LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVII, Issue 17, 20 September 1913, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Wo are informed''' that there os a movement a loot to start a now Egg Circle in Stratford. Tiio following amounts were paid out to-day by dairy companiesLowgarth £846, Ngaere £J6I, and Cardifl i - 2U7. i While in America a couple of years ago, air Sidney Kidman, the “cattle Icing.” worked for a time on a cattle ranch. Evidently ho picked up souk points (remarks the Sydney Daily Tele graph). On his Queensland station? lie has introduced an innovation. Tin calves are not yarded now for brand- • 4-!■»/■»<•/■* o-folmnQ 111-

in”; on any ot those stations. instead, they are rounded up on the run and roped, as is done in America. Then the horse pulls them to a tree, where they are thrown and branded It is quicker. The men and horses soot adapted themselves to the business. Mr Kidman has shown himself an ad, p with the lassoo.

Mr 0. 11. Sims (according to “Healti and Home”) tells that from Decern her 1 20, 1912, to January 19, 1913 there were 201 deaths from fire, oi which 152 were children, and in tin majority of cases the fatal result war due to the inflammable nature of then clothing. It is difficult to express in words one’s feeling towards those unscrupulous dealers who hy aclvertis ing the flannelette they sell as “safe,’ when it is nothing of the sort, deceive poor people into buying worthless am dangerous material, and who are realh responsible for the torture and burning alive of numbers of innocent little children.

One of the most interesting features of the Mental Hospitals report is a table giving the principal assigned causes of insanity. Alcohol figures largely (82 males and 19 females), and syphilis was responsible for 32 male; and 4 females. Auckland supplies one case due to a love affair, and also one (the only one for the Dominion) due tc “occultism.” The solitary life claim ed six victims—four males and two females. Sixty males and 65 females succumbed to heredity, and 30 males arid 25 females to congenital mental deficiency, and it is a significant sign of the times that prolonged menta' stress was the cause in the cases of 199 males and 30 females. One of the most gratifying ifc«t»*ves in connection with our naval develop ment (stated the report of the Australian National Defence League, at its annual meeting) %yas the'-, voluntary response of Australians to the /'call of the sea.” Already about 2000 Australians, men and boys,; are in; Hu fleet unit, the great majority having been recruited during the last ,12 months or so. Of the total personuel—34o0 —of the Australian navy, •about 900 had been lent from the Royal Navy; and of the crew of the Australia 47- per cent, were Australians. This sea-readiness of the Ans tralian was in. striking contrast with tiio naval experience of Canada, where recruiting for its naval, forces was a complete 1 failure. Mr T. White, of Stratrorci, has received notice that a company called the New Zealand Poultry Industries, Limited, has 1/een formed in Wellington with a capital of £20,000. The following extracts from the prospectus will explain the scope of the company; “All ordinary shareholders must be bona lido poultrymeu. The company will act as agent of shareholders (oi other persons) in the disposal of eggs, deducting a small levy to defray expenses. The company will also dis pose of farm produce of any kind for shareholders or others. file company will have power to, in any manner, buy and sell eggs and farm produce. It is not proposed at present to disturb the arrangement of forwarding through the various secretaries or representatives of Egg Circles. The company to buy feed and other requisites of shareholders for supply to them.” The prospectus concludes: “The above are some only of the main objects and powers. Others may be determined upon later, and it is advisable and intended to give the company very wide powers, so that if the venture is a success, the company will have power to trade generally for the benefit of shareholders.”

“Wliafc do yon do for a living.,” asked counsel of a judgment debtor at the Palmerston Magistrate’s Court the other day. “I work for my wife,” was tlie reply. “And how much does she pay you?” queried counsel. “She gives me a bob or two whenever 1 want it,” was the debtor’s reply, which caused a smile in Court. The witness further stated that he had not been fit to work for the last two years, and when bo commenced again he would repaj his wife like a model husband should do, at which there was renewed amuse-

niont in Court. The debtor appeared to resent the creditor’s action in vaning proceedings, and when an ordei was made against him he asked his Worsliip to send him to Palmerston gaol, as lie had no intention of paying the debt. Another debtor was asked by the Magi strata if his house was mortgaged. “I don’t know',” was the reply. “Surely you don’t expect me to believe that,” said his Worship. The debtor then stated thatj his wife attended to those matters. ''Laughter.) “Well, all T can say,” added i\ir Poynton, “is that she must be, a very discreet woman.”

A very lino line of Lincoln wethers were sold at Messrs. Lillies and Xnlder’s yards, Hawera, on Thursday, on account of .Messrs A. and S. Larconi. I hey realised 27s 9d. I he Inglewood Operatic Society, as a result oi further application to Mr Bert Hoyle, has heon given permission to produce “HALS Pinafore ” i iie (Queensland Lovernment has prepared a return showing the holdings ia various part’s ol the State from which land has been resumed, or with espeet to wnieli notices to resume iiavo been given since .January i. The total area resumed or under notice of resumption is 5,835,620 acres. Action is in progress for the resumption from pastoral holdings of a total area of 10,515 square miles. The resumablo areas to he thrown -open this year aggregate 1,976,500 acres. At the last meeting of the -Eltham Chamber of Commerce a'Tetter was received from the Stratford Chamber of Commerce enclosing a resolution urging upon the Minister of. Railways the advisability of having luggage checked from Taranaki railway stations to Auckland city, via New Plymouth ami Oneljunga, and requesting the Eltham chamber's co-operation in this matter. After some discussion it was decided to comply with the wishes of the Stratford chamber. The ordinary meeting of the Taranaki Provincial Executive of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union was hold at Hawera on Thursday. Replies from -Messrs C. A. Wilkinson and H. Okey, M.P.’s, to the Executive’s resolution against the Betterment Bill and the Daylight Saving Bill were received, and Mr Wilkinson stated that he would vote against both Bills, and Mr Okey stated that he noted the Executive’s objection. Copies of the Land Laws Amendment Bill were received from Mr 'Wilkinson. The Bill was considered, and it was resolved that the Execu. live tender its thanks and gratitude to the Premier and the Government for the introduction of such a beneficial measure as that of the Land Laws Amendment Bill.

Divorce terminated 31 marriages in the Dominion in 1898, and 154 in 1910, and from a comment upon these figures • . during his sermon at Knox Presbyterian Church on Sunday evening, the Rev. Robert Inglis (says the Auckland Herald) proceeded to speak of modern types of womanhood. “There Is springing up a new type of woman,” he said, “whose aim Ts'apparently to lie as man-like as possible. They are * hardened amh.ihddo ‘iblf-Hniseious by the love of pleasure, and evidently have no higher object in life than to ‘hhv*>; a good 1 time.’''' Such a. yrdJtriaKi as tiici late Queen Victoria-was, would, in their eyes, be entirely out of fashion. These women belong to the smart set, to the fast set, to the loud set, to the money set. and all that is lacking to complete the outfit which apparently appeals to them, is a pasteboard card on their backs with the words ‘For Sale, Cheap,’ printed in ■bold type.” Mr Inglis said that these 1 remarks applied ! to only olie regrettable class’of women, and he warmly camiyented the building’ campaign of tile Young Women’s Christian Association, as the institution threw wide its doors to the drifting and those who needed a helping hand,An amusing breach of promise case

lias just been heard in German Africa, which resulted in the plaintiff, Frauleiu Bertha Stahl, sailing back to Hamburg unwed. The defendant was Herr Justh, a prosperous engineer at W iudhook. Ho being in urgent need of a. good plain cook and laundress, decided to marry, but finding the sort of wife he wanted scarce in South Africa, answered the fraulein’s matrimonial advertisement in the Berlin newspaper, and in due course receiv' ed a charming letter, enclosing the photograph of as pretty a German girl as any man could want for a bride. But Herr .Justh also desired the assurance

that tliis vision was a good housewife. ■ A visit- to a. moving-picture show furnished an inspiration, and he wrote and asked the fraulein to have a moving picture taken of herseif at different household duties. These proved so satisfactory that Herr Justh cabled money sufficient for passage and outfit, imploring the Bride-elect to start at once. He met the steamer, but the lovely face of the woman seen in file pictures scut to him was nowhere to lie found. Just as he was giving up the search in despair an exceeding^j l.v plain middle-aged woman flung arms around his neck and proclaimed herself “his little Bertha.” When he took the photo sent him from his pocket to compare with the original, she confessed that, being plain of feature, slip had hired a pretty actress to pose for her. The - moving-picture R tory was shown in court, and tho Judge decided in favor of the defendant. ,

The directors of tie Warwick Butter and Dairy Co. in

order to compel an improvement in the quality of cream, have decided to make a margin of 1 Id between first and second class cream.

A a special general meeting ,of members of the Stratford Racing Club, held last night, the alterations to the rides decided on at the annual general meeting were confirmed.

Enquiries made regarding yesterdays’ runaway indicate that there is id validation for the statement that it occurred as a result of the horse being unattended and the wheel o. the cart not being locked. Mr W. Payton was driving down from Messrs Masters, and Son’s store, when the horse began to rear, and be was thrown out of the back of the cat t, happily receiving no injury. r lhe motor car which the cart collided with was damaged to the'extent of something under £2O.

The returns of 47 cows in the Hawkesbury (N.S.W.) College herd, which have completed a period of lactation, show an average of 54801 b. milk and 267.61 b. butter, of a value (af lOd per lb.) of £ll 2s 6d. The first three cows produced butter worth £lB 9s lOcl £l4 ss, and £l3 18s 4d, respectively, or an average of £ls 11s; and the last three, £7 3s 4d, £6 14s 2d, and £5 16s Bd, respectively, an average of £6 11s 4d. The Kerry-Jersey crosses are still well above the average (states the Sydney Daily Telegraph), although they do not show to such advantage ■as previously, but this is probably due to the fact that' most of the cows of this cross are getting aged. Since they have given such excellent returns in the Hawkesbury district, it has been decided to purchase some high-clasts Jersey grade heifers tr mate with the Kerry bulls, and, judging by the previous performances of this cross, the result should be very satisfactory. In comparing the col lege cows with other herds, it is wel to bear in mind that the'-pastures arc of such character as to make it neces sary to hand-feed the cattle practical ly all through the year, and, although well fed, they cannot be expected tr give as good returns as if they wenfed on the rich succulent pastures o( most of the dairying districts. AY the milking coivs are rugged durinr the coldest winter months, but thh trouble and expense has been found tr be more than compensated for by the larger supply of milk, and the fact that the cows keep in much better condition, ,