LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVI, Issue 94, 25 August 1913, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

August 2o is the anniversary of the nding of the first military settlers in iranaki in 1803. At the termination of the manaughter easy at the Supreme Court ■ PalmerSton on Tuesday and the ac- ' littal ol the Maori woman,, a Maori nongst the onlookers was heard to «nark: "By korry, if I know te jury shout 'im!" The annual meeting of members of le Stratford Howling Club is to be eld next Saturday evening in the trough Council Chambers. The Stratford Horticultural Society's ■ pring show has been fixed to tako lace on Thursday, Sepetmber 18th a the Town Hall. Indications are hat this year's show of daffodils will ie an exceptionally fine one. Schedule nay lie obtained from Mr W. S. Cato, he secretary. Mrs A. Dean, Whangainomona, was lighly successful with her pugs at the Wellington Kennel Club's show, gainng the following awards in the. fawn lection : —Dogs : First maiden, novice uid pup, first limit, first open; bitches, first limit, first open, brace and team. In the black section, her awards were: Dogs: First limit, first open; bitches, first limit, first open and brace. On Saturday evening between nine and 10 o'clock, a steer which had in some unaccountable way become injured, and was lying by the roadsido with a badly broken leg about a ■ mile from town on the Opunake Road, was somewhat of a menace to traffic. Sergeant McNeely, on being informed of the occurrence at once went to the spot, notwithstanding the very heavy rain, ' .;nd humanely put the suffering animal out of its agony. ' .Mr F. Chenenlls, of Tweed Street, Invercargill, has forwarded to the ' News Office a. curiosity which would be hard to beat as one of Nature's freaks. It consists of a common dock growing out of a branch of a currant bush. The dock, a large one, is an exceedingly healthy specimen, and was entirely free from contact with the earth. The strangest feature about the freak is that the dock, which is two years old, loses its verdant growth when the currant bush is in bloom.' The leaves then disappear entirely, but reappear after the fruit-bearing . season is over. An amusing incident happened during the hearing in the Magistrate's ' Court of a case of alleged cruelty to a: liorse ; (says' the Mataura' Ensign)., Defendant's solicitor argued that no,';. cruelty Avas proved, and that'ihehoa'se.,'-."'*,. «. ! yoimfe one; 'had 'a habit' of ;Tying ; down when lie felt' so was stated that the animal very often did this when having a load, and this was what happened in the case before 5 the court. Almost at the time the solicitor was speaking the horse, which was harnessed and attached to a dray"" in front of the courthouse, -lay downy-- : ' : ' as' if to-prove the truth of the solici--' I'tor.'s-: statement, and the onlookers outside the court laughed heartily. : Some excitement was :caused inUeorge steet, Sydney, the other day, i lady's hat being the cause of the trouble. Some ladies were taking refreshments in a cafe, when the hat of one of them fell out of the window on the verandah below. A gallant gentleman attempted to rescue the headffear. He was successfulin getting through the window, but immediately Iris hold slipped, and he crashed on the glass awning, 10ft. below. The wire netting and glass were not sufficient to stop his progress, so.he continued through to the footpath. Luckily—at least, luckily for him—he fell heavily on to a passing, citizen, and escaped without injury. The other man had his head badly gashed, and lie was taken into a chemist's shop close by. The noise of the impact attracted hundreds to the scene, but in a few minutes nothing could be observed but a large white feather on a blue hat on the top of the verandah, waving gaily in the breeze.

One of its own newspapers has claimed for Dunedin that it is the most musical city in the Dominion, and Mr Prouse, during a temporary absence from Wellington, lias awarded the palm in this respect .to Christchurch, while Auckland (says a Southern paper) takes its superiority for granted, and Wellington, as the political, commercial and foctoall capital, does not worry about any minor distinctions that may fall to the lot of its rivals. The musical supremacy, however (says the Lytetlton Times), has been authoritatively decided in favor of Christehurch by the trade returns, which show that during the twelve months ended on 30th June last 1558 pianos were imported to Wellington, 1495 to Auckland, 1123 to Duno(lin. and 959 to Lyttelton. It is generally recognised that the musical measure of a community is in an inverse ratio to the number of pianos it uses, and Christehurch having imported the smallest number of instruments during, the year, it ig safe to assume that" Mr Prouse is right in his estimate, and that Wellington, having imported the largest number, is wise in making no claim for the distinction.

Special railway arrangement.; in connection with the League football patch, Taranaki v. New South Wales, ! which is to bo'played at Hawera on Wednesday, appear in another column.| j The following team will represent Leaguers against N.S.AV., at Hawera, on Wednesday:—Full back, Blalone j three-quarters, Hooker, Tock©r, Nicholls, Fitzgerald; five-eighths, Uok; half, Frewen; forwards, Osmorne, Pukere, Rich, King, Mortis, Kyle; emergencies, back, Gredig; forwards, Gernhoefer. Mr T. CunningLa in, of Auckland, will hold the Whistle. The game is timed to start at 2.30 p.m. The railway department will run excursion fares available for day issue only, and the trains will be run to suit patrons.