LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVI, Issue 5, 12 May 1913, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Alterations and additions are being made to the Regan Street Church, it being the intention of .the Methodists to have the building moved slightly towards the eastern end of the section, and to add wings to the building so that it may accommodate the very large united Sunday school classes, as well as provide a suitable hall for concerts and socials.

The general committee of the Strat--1 ore! A. and P. Association meet next Saturday afternoon.

Those interested are reminded 1 of the annual meeting of members of the Stratford Operatic Society on Wednesday evening. There will be practice of the Society this week.

The arrival of our Dreadnought in New Zealand waters is being commemorated by the striking of a medal, which, by the consent of the Education Department, is being sold to scholars at (kl each.

The next mail for the United Kingdom and Europe via Brindisi and Naples, due at London on June 22nd, will close at Stratford on Thursday, loth May, at 9.30 a.m. The next inward mail via Brindisi and Naples is due at Stratford to-day.

The boarding-house keepers of Auckland have decided to raise their tariff by Is a day for casuals from June Ist, with a further rise of 2s a day on December Ist. This is .stated to be due to the increased cost of foodstuffs, while the coining Exhibition has probably influenced the step. .

The Stratford Acclimatization Society intends to hatch out one hundred thousand ova this yeaf, and a consignment of 50,000 brown trout ova is expected this week, the balance of the order to arrive at a later period. This policy should appeal to fishermen as a very progressive one.

The Stratford District High School’s barometer stood at 28.9 this morning, being a rise of 3.8 points since yesterday. The minimum temperature for tho last twenty-four hours was 36 degrees, and the maximum 52. The rainfall for the last forty-eight hours was 1.3 inches.

A construction that cost four years’ labor and £700,000 was destroyed last month in less than four minutes, when the great Pearl Harbor dry dock near Honolulu, fell to pieces. When the water was pumped out of section two, it upheaved, as in an earthquake, while two adjoining sections collapsed.

A Press Association wire intimates that the Public Works Department has accepted the tender of Mr A. E. Burrell, of Hawera, at £2567, for the erection of Public Works buildings at Stratford. This information has already been published in our columns some weeks ago.

The Lyttelton Times of Friday states that a young Englishman named J. B. Freeby, who lias been staying at the Y.M.C.A. and is but a recent arrival, lias been reported missing‘and fears are entertained for his safety. He is : about thirty years of age, is alight.of build, with deep-set. piercing eyes, and has been missing for about a fortnight. So far no trace of hifn hah been ,found. , r ..i ' fV ”,■ ‘ A collision between a mdtbr caf and a motor" cycle‘occurred in BroadwayNorth on Saturday evening, fortunately, however, without very serious consequences. The car was proceeding north, and the cyclist, in the act of mounting his machine noticed the approach of the car, hut did not anticipate its turning the cornet* into Seyton street. The speed of the cycle at the moment of impact was sufficient to buckle father'badly the front wheel, hut tiie rider escaped ('' without a scratch.

Cigafette smoking by women is increasing in Australia. Once those who had a whiff after dinner in the lounge rooms of the big hotels used to be mucu gazed at and talked about, but the practice has grown quite common, and little or no notice is taken of it now Tiie pity of it is that quite young girls smoke even at school, which may come as a surprise to many governesses. Qui to as far back as four years a Melbourne boarding-school had its cigarette club,” and girls used to arrive back from . the holidays with their fingers stained with nicotine. Sydney, with its three Sunday papers, its mixed bathing, its Sunday picnics, its cigarette-smoking women, and its women who patronise the boxing contests at the Stadium, as they do, is every year becoming more and more what Mr Ernest Davis, of Auckland, called it the other day, “the Paris of the South.”

Fifty families in the State of Jersey have banded together (it is said) to combat the high cost of living by co-operative housekeeping. They have subscribed enough money to obtain a central kitchen and modern equipment, to employ a corps of skilled chefs, and to deliver the cooked food in motor-cars fitted with heating apparatus. There is a department of house-cleaning, ten maids going from house to house daily, and a laundry is being planned. The expense is to be divided on a pro rata basis, and the estimates made anticipate a saving to the fifty families of £ISOO a year, besides the advantages of wholesale buying. The total cost of rent, domestic workers, fittings, and motor cars is set down at £3200, while 50 workers for 50 separate families would cost about £4700 a year.

“See that man over there.” said the man in a tramcar. pointing to a wan faced fellow traveller, young yet bent almost double. “Well, I was like that only a year ago—bent up with Rheumatism and racked with Sciatica. Vow look at me—l’ve not a trace of the old trouble. I’m quite hale and hearty—thanks to RHEUMO. I tried scores of things before RHEUMO. hut they did mo no good. If >ver you get Rheumatism, Gout : or Lumbago, RHEUMO will cure you. Thousands testify to the wonderful dualities of RHEUMO. It removes the cause of the trouble; drives the uric acid from the system, and brings relief and cure.” Of all chemists and stores, 2s 6d and 4s Cd. 49

The new Borough Council meets for the first time this evening, when preparation of the estimates for the year will bo‘ tho chief business.

The lists of marks made by the candidates at the last examination for the Senior Civil Service Examination tire just to hand. One of the successful candidates from tho Stratford school, Miss Irene Wyllie gained actually 99 per cent of marks in algebra and arithmetic. This is a record for these subjects in New Zealand.

A little girl from Providence, .Rhode Island, who is only ten years of age, is bo possessed of remarkable powers of vision. Doctors who have examined her declare that she has “X-ray sight.” For some time the child puzzled and interested her friends by apparently seeing through opaque objects, and the extraordinary nature of her powers led to her being examined by New York doctors. She was submitted to a thorough ,test, in which she told the contents of the pockets of those in the room, gave the numbers of folded bank notes, and described objects she had not previously seen when they .were put behind opaque substances. Some of the leading specialists of the city, after prolonged examination, declared that there was no possibility of fraud and that the child possessed wonderful mental powers and certainly had an “X-ray vision.”

By the derailment of a stock train at Springwood (N.S.W.) recently, ten trucks were smashed and more than one hundred sheep were killed or maimed. This is described as the largest derailment ever seen on the Western line (reports the Sydney Daily Telegraph). Many sheep had to be untrucked, and were sent by road to Penrith, where they ’were again entrained. It so happened that this train consisted of an raiusvially large number of stock and the delay and non-arrival of sheep considerably interfered with the selling arrangements at Flemington. The consignments of several stock agents had not come to hand when the sales closed. It was also stated that several consignments had been mixed up, apparently in the course of reloading, and in that case it will be very difficult to adjust matters on account * of the difference in the value of consignments. In consequence of the delay the auctioneers had to institute a sencoud round of sales at Flemington. The damage to rolling-stock is in the region of £3OOO.

With the approach of the Parliamentary session, electors, naturally, it will he admitted, are getting anxious to hear the political battle-cry. And in this respect rumours have been floating round as to the intentions of the locab' representative, Mr J. BHine. Jfo is said that the origin of the reports can bo traced to Opposition suppliers,,, and as lending color to this,.'- it. may. he, pointed out that a recent statement as to Mi Hine not having addressed a meeting of his electors since his re-election could only come from a source that, to say the least, is not the proper one. The fact of the matter is that Mr Hine has made it a point, of putting his views before his. constituents in (meeting on the recognised occasions before the assembling of each Parliaments This short paragraph electors may therefore take for granted is as good as an advertisement frorii Mr Hine, himself, to the effect that he will embrace the first convenient opportunity of appearing on the public platform and stating the case of the “Reform” Party prior to the opening of Parliament on or about June 19th next.