LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVI, Issue 70, 28 July 1913, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

It is understood that the local Borough Council has completed negotiations for the purchase of Mr J. Montefiore's stone-crushing plant, the price agreed upon being £315 delivered in Stratford,

.( The Fire Brigade,has just received the shield (points prize) won by them at the 1912 demonstration under the auspices of the United Fire Brigades' Association, and it is on view in the window of Mr E. A. Brake's premises in Broadway.

The local Scouts are to give an entertainment in the! Parish Hall on "Wednesday evening, which should prove highly instructive and entertaining. It will consist largely of demonstrations by the Scouts of various phases of Scout work, but in addition there will be an excellent musical programme. The Scouts have been doing a lot of good work in a quiet manner and are deserving of the best support of citizens.

The latest issue of the Journal of Agriculture gives particulars of the three-year-old Holstein heifer Gladys 11., of the herd of Mr G. Aitchison, of Kaitangata (Otago), which Mr W. M. Singleton announced in the May Journal as having distinguished herself by having produced her require-

* raent to qualify for a semi-official test I in the shortest period of any cow of J any class, and which has now completed her milking-period. Her record for 301 days’ milking is 15,788.251 b. of milk, testing 3.88 per cent, and giving 6141 b. of hutter-fat. Her daily average was 51.931 b. of milk and 2.01 lb. of butter-fat. Unfortunately, the heifer could not he milked for the full period of 365 days which she was entitled to under the conditions governing semi-official testing. She will be practically five months earlier than she might have been in this next freshening. Had she not been served so early in her testing-period it is not improbable that she would have established a world’s record for her class.

Stratford Druids will not hold their fortnightly social this week owing to counter attractions. The next gathering will bo on August 13th.

Mr Bigger, .Airs Bigge.-, and Bigger, which of this interesting family is the biggest, and why tho biggest—Baby Bigger, because ho is a little Bigger.

The extent to which vaccination has been availed of by the people in the recent scare is shown in the remark . of a local medical man that be had 1 made more money from vaccinating ' during the last fortnight than for the past twenty years.

A Press message states that the liawera Hospital Board to-day carried a resolution recommending that universal vaccination be enforced, irrespective of conscientious scruples, except where a medical officer exempts on account of the health of the subject.

Libel actions cost a heap of money. In the Iliverdale case, Playle versue the local dairy factory, the law points in connection with which have just been settled in plaintiff's favor, will, it is estimated, cost the company about £7so—a nice price to pay for attaching a footnote in a book that to certain milk water had been added, says the News.

A lad named Larsen, son of Mr Harry Larsen, of Pehu, inland of Ureti, was brought into the New Plymonth Hospital at midnight suffering from a broken leg, sustained whilst bushfalling on his father's place on Saturday. The News states that eight men conveyed him along the pig track that serves as a road to the settlement, the journey" taking all day. t From "Ureti he was brought in by brake, being accompanied by the district nurse, Miss Kelly. *

In the "Cable Derby Sweepstake," which is participated in by 30,000 cable operators, all over the world, Mr Herbert W. Robinson, from Manchester, drew the favourite, Craganour, the first prize being £3400. Mr ltobins.on is now in the emplpy pf the Commercial Cable Company , in New York. He was receiving,opera-. tor on the cable when the first result was received in New York; "Which, he thought, mad©; him the, winner of £3400. * A' little" later" he'received another dispatch, disqualifying the" borse. Onlookers declare that he never "turned-a hair?' '* M'.

'> A Home,paper, ;wri]tps • : "One ( pf the. most striking developments of pre-sent-day engineering is' the great

expense which railway companies do not hesitate to incur in building tun-

iols of unprecedented length, with

a view of decreasing their grades

across the mountain /summits. The latest announcement in this connection ,is that, - of jthe, Canadian-Pacifo, railroad, which states it is going to undertake the construction shortly of a tunnel that will be far, .the vet constructed. It, is to: be built below the pass through %he , Rocky 0 Mountains. It will be sixteen -railesv, > in length, and will; cost 14,000,0QQ :; dollars. This is some four miles long--er than the well-known Simplon tunnel." '.,. ■

The value of testing is continually being exemplified in dairying localities, but two only of the experiences of a district dairyman are worth recording. Before he started testing he was quite convinced that a certain cow in his herd was the worst of the lot, and so he "got one on" to his Jj neighbor by selling it to him. What was his chagrin later, however, to find that she turned out to be the top-notcher of thai; farm—it was proved so by the test. Again, the cow that he felt sure was the second lowest producer was shown by the test to be a very fair animal, and at least seven others were inferior to her. Now, there is no stronger supporter of testing in the Dominion than the selfsame one-time scoffer at the scientific side of dairying.

Moumahaki State Farm was visited on Thursday last by about forty folk from various parts of !S T ew Zealand. The' largest sectional number hailed from Ngaere. The party (organised by Mr Sims, the local State school teacher) totalled twenty-eight, including eight lads. A very profitable and enjoyable stroll over the farm took place. Messrs Lonsdale, Kirkland and Hill imparted a large amount of information to the visitors who, in addition, were most hospitably entertained. Mr J. Thomas, on behalf of the party, thanked Mr Lonsdale and staff for all that had been done for them. Ho urged the great value and importance of experimental farm work ; pointed out what was being spent on and being done in connection with agricultural education in the United States and elsewhere ; showed the baneful effects of neglect in Egypt and other Eastern countries; extolled the Moumahaki State Farm operations and eulogised both Mr Lo'nsdale and Mr Hill. The two gentlemen responded in suitable terms. As the visitors were driven away (states the Tribune) they gave ringing cheers for the "Farm and staff."