should serve as a memento of a unique occasion. The task of supplying the amusement programme for the forthcoming Auckland Exhibition (says the Herald) has been placed in the hands of a private syndicate, with Mr Bris Boyle at its head. Mr Jansen, the well-known musician, will act as as- ’ sistant manager to Mr Doyle, and will proceed to America in search of attractions fur ‘ah 1 American 1 aHa'fl dement court. The court will cover a great variety of novelties, and should prove a big attraction at the Exhibition. Mr Doyle wil leave at an early date for England, in search of new* British and Continental attractions. The Wonderland plant and equipment used at the Christchurch Exhibition hag been acquired for the local Exhibition. There is now in use at Gisborne as a ballast engine a little F locomotive that was imported by the Provincial Government of Otago 45 years ago. For several years she travelled in various quarters in the south, and later .was, used for ballasting purposes on the Otago Central railway, being transferred a few years ago to Southland, where she took part in ballasting the Gore-Waikaka line. Some two years ago the much travelled F locomotive was taken to Gisborne and has done much good work on the- local line. She is now being fitted >with a new boiler, replacing one that was fitted gome ten years ago. (As a matter of fact, the underwork is about all that remains of the original engine, which must have been among the first in the colony. An amusing feud of two families in the County Mayo, the Sweeneys and the. Caseys, was before the Justices at Kiltimagh last month on summonses, Mr McGinley, District Inspector of Constabulary, elucidating its incidents. One of the Caseys having been ordered to wear spectacles, Sweeney, for ridicule, paraded before their house in a pair of tin goggles. Two Caseys next appeared. One dropped'a purse, which the other seized and ran away with. This, said the inspector, was to indicate that Sweeney had been sent to a reformatory for purse stealing. Two Sweeneys retaliated in the street by one of them, with a dramatic flourish, aiming a wooden gun at the other. This meant, said the inspector, that a Casey, a water bailiff, had been indicted for shooting at a man.

The mineral oil exports from the United States in 1912 were the largest on record. They were expected ,to reach 1800 million gallons, or an average of five million gallons a day; and a value of 120 million dollars, or an average of about one-third million dollars a day. Ninety-five per cent of this exportation, measured by value, went in the form of manufactured products; chiefly illuminating oil, lubricating and heavy paraffin oil. gasoline, and other light products of distillation. Europe is by far the largest customer for these exports, taking a little more than one-half of the illuminating oil, three-fourths of the lubricating, and over one-half of the .gasoline and napthas exported; whf.f* America (chiefly Canada. Mexico, Panama, and Cuba) takes about two-thirds of the crude petroleum exported. Of the more than one billion gallons of illuminating oil exported in the fiscal year 1912, the United Kingdom took 166 million gallons : of the 202 million gallons of lubricating oil exported in that year, 63 million gallons were sent to the United Kingdom; and of the 171 million gallons of gasoline napthas, and other lighter products of distillation. 27 millions went to the United Kingdom. The petroleum production of the United States made its highest record in 1911—9 J billion gallons, as compared with less than three billion gallons in 1901. The United States now produces practically two-thirds of the petroleum of the world, her share, in 1910, according to an accepted authority, having been 64 per cent against 43 per cent in 1900.

An automobile had a \ most erratic • career near Palmerston North on 1 Thursday (says the correspondent of | the Lyttelton Times). The motor car was approaching Awahuri Bridge, where reconstruction is proceeding. The work included a deep excavation, and the road was acocrdingly closed by the usual wooden raii. The machine, driven by Mr Hansen, and i containing also Mr Jones, licensee of j the Turakina Hotel, bound for Wellington, came along at a straight run i approaching the bridge, hut failed I to notice the warning signals made by another motorist and workman, and crashed through the barrier, smashing the glass screen.’The car then proceeded, a chain and a half along a clear road, careered over a heap of road metal and timber, and then took a drop of twelve feet in two stages ot six feet. The first stage landed the machine on soft sand and shingle, and the next stage dropped it on a concrete mixing board. At this place on the previous clay six men had been working, but it w r as then unoccupied. The car, with the axle bent, and riding so low that the front springs gouged into the concrete board, reared up at an angle of 60 degrees, and then stopped. Hurling away to the front w r ent a portmanteau, which found a resting place in a pool of muddy water, four feet deep. Messrs Hansen and Jones retained their seats, much out of plumb, and were greatly shaken, but were almost unhurt. Onlookers declared that nothing but the way in which the car springs anchored themselves to the board owing to the bent axle prevented a terrible accident. Five feet further the car would have gone over a deep excavation and been crushed to pieces. It was explained that the brakes refused to act.