LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVII, Issue 32, 8 October 1913, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

• The Swimming Club lias made a donation of £5 to the' School Committee towards the cost of concrete work required at the bath.

At the Court this morning a firstoffending drunkard was convicted and discharged. Mr C. D. Sole was on the bench.

Fourteen civil cases (two defended) are set down for hearing at the Court qn Friday. The only other business consists of two informations alleging disobedience of an order of the Court under the Destitute Persons Act.

The minimum subscription of £20,000 has been subscribed in connectio;

with the Farmers' Co-operative, Organisation Society of New Zealand. It has taken two years to get going At a meeting at Hawera on Monday it was decided to incorporate the so ciety.

A resident of Hawera predicts a very warm summer. g He bases his prediction on the fact that the cabbage trees are blooming more vigorously than for several years. It is just about six years since they bore a similar appearance, and that year was exceptionally dry.

I Referring to an Ashburton telegram I regarding the deduction from the sal ary of a member of the House of Representatives during his absence from the session, the Prime Minister (Mr Massey) said yesterday: -*'l kntw nothing about it. The Government has nothing to do with it. It is a matter between' the persons concerned and the Speaker. The rule is that in the case of a member being absent on account of illness on his own part, or on the part of anv member of his family, no deduction is made, but if ho is absent from Parliament for more than 15 clays on his own business, in any session, a deduction of £2 per day is made. The Government has absolutely nothing to do with it. If the rule is not to he complied | with, the amount has to be placed on the Estimates and voted at the end of the session."

The X.Z. Loan and Mercantile Agency Co., Ltd., are giving a demonstration of stumping with Erup-

tive to-morrow (Thursday) at 1 p.« 5 -> on Mr G. E. Ireland's farm on the East Road, near Kahouri Bridge. A motor car- will convey intending farmer spectators from Stratford to the paddock. i # It is understood that the takings at the performance of "The Country Girl" by the Now Plymouth Operatic Society'in the Town Hall, Eltham, on Monday night amounted to £75. After Stratford's three-figure total, rumor hath it the management is .not too J well satisfied with the response of the I "concrete." town.

The 300th baby was born in the Elizabeth Townley Maternity Home, Gisborne, last week, and the honor of completing the third century belongs to a Te Arai Native, the newcomer being a girl. . It is pleasing to record that since the institution was opened in April, 1910, no mothers have died during confinement, and no babies have been lost. The home is practically out of debt now, the recent additions having been paid for out of revenue.

The final match for the Victorian Football League premiership, played, between Fitzroy and St. Kilda, on the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday week was witnessed by 59,479 person3;_by several thousands tho biggest' crowd which has watched a game of football in Australia. Fitzroy had been beaten by St. Kilda on the previous Saturday, and the attendants at the final was a good indication of the interest taken in the issue. The final scores were Fitzroy, 7 goals 14 behindsj.St. Kilda, 5 goals 13 behinds.

There are "dry" districts and dry districts, but surely Poverty Bay can claim the palm for low rainfall for September. At Te Karaka, some distance inland from Gisborne, the rainfall recorded was .71in., rain falling on eleven days. This, on being correctly worked out, gives an average fall per. wet day of .0645—four five repeating. But it is also recorded that the greatest fall on one day was .35in, which leaves .36in to average over ten days. This average of .036 in. per day should not, one would think, lead to floods! p.

The shortage of water is becoming a serious matter in many parts of the Waikato. Grass is already being burnt up, and streams and springs are low. The only thing to save the position is a good downfall at an early date ; otherwise the dniry industry will be seriously hampered. The rainfall 'foriSeptember at,Hamilton was 2.35 in., and the total'for .the year so far 28'.19 in., against 33'.3Sini ana* 33.34 in. for <the same periods in 1911 and. 1912' respectively; , The average fall'in September for 13 years was 5.15 in., and is the lowest fall since. 19C0.

At the Salvation Army Hall to-mor-row evening Brigadier Yince will speak on "Early-Day Battles." Adjutant Gray will preside. Following is a rough synopsis'of the lecture; The wrong''man; the genial inspector; threatened arrest of Salvationists 1 ; drum ripped up; lassies ill-treated; lieutenant interviewed by the inspector ; arrival of the superintendent, inspector and police; the square blocked ; names taken; Police Court proceedings ; the red nose; arrested in the Court; the Army in mourningsdistress warrant and arerst; baffled; black-pudding Lucy; that ride to prison; the old lady; the return from prison; the cabby's wife; the sympathetic magistrate.

The Christchurch-Dunedin express left Christchurch on Friday at 8.8 a.m., and reached Hinds about 10.10 a.m. The train ran past the. station at a speed of about 43 miles an hour (says the Lyttelton Times), and when about half a mile south of the station, the tyre (weighing about fivehundredweight) of the centre big wheel on the left side of the locomotive split- in almost three equal parts. One piece penetrated the boiler and tore away the guards over the wheels. Another piece, weighing about two hundredweight, went flying into an adjacent paddock, bounding about 60 yards from the line, and the .third piece was picked, up in a small water channel. The driver at once clamped his emergency brake, pulling the train up within one length. The locomotive was not able to proceed. The most remarkable part of the accident was to account for the three pieces of the tyre leaving the wheel ing the eccentric rod. The rod »s, of course, outside the wheel. The passengers on the train congratulated themselves as being very lucky, and Driver Kennedy and Guard Stanley both assert that it was a most miraculous escape, as had auy piece of the tyre fallen directly in front of the following wheel nothing would have stopped a serious catastrophe. The locomotive would have at once left the rails and the cars would have telescoped. The driver's promptness in applying the emergency brakes saved the situation. A delay of 45 minutes occurred in the locality of Ashburton, and a mixed train took up the running on the express reaching Rangitata, where two locomotives from Timaru picked up the express, which arrived at Temuka at 12.40. I