LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVI, Issue 98, 29 August 1913, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A resident of Hokowhitu, near Paluierston North, had the pleasure last week of digging new potatoes. lilt tubers were of excellent size and qual ity. "0. Jerusalem," is the name of a lieutenant appealing in the las*, gazetted batc.ii of defence appointments. In a country place uol a 100 miles from Winton, Southland (says the Record) the musician failed to turn uy to a dance. A lady, resourceiul i.s most ladies are, filled the breach by whistling the tunes of the dances. Needless to say, she kept excellent

A now Australian picture production firm i-- about to introduce several films on the market. The management has realised that there is an opening in Audi-,ilia for the locally;..\anufnotured film. Actors have been engaged from the principal metropolian tin aires, and a special team of Australian ■hush-riders is kept cmpi ryed. Tlie first of the series to bo! introduced is Adam Lindsay Gordon's; "Sick Stockrider." I

The Joll Dairy Company (Okaiawa) has disposed of the coming season's cheese output on a guarantee of 5 13-lGd without recourse.

A lawyer at Centralia, Wasliingion, who was consulted by a German couple two years ago with a view to transferring some property, secured a divorce for them instead. The husband and wife recently discovered the mistake. The? were immediately remarried.

Judgment by default was given in the Court this morning in the following cases: 11. A. Wunsch v. John Wm. Heal, £2O Is Sd, costs £3 7s; Stratford Hospital Board v. Bertie Wishart, £7 -Is, costs £1 12s Gd; Edward

Mason v. Lester Tichhon 10s 6d, costs 03 ; J. Masters and Sons v. Alexander Crudin, £5 13s 6d, costs £1 3s Gd.

A Masterton resident has trained a retriever dog to scent out and retrieve the plants of "droppers." The other day it brought to its master twelve bottles cf ale that had been deposited in a swamp for future use. v

Mr 1). Stewart, .Mayor of Balclutha, *wko returned home last week after a trip to the South Sea Islands, tells of a case (says the Clutha Leader) where" a native was fined £5 for shooting a child, while another was mulqted in £27,for importing a bottle of rum.

"I understand stripping cows to maan," said. Sir Robert Stout, in the Supreme Court at Palmerston North, "that you take away a little milk before applying the milking machine." "Oh, no!" replied counsel, very, very gravely, while a titter ran round the court, "stripping takes place after the machines are taken off."

Says tho Orepuki Advocate :-r-ll.r 1). Whelan i.s the fortunate finder of a fur seal, which was stranded on tho beach near Monkey Island. , The aniimi! is a female, over Bft, long, foo that the find is of some considerable value* It has been viewed since its

capture by many people curious to inspect the prize. The stranding of a '■":\l 0:1 the beach is cf rare occurrence, but seals are occasionally seen in the bay.

A statistician has figured out that ilia American people spend over £120.000,000 a year for their musical entertainment, divided something- in this order:—£l,69o,ooo for opera, £6,000,000 for concerts, £7,000,000 for music for vaudeville and moving pictnrcs, £7,000,000 for bands, £35,000,000 for teachers in conservatoires, £!o,000,000 for students studying' abroad, and the sum of £46,000,000' ' ! ■for tile different industries in the rnusi- '' I cal line. : -> n ■.. ■' ;■'} ;il I re ■.';(

I Writes, the London con-despondent; i of tho Sydney;; Daily Telegraph under; cAs dat* July 18 :—"The experiment of a "■■ ■■} ftoyal Canadian navy has proved a clear! and a costly failure. The whole staff is in the process of being broken up, and the officers and men who were •■' employed with the navy are returning home to England a year before the expiration cf their service. The Canadians simply' refused to join in auv numbers, and a -good many of those who did join, deserted on, tho?, t first opportunity."

A settler in the Eketahnna district possesses a very profitable pet ewe, says the Express. For the.past three seasons she lias given birth to' twins, and again this year two lambs are running at her side. The lambs are always bespoken by a local butcher,

who pays up to 15s a piece for them. Not only dees the ewe rear her own. progeny, but every season she fostermothers two other lambs, which also find their way to the butcher's shop. Apart from the lambs she rears, the ewe clips from ion, to 121 b of wool every season.

A while back thQ Hartford, Newhaven, and New York Railway Company offered a 10,000 dollar* reward for the best invention for automatically controlling the speed and automatically stopping trains when fixed Signals are disregarded. There were 1554 replies emanating from all parte of the world submitted to the company, but only five per cent, were considered, these being ultimately reduced to two. Of the two inventors who are competing for the prize, one « Mr W. T. Ashton, a machinist at tiie Egmont Box Co.'s. mill at Taihapo.

A robbery was reported from Elthara Road on Monday (states the Opunake Times). It appears that Mr * Birkett came into Opunake on Saturday night and cashed a £7 cheque returning home with the cash. On Sunday afternoon, in company with Mrs Birkett, he went out .for a walk, the money being then left untouched! After about an hour's absence they returned, and the seven pounds and £1 13s in addition was missing, having been abstracted from a pocket and a hand bag. • The police have the matter in hand.

Fines .were imposed as follows at the Court this morning in connection with breaches of the Borough by-laws: J. W. Simmons, riding a bicycle without a light in Swansea Road on August 13th, 10s, costs-7s; Albert Simmons, riding a bicycle without a light in Swansea Road on August 13th, 10s, costs 7s; Douglas Corkill, riding a motor bicycle on the footpath in Swansea Road on August 14th, 20s, costs 7s; William Rowe, driving a without lights in Broadway on August 18th, 20s, costs 7s.

The Taranaki representative football team returned by last night 3 mail train. Members of the Bowling Club are, 1 reminded of the annual meeting, which | ■ takes place in the Borough Council | Chambers at 8 o'clock to-morrow even-! ing. In the judgment summons case, William Elder v. Joseph Henry Slight, called at the Court this morning, a claim for £l3 15s 6d, there was no appearance of judgment debtor and an order was made for payment forthwith, in default seven days' imprisonment. i According to a return published hy i the "Manchester Guardian" during last year the American people drank more whisky and beer and smoked more tobacco than in any previous vear of their history. Over 143,0UU,000 gallons of whisky and brandy were con 9 umed, an increase of more than ' 7 000,000 gallons over the previous year's consumption. This was in addition to 64,500,000 barrels of beer, , breaking the previous by * 1 000,000 barrels. More than 7,000,000 cigars and .14,000,000 cigarettes were smbked' during the year, and over •1 403,000,0001 b. of tobacco, m addition to 33,000,0001 b. of snuff, which were sold. 'ln spite of these figures the number of saloons decreased by 18,0UU during the year. The revenue profited by £60,500,000 taxation.

Last evening an accident occurred in Broadway, fortunately, not attended with serious results. A man was driving a horse in a gig in a northerly direction towards Victoria Bridge, - and when near the bridge the horseshied at the Borough Council road roller. The wheel of the gig struck the kerbing, and the occupant was thrown out, and though the wheel passed over him he was not injured. The horse continued on its course, and collided with a horse in a cab coming out of the Empire Stables. The shaft of the gig lodged in the neck of the horse in the cab. Mr Mason veterinary surgeon, was soon on the scene and attended to the injured animal.