LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVI, Issue 24, 2 June 1913, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Stratford "Evening Post" wil not lie published to-morrow, being tin anniversary of the King's Birthday.

Warner's Rust-proof Corsets. In the latest models, the bust is low and full. Flexible corsetting above the waist is the result—the newest figure fashion. Perfect comfort with figure .'ißgance. X

Free railway passes are to be granted to all members of tho Veterans' Association on the occasion-of the visit of H.M.S. New Zealand. Tho local members, it is understood, are Messrs F. Arden, Kelly and J. N. Curtis.

'Jhe Stratford Co-operative Dairy Company have not yet issued a notice of intention to close down for the winter, although a good many companies have done so. Notice is expected at any time now, however, as the snppJy is very lew compared with'.that for tho corresponding period last year.

The rainfall at "Riverdale," lnglewood, for May, 1913, as forwarded by Miss X. Trimble, was as follows : -l3t, 1.22; 2nd, .14; 3rd, .12; 4th, and sth, nil; 6th, .14; 7th, .045 ;°A' m > ,36; 10th > LB9 ; "til, •39; 12th, .04; 13th, nil; 14th, .02; loth and 16th, nil; 17th, .01; 18th, •02; 19th, 2.09; 20th, .47; 21st 2122nd, 235, 24th, 25th, 26th,' and 27th, nil; 28th, 1.37; 29th, 30th, and 31st, ml. Total, 9.17.

*An unrehearsed incident at the Oriugi camp on Friday night almost i, resulted in six Territorials losing the number of their mess. Tlley were returning from Dannevirke in a motor car, and when about two miles from the'town the car went over a bank with about a sixteen foot drop. The car was considerably damaged, but beyond stiff knees and sore shoulders and bruises the men suffered little. Another car was procured, and the. run to the camp made without fijjjft ther mishap.

The Waikato Argus reports an interesting example of a message from the s»a. Mr and Mi's Fisher, friends of Mr J. ChiVers, of Hamil- ' ton, who were passengers on board the s.s. Essex, placed the* following message in a bottle:—"July 26th, 1912; Lat. 43.13, Long. 94.54; 232 S fc miles from Capetown. Will finder please inform J. Olivers, Hamilton, Auckland, N.Z." They then consigned to the waters at the locality indicated, and it was picked up about a mile west of Cape Northumberland, Victoria, B. Perryman,, who duly forwarded it to Mr J. Chivers.

Very strong comment was made by Mr R. C. Bruce at the annual meeting of the Wellington Acclimatisation Society with regard to what he described as the wanton destruction of seabirds in the vicinity of Auckland. These birds, he said, flew hundreds of miles in order to nest and breed their young. "But these hoodlums, of Auckland," he said,, "go out to the rocks and wantonly kill the birds. I have seen as i anany -as > seven seabirds, killed by shot, float.into one of the bays, ;Had I the thews and sinews of; Donald Dinnie/' : Concluded the speaker, warmly,,. "I !iwould have leathered Jtheas , slaughtering scoundrels."; , 7 ~,.,; ~ ~,,,i ; /

The dangerous nature of our level crossings was again made reference to by speaker* ,at -the. Southland Farmers' Union Conference. The delegate who introduced the subject said that the matter of properly safeguarding life and property,at the level crossings was:a:fbig-'oney but the number of accidents that were occurring every day made it imperative that sooner or, later something would have to-be done. He had, he. said,, , travelled through a few countries lately, and found that in most of them the railway crossings were protected or there were underways or overpays 1 for dealing with, the traffic that -passed backwards and forwards. ...,-■

lAii instance of the "catcher" beine caught was heard at the Auckland Magnate's Court on Friday, when a man was charged that he drove, a motor car in Symonds Street, at a" t wl'Tw l^ 1 - A COnstabl « testifiedthat Wilkms went up the street past a tram at a sp€ed ] le considered somethmg like 50 miles, an hour.. The Assistant Traffic Inspector for the city was a passenger in the car Assistant Traffic InspectorP» queried the Magistrate. -Yes, your Wor-"' ship, exclaimed Inspector McGrath. It seems that he commissioned the defendant to overtake another earthat had broken,a by-law, and the latter committed a worse breach in trying to catch the other fast going

Wednesday's accident at New Lynn was the first collision in the history of Auckland's railway service (states the Star). Except for the fatality which accompanied a runa * Mamaku some six years ago, the system has been singularly f ree 0 f serious mishap. The only other col- 1 hsion on record is that which occur- 1 ted in larnell tunnel nearly 30 veam 1 ago. On that occasion shunting oper- J ations were in progress in the Auck-*iP land yards, and a collision imminent between two engines. The driver of a small shunting engine, , to avert trouble, released the brakes and threw on all available steam. / ho shock winch followed threw the V driver off the footplate, and the engine under full pressure, ran away up the hue. Telephone messages ; were sent through to Newmarket to stop the passenger train due to arrive a few minutes before 9 o'clock but the reply came back that the train had just left. Fortunately there was a passenger in the guard's van who w had at one time been in the railway 4*. service. He heard all the whistles in whistling their danger signals, and applied the Westinghouse brakes.' * The engine met near the entrance to' J the tunnel, and it was a lucky thing 1 that the runaway engine was on a } steep up-grade, and so failed to do any serious damage to the passenger train, which, at the time of the collision, had been brought to a standstill!

The Boy Scouts will parade to-mor-row in honor of tho King's Birthday. They will assemble outside the Pnrish Hall at 9.30 a.m.

A Press Association message from Dannevirko states that two earth* 6 quakes were experienced, a slight .-hock ' at 11.30 p.m. on Saturday, and a heavier shock at 4.35 a.m. to-day. From Pahiatua comes a wire statin ? that a sharp shock of earthquake preceded by ft low rumbling noise, was felt at 4.50 this morning. A slight <*00l« was also felt yesterday shortly ;.f.er 12 a.m.

The Terriorial parade to be held in. Stratford to-morrow will bo under the charge of Captain Lampen. The infantry, under Lieutenant Munro, will fall in at the school grounds at 9.15 a.m., and tho Mounteds in Regan Street. ■ They will march through Broadway to "the. Post Office, where the flag will be unfurled for a general Mayor (Mr W. P. Kirkwood) will then inspect the parade, this terminating tho proceedings.

"Remember you are being trained for defence—not defiance," remarked Captain Foster in addressing the XI Regiment at Oringi on Saturday Members of the permanent army thought there was no better or higher ideal than being trained to fight for, and, if need be, die for, their homo and hearts, and if the day should ever come when the Mother Country was, called on to fight, New Zealanders would -be found able to defend themselves. "For defence, not defiance."

/If the scarcity of labour does nothing else, it certainly tends towards the production of labor-saving appliances. Farmers who are complaining of the difficulty of getting the slag on to their pastures are certainly well provided for in the latest artificial manure distributor—-the Wallace. At . the demonstration given last week in yarious parts of the district by the .expert,: Mv Ferguson, on behalf of Mr Newton King, although all manner of caked manure, sticky "super,* lumpy lime,, etc., was tipped into the

hopper. Whatever went in had to come out, and the marvellous rapidity '■ with which the ground was covered was certainly an eye-opener to the interested farmers present.

The race by the big oversea shipping companies for the possession of the largest steamer in the Australian trade continues, and during the present year this honour will be held at different periods by no fewer than three separate companies. The recent arrival in Australia of the R.M.S. Niagara (13,500 tons) placed the Union Company at the head of the list. The Niagara's claim, however, ; is to be short-lived; says the Sydney Morning Herald, as' news was brought - by the last English mail giving details iOf the new Blue Funnel liner Nesteor, a vessel well oyer 14,000 tons, which is now due to' have left for Australia. On top of this will come the White Star liner ' Ceramic (18,000 tons) which will probably remain the largest vessel in the Australian trade for some time to come. The Nestor is 14,250 tons gross .

Before leaving Oringi on Saturday ; morning, the XT Regiment (Taranaki , Rifles) wore addressed -by Captain , . Foster, camp commandant. The Captain congratulated the Regjment on its efficiency, and stated that tho Regiment's percentage for camp would probably be the highest for the district, if not for the whole of the Dominion. M You, Taranaki Regiment," said Captain Foster, "appear to be. -'cock-o'-the-walk' in everything—you are at football, anyway." Continuing, Captain Foster said the men had a reputation to look after and to live up to in their daily lives. He trusted that, if he were with them next year, he would see them putting still more heart into their work and attaining a still higher state of efficiency. These remarks must have been a source of gratification to the officers, and the men, recognising that their work had been appreciated, must have gone away imbued with a desire to live up to their reputation.