LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXV, Issue 71, 1 April 1913, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

It is feared by many that “Pel or on s Jack,” the famous white fish of 1 the Sounds, has gone for good, as it about a year since lie was known to 1 have been seen.

The Saturday half-holiday for Wellington is- regarded as a foregone conclusion, the opposition to the proposed change being practically nonexistent.

The Stratford Gymkhana produced a clear profit of £IOO 2s 4d—a. very handsome addition to the fpnds of the Stratford A. and P., Association.

The matron of the Stratford Hospital desires to thank the members of St. Mark’s Church ' (Kaponga) for gifts of fruit arid vegetables, and Mr G. Styles, for grapes sent to the Hospital. Members and intending members of the Stratford Retailers’ Association are again reminded of the importance of some matters to be discussed at the annual meeting to-night. A large attendance is requested so that the all-important half-holiday question mav bo fully discussed.

The News says a despicable act was perpetrated by some miscreant who clipped the'wings of a homing pigeon belonging to a member of the East End Flying Club. The bird participated in a race from Waverley to New Plymouth last week, and the act must have been committed fairly close to New Plymouth for the pigeon to arrive home in its mutilated condition.

A course in manners for high school girls is the latest proposition suggested by Chicago’s superintendent of schools (Mrs Ella Flagg Young). Mrs Young, in her round of the high schools, noticed that, although the students were bright, fine girls, they lacked the essential graces of womanhood—dignity and repose. The modern American girl shows a tendency to develop into a highly-strung, nervous woman, clever, but not cultured. Mrs Young therefore suggests that on the staff of the high schools shall be placed what there is in practically all colleges—a dean of women, whose duty it would be, by example only, to educate the girls in grace and refinement.

At a largely-attended special general meeting of shareholders of the Ngair© Co-operative Dairy Company, held yesterday, it was almost unanimously resolved to raise further capital to re-erect the factory in concrete, as a twelve-vat factory on most up-to-date lines. The matter has been under consideration for some time, but previous proposals ' were not accepted, the promoters failing to obtain the necessary three-fourths majority in the voting until yesterday’s meeting. The resolution passed yesterday requires confirmation at another meeting, but as a bare majority will carry a motion to confirm, the work is practically assured. The Ngaire Company is to be congratulated on its forward move anti its expressed determination to keep well to the front in the dairy industry.

For children’s hacking cough at night Woods’ Great Peppermint Cure Is (id, 2s (id.

Making cheques or bank notes that arc capable of speaking is one of the latest precautions against forgery that has been invented. The note is given the power of utterance by applying to its edge a “pictorial” record of perforations representing some pre-ar-ranged phrase. When the prepared note is placed in a phonograph, the phrase is reproduced in the presence of the person who has questioned the genuineness of the note. Writing in a leading English journal, a tourist, who lately visited New Zealand, says : “A fact which greatly impressed me and others whom 1 met from other parts was the absence of that mad rush after .wealth which is evident in the various parts of the Anglo-Saxon world, and more especially in the United States. 1 venture to say that the average New Zealander gets more out of life than his fellow subjects elsewhere. Can you imagine business men in Canada or the United States making their way to the local howling green at 3 or 3.30 in the afternoon, and spending the rest of the day in such pleasant recreation?”

When summoned at Kilkenny for refusing to stamp the insurance cards of her employees, the Countess of ])esart told the Magistrates that she refused obedience to the Act for conscience sake. The Act, she continued, insisted on taking possession, through compulsion exercised by the wealthier individual, of a certain amount of the working man’s income, and spending that amount iu what it considered ought to be of benefit to him, regardloss of the man’s own views on the subject. The Act numbered and labelled the artisans as only convicts had hitherto been labelled. It was said she paid all her employees full wages during illness. Nominal fines were imposed, and the countess was 4 ordered to pay the contributions in arrear.

A Chinaman was placed in a sad predicament at the Maori hui at Gisborne recently. While the dinner, which was on a most lavish scale, was in progress, pakehas were admitted to the vast dining hall by one door and Maoris by another, this rule being stringently observed. A bland and hungry looking Chinaman approached the Maoris’ entrance, but was rejected by the burly doorkeeper, who in a loud voice expressed the opinion that “tire gentleman from the East” was no Maori. The Celestial thereupon sought admission by the other entrance, but was debarred on the ground that “him no pakeha.” How he ultimately 'solved the problem of dinner is an unknown quantity, and dinner was probably the same to him.

An innovation by the Wellington' Tramways Board which has been'attended with remarkable isuccess during 1 1 ■ the holidays’is the “observation cat” (sayfe the Post)." For eighteeripencfe > tins - car has taken pasfeengers zen s and visitors to the city—over 30 miles of the tramway system, the journey occupying two or three hours. On Tuesday the institution proved so popular that accommodation had to be quadrupled to carry all the people, four cars being used. The observation ear will also run during the stay of H.M.S. New Zealand in Wel-o lington Harbour, and -should be a great attraction to the each of whom, as during the present run > of the car, will be presented, with a neat little pamphlet issued ■by the ■ Tramway Department “About Wellington.” ■ . ■

Judgment was recently given in Palmerston North in a case for money lent. The Magistrate said that plaintiff had lent a sum of money to defendant who, at the time, was playing cards for stakes. He knew the money was borrowed by defendant for that purpose. Money lent to be staked or played for to the knowledge of the lender is not recoverable. The Laws of England, volume 15, page 278, article SGB, says: “Money or other valuable thing lent for the purpose of gaming or of betting upon the sides or hands of those who do or shall game at any game, or lent at the time and place of play to anyone so gaming or betting or shall during such play so play or bet is not recoverable. When counters are used the money which they represent stand upon the same footing.” It has been held that the Imperial statutes against gambling are in force in New Zealand. Judgment must be for the defendant.

Writes “Reform” in the Wellington Times:—“Speculation is the cause of the neglected state of so many farms in Taranaki. The money that should be spent in improvements is going into the pockets of ‘retired’ speculators at Remuera or New Plymouth, and is probably being invested in other promising districts. The Government should compel a man, who has made a large profit in a land deal, to leave the farm in a state suitable for proper farming. A portion of the unearned increment should bo spent in improvements. Mr Massey is to be hero next week. No doubt he will be motored to one of the few decent farms in the district and will go away quite satisfied, but if 1 could get hold of him I could show him something that would set him thinking. 1 could show him farms worth £SO an acre that have not been sown down for thirty years, and are overrun with weeds. I could show him the skeletons of thousands of calves that have been cruellv starved to death by improper feeding. If he came when one of Taranaki’s fierce storms was on 1 could show him herds of unfortunate dairy cows trying to obtain shelter behind wire fences. But Cabinet Ministers are not shown these things, and they do not look for them.”

Silver Goods for Wedding Presents We have the largest variety in town. All British manufacture. Charles E. James. Hroadwav. :

Friday’s Court list is a li;jhfc one, there being no defended civil cases, and nineteen undefended. A judgment summons and one information for mischief, complete the list.

The banquet in honour of the Premier to he held in the lown Hall tomorrow night promises to bo a big affair, and tickets are selling freely. Probably more than a hundred will be present, the farming interests being especially well represented. It is possible that members of Parhajwent will be fairly plentiful, invitaSv... actives of neighbouring electortions having been sent to the repieThe result of the Stratford A. and P. Association’s weight guessing competition are to hand, and show that Messis it. W. Best (Mangamingi) and E. Hardy (Whangamomona) guessed the correct weight (2201b5), while A. H. Kuhtz (Toko) and H. Masters (Stratford) also estimated correctly the weight of the pigs, These gentlemen will divide the prize-money in the respective competitions.

The success of the Salvation Army s local Harvest Festival has exceeded all expectations, and more than double last year’s revenue has been derived from this gathering. Last evening the Eltham S.A. Band, under Bandmaster Fitness, played selections. Visitors present included Adjutant and Mrs Scotney, who have recently taken charge of the Eltham S.A. Boys’ Home, Adjutant Mrs Brown, in charge of Eltham corps. Captain Thomas, and Lieutenant Marvle.

The following letter, received at one of the military offices in Otago, does not assist the campaign of the few noisy individuals' who seek to vince the British public that New Zealand youths groan under the yoke of a military despotism:—“Dear &h, I have the honour to inform you that I am forwarding my uniform, forage cap and hat to the Defence Office, Gore, which I trust you will find in good order. lam leaving for America, and as X have not been tian.,ferred from your company as yet, I felt it my duty to send my uniform back to you, hoping that when I return I shall be able to take them up i again in the honour of my country.”

We (Lake Wakatipu Mail) may appear to be uttering a platitude in saying that visitors to our shores hail from as far afield as the Poles. The crowds, however, that arrived here during the Easter, season included no less queer an excursionist than a penguin, which on Good Friday was espied on the shores of the Lake at ;Kingston,,,and quite unwittingly shot at and killed, by a .local marksman. Where this solitary, representative of the Polar regipns had actually pome from or lypyv, ih came to be there remains a mystery, and up to the present no feasible solution of its strange appearance has been propounded.

Record entries have been received by the East Road Sheep Dog Trials Club’s secretary, Mr B. Boyle, for the Club’s fifth annual meeting, which takes place at Te Wera on Thursday and Friday, next. :, i Entries are from all parts of the district,, and many visitors from far afield have promised to be present, there beifig every indication that the gathering will be the heat the Club has yef held. In thei evening a'• sdcial and dance will be held to wind up the function. We are specially asked to remind those wbo intend tc||be present that the trials start at B'o’clock sharp on both mornings. .