LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVI, Issue 63, 19 July 1913, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Tire Stratford Football Club desire to acknowledge the receipt of donations of a guinea each from Messrs C. Jackson! and 11. Masters.

Recently some mischievous persons have <.10116 considerable damage to the Masonic Hall"and to the plant of the Gymnastic Club contained therein, and the police are endeavouring to bring the offenders to book.

A youth named W. F. Bird gall was recently convicted in the Stratford Court on a charge under the Defence Act, and after being severely admonished by the Bench, was lined £5. and costs. Since then it is understood that this “conscientious objector” has been talking rather largely to the effect that he had no intention of paying the line and would quite willingly go to the detention camp. Last night Captain Stevens sent to have the lad arrested, but he was saved all trouble, as the amount of the hiu was immediately forthcoming. I his case at any rate should be a lesson to youths that an attitude of resisting the law is mere folly and reflects no credit on the resister.

Ohakune bids fair to be one of the most progressive towns on the Main Trunk lino, it lias recently sanctioned a water, drainage and general purposes loan, and already several new linns are starting in the district. Among the latter is the linn of It. (>• Allsworth and Co., auctioneers, sheep and cattle salesmen and general agents. Mr Allsworth is well known in Taranaki as a former editor oi the Taranaki News and Jtgmont Settle). He is also a son of the Rev. R. J ■ Allsworth, who was a resident of Patea in the early days.

During the visit of the chairman and members of the Wanganui Education Board to the Matapu school last week, the visitors came across a curiosity in l he shape of an excellent map of New Zealand outlined on the floor of the' school in tacks. The map is about sft. long, and must have involved quite a. labor in tack-driving.’ The Chairman a sited the scholars if any of them knew who placed the map there, and instantly half a dozen hands went up with “Mr O’Dea, sir.” ft transpired that Mr O'Dea, when head teacher there some eight years ago, conceived the idea and worked out this interesting map.

Why do civilised people walk in a circle when lost in a fog? This question was raised in the Row Comity Conti, when Dr, Oxley said that they knew that most people had one leg' longer than the other because wheil lost in a log they wandered in a circle. The judge (Judge Smyly) then asked whether the wandering in a circle was not due to the development of the brain. “Dcd Indians foi instance,” he pointed out, ‘‘can walk straight in a fog.” Dr. Oxley’s reply was that the Red Indian walked with his; toes straight, whilst civilised people turned their toes slightly outwards.

Mr Roosevelt, in his autobiography, relates that when he was nominated for vice-president he addressed a meeting in one of the states of the high plains of the Rocky Mountains. Bryan was the favourite there. The audience were rough gnd troublesome, But They listened to him attentively. At the end, Mr Roosevelt remarked with pride to the chairman: “1 held

that audience well; there wasn’t an interruption.” To which the chairman replied; ‘•lnterruption? Well. I guess not! Seth had sent round word that if any son of a gun peeped he’d kill him.” Seth had been sitting behind Mr Roosevelt with a gun on each hip, his arms folded, looking at the audience, fixing In's gaze with instant intentness on any section of the house from which there came so much as a _li whisper.

It is pleasing to note that settlers and stockowners in this district are taking care in the selection of their pedigree stock, and chat the old method of “anything will do” is falling into disrepute. Mr A. J. Smith, of Cardiff, has now decided to go in for systematic breeding of pedigree pigs, and as a foundation has purchased at high figures some of the best he could obtain. Recently lie bought from Mr A. K. Watkin (successor to Mr Sellars) of Okaiawa, a fine young hoar, son of “Showman’s Champion,” an imported Berkshire of the best strain. He has also secured four sows from Mr J. Gibson, of Pembroke Road (a breeder of considerable note, whose pigs have been described as “the best class for the poor man in Taranaki.”) These are all daughters of “Buscot Brice,” dam “Bessie,” both parents being, Berkshires of clean pedigree and from noted families.

What can be done with an average herd of cows, combined with a good stylo of dairying, in which is included of course judicious culling and testing, is shown in the case of Mr W. H. Barlow, of Pembroke Road, who l is, now relinquishing his farm. With twenty cows his average return for the twelve, months, ending May last was £lB 13s 2d per cow, the total Byproducts of £4 each being included. Four years ago he purchased the property for £27 per acre, and after, among other honors, securing the third prize in the local A. and P. As- 1 sociation’s competition for model farms, has sold nut for £4B an acre, an advance of £2l on his purchase. It is a great pity, as is the case with Mr Barlow who is going into private life, that such a man is lost, even temporarily, to the farming bomnnlnity. Undoubtedly, he is a standing advertisement to the responsive tduch and wealth of the farm lands of out rich Stratford country.

A “find” that will undoubtedly prove the most valuable of its kind heard of on the coast for many years was made by two Waverley residents at the Beach the other day, says the Waverley correspondent of the Patea “Press.” The gentlemen in question were shooting on the sandhills when one of them noticed in the sand at his feet a small greenstone tiki of neat design, in an excellent state of preservation. The discovery encouraged further investigations. A couple of stakes were procured, and the lucky sportsmen soon began to realise that they were on a genuine treasure ground. Axeheads of all shapes and sizes, bone meres, ornaments, fish hooks, and many other articles that constituted the stock in trade of the Maori of the early days were brought to light, together with numerous human bones. A “Press” representative gleaned the information that the remains of an old pah are visible in the Isand, and that several posts from, which the carving is almost worn away are visible at intervals along the surface of the sand. The sand at this point, it seems, has been shifting for several years, and this, aided by the wind, has evidently caused the exposure of the old village. The ’discoverers are reticent concerning the locality of this treasure trove, but it is understood that they have hidden the portion of the booty which has come their way, and will make a further trip to the Beach to unearth any more that might be within digging distance. The find should prove of some interest to museum authorities.