LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXV, Issue 63, 19 March 1913, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Two engines brought the mail train through Stratford this morning, the Easter traffic having set in with a vengeance. Numbers of Stratford people set out on their holidays They’ve got a nice day for it!

The Bruce County Council’s reso lution, that contributions to the Hos pil'd and Charitable Aid Board should he made from the Consolidated Fund in lieu of the present system of male ing levies on local bodies, is meeting with a good deal of support from sis ter bodies. The Taieri County Conn cil were of the opinion that .the matter was one upon which local bodies should hold a conference.

Travelling between Dunedin and In vercargill a commercial traveller am a Salvation lassie happened to be in the same carriage. In the course ol conversation he said to her: “But d< you really believe that the whale swalJowed Jonah?” “Oh, I am not quite sine, said she, “but when I meet him in heaven I’ll ask him.” “But if hob not there, what then?” “0, then yov can ask him.”

When the Taranaki Education Board’s inspectors visited the Strat ford school a few days ago, they made the suggestion that it was time tin High School boys adopted the school uniforms which pupils of other Higl Schools wear. The suggestion win: acknowledged to be an excellent one and has been well received, both In the headmaster and the committee, who, last night, appointed a sub-com-mittee to go into the matter and report at a later date. 1 1!

In a letter from the Mayor, Mi Vi. P. Kirkwood,, which appeared in our columns i yesterday, two < small misprints occur, which somewhat destroy the sense of his remarks. Mr Kirkwood wrote that his statement could “only be construed” etc., not “hardly be construed,” as printed. In a later passage he wrote, “if it is not necessary to raise a loan now, when will it be necessary ” The word “now” was omitted.

Hi© following letter was received at the last meeting of the Patea County Council from a Maori whose rates were demanded“ This is our statement to you as the lawyer of the Patea County Council, who sent us the hills requesting us to pay our rates. Listen, both you and the Council. We paid rates on the lands in the first years; that is for the lands in the division of Pareroa, hut in those years we asked that our road from the main road to the Pareroa station should he formed, but it has not been done to this day. Therefore we think what is the' good of paying rates to that Council at Patea when the Council will do nothing to our road, and we are not disposed to pay any further money to the Patea Council.’’The chairman: Well, that’s the straight tip.

A very successful gift sale organised by the young men of the Wesleyan Church was held yesterday and the proceeds are expected to he somewhere in the neighbourhood of £8(1. The old M asonic Hal! was the scene of the festivities and the building looked very attractive yesterday when lined with stalls loaded with dainty articles for sale. The sweet stall was in charge of the Misses Hopkins, Peeve and Clemow; produce stall, Mesdames Beckett and Boon; jumble stall, Mesdames Reader and White; competition stall, Mrs Clemow and Miss Butcher; supper, Mesdames White, Kirkman, Beaumont and McAllister. In the evening competitions of various kinds were held, and provided much amusement. Mr “Mick” Harkness was in charge of this department. The Misses Dickenson ran a well-stocked fishpond, and anglers were many. Later in the evening, a clearing-sale was held, the hammer being capably wedded by Auctioneer Lamason. The Rev. Reader, Mr Harry Masters, the secretary, the committee, and other helpers are to be congratulated on the success which has attended their efforts.

A Hinvent resident tells against himself the story of some instruction concerning Hit' deference due to the “softer sex,” administered to him at the Opunake races, where after the usual painful pushing process, he had at length arrived at the head of the column in one of the pay-out races at the totalisator. At this juncture Isays the Star), a portly Maori dame, in defiance of all recognised rules to the contrary, made her way up the exit race and presented her ticket at the window. “Aren’t you out of your place, Mrs?” queried the Hawera man. “No fear” was the answer, “radios first; T te rady, you only te man.” This prompt and convincing rejoinder, and the humorous laugh which accompanied it, rendered anything hut acceptance of the situation impossible, and amid considerable laughter the “rady” scored her point.

An effort will be made to send the first vessel through the Panama Canal on September 29th, 1913, on the 400th anniversary of the discovery of the Pacific by Balboa.

The annual report of the Taranaki JUigby Union, to be presented to the annual meeting to be held on Friday, 28th instant, at Stratford, appears on page 8 of this issue.

A fire at Beaney and Sons’ foundry at Grey Lynn last night caused damage amounting to about £6OO. The Joss is covered by insurance in the South British.

The simps will not close to-morrow afternoon, owing to Friday being a whole holiday. On Saturday the shops will be open all day as usual, Monday, of course, being a close holiday.

At an exhibition of lace at the Mansion Hall, London, the Queen exhibited the beautiful specimens of lace that were her wedding gifts. They had previously been shown at the Melbourne and St. Louis Exhibitions.

“Why don’t you hold your head as I doF” inquired a landlord of a small farmer. “Squire,” replied the farmer, “look at that field of wheat. All the valuable heads hang down like mine, while those that have nothing in them stand upright like yours!”

The official enquiry into the charges by J. G. Harp, of Frankton, that certain corporal punishment has been inflicted on the Amokura boys is to be continued to-day. The Press Association' states that Harp and others will give evidence.

A tent and sleeping bag which were abandoned on Mount Cook by the guides 18 years ago were found in good condition on the surface of the Hooker Glacier, four miles from where they were left and 28,000 feet lower down.

The Stanley Road picnic and sports will be held on Thursday, the 27th instant, in the school grounds. Races will be held during the day; also chain stepping, sheep weight-guessing and nail driving competitions. Given a fine day a record attendance is expected.

A mechanic holding a guy rope of the Gamma airship was carried into Hie air at Earn borough through not hearing an officer’s signal to let go. Before those in the airship realised the man’s position the Gamma was over 100 ft. up. The craft was quickly lowered, and the man, much shaken, was released. The accident followed a cruise by the airship to Portsmouth and back.

'1 he Stratford Gun; Club are to-day firing the big competition for- the Boswell gun. Over thirty entries have been received, and there is a great gathering- of marksmen on the racecourse. Mr “Tom” Kirkwood is referee, and the arrangements are in the capable hands of Mr G. Hunter, the club’s- popular •ecratary. A feature of the “shoot” is the number of “fledglings” competing.

An Okato butcher’s cart takes the eye of passers-by, says an exchange. Meat looking is the cart and drawn artistically on the back of it is a lifesized cat and on each side of the cat is a large O. When one travels a mile past the cart it suddenly dawns on one that it is not an advertisement for a special line of sausages—but 0 kat 0.

To-morrow afternoon the Stratford School will be dismissed for the Easter holidays. At three o’clock the children will be massed in front of the school and medals will he presented to Master Mail (University Scholarship winner),, and Master Courts (Bayly memorial scholar). Mr Skoglund, chairman of the committee, intends to take advantage of the occasion to present the football caps to the primary school team, who have been winners for the past three years.

A remarkable instance of the cannibalistic tendencies of rainbow trout was related by Mr W. H. Hazard (president of the Auckland Acclimatisation Society) at the meeting of the society. Mr Hazard recently visited the game farm and fish hatchery at Tapapa, and chanced to capture a small trout, about LI in long, which had the tail of another of its species protruding from its mouth. The capture was such an interesting one that Mr Hazard has had the cannibal fish and its victim preserved in spirits. The Chief Justice has given a farreaching judgment on appeal affecting the sale of poisons to dairy farmers. It arose from the celebrated case of the Crown versus Scott, a Palmerston North veterinary chemist, and was the result of a suicide from swallowing soloids of corrosive sublimate. Those soloids or pellets are composed of grains corrosive sublimate, a quarter grain of colouring matter to make them look poisonous, and three grains of adhesive material to make them stick together. They are used extensively throughout New Zealand as a disinfectant drench for cattle. The Department of Agriculture sends out thousands every year to dairy farmers. The result of the present judgment will have the effect stopping sales by post and compelling fa rmers to come to town to sign for them in chemists’ books.

The Official Souvenir, which has been published by T. Shaw Fitchett in connection with the visit to Australasia of Dr. Chapman and Mr C. M. Alexander and party, claims to he the most ambitious niece of religious journalism ever published. Beginning with a condensed account of Die Mission conducted in Australia in 1009, the story is told of the party’s tour through the East, across Canada ami America to England, back to the/ States, and once ream Jo W:d -■ H through Ireland, and of their cara-H paignr. just concluded in New Zea-.

land, South Australia, auci Melbourne,