LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 1, 31 December 1913, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Tlioi-o will he no issue of the Stratford Evening Post on Thursday, Now Year’s Day. A young fellow was before the Court , on -Monday charged with the theft ot . sundry small sums from Ins fellowi workers. He was ordered to repay | the sums stolen and to come up for sentence when Called upon. Cordelia Street North, down which vehicles will come on the return journey from the. racecourse, has received attention recently from the •Borough Council’s road roller ami is now in tiptop condition. Tnfortunately, owing to a variety of causes, Mr A. Spence, who for some throo-and-a-lialf years has been in business as a draper in Stratford, during which time he has made many friends, has decided to assign his estate to a trustee for the benefit of his creditors, as from January Ist, Bill. The premises will, accordingly, be closed for stock-taking as from to- : night. 1 A isitors from other towns who are iu Stratford for the races and, no doubt, a number of Stratford residents also will greatly appreciate the innovation which the Racing Club is trying this year—the sale of gate tickets in the streets. The. idea is an Australian one and was adopted by the Stratford Club on the suggestion ot a- member of the club who recently visited Australia. Tim general sale of gale tickets should do away with much of the crowding and inconvenience at the gates. “Do you swear absolutely to the identity of these men,” asked .Mr A. F. Skelton of a Witness, in the Auckland Police Court on Friday. ‘To the best of my belief they are the men,” replied the witness, Mr Skelton took exception to the answer, slating that there was a difference between such a statement and swearing definitely, hut Mr E, C. Cutten, S.M., held the opposite view. “No man in this world.” lie said, “can swear absolutely to anything. The utmost he can do is to swear to the best of his belief. Counsel have a habit of asking witnesses to ‘swear ibsolutoly,’ but it is merely a question.” Medical authorities agree that ex'ess uric acid in the blood is the main, ‘aiise of Rhcimiati'-m. Gout, Sciatica, j "id Lumbago. RHF.CMO cures quick- 1 y and permanently because if-is the!, me remedy that removes this excess ifid. I ry it. k’s Od and -Is Gd every-1

Queen Dowager Sophie, of Sweden, after ailing for a few days, succumbed to acute inflammation of the lungs, states a cable from Stockholm. A citizen of Grasse, France, who was supposed to have been buried a year ago, was found alive and well. He circulated his own death notices in order to escape his creditors. Proceedings for making false death declarations were taken against him. Mrs Grace Eos s has died of starvation at Palo ALo. California, after a voluntary fast which lasted sixtyseven days, during which she took nothing but water and resisted ail attempt to feed her forcibly. She was not a suifragette, and her hungeif'' strike is attributed to melancholia. \ At the Otago Game and Bantam show recently, much amusement was caused by the crowing competition. One game bird in the first ten minutes put up a good record, but after that he stood on one leg and had a snooze—evidently found some reason to go on strike. A bird, who proved to be a steady goer, won the competition, crowing 22 times in 15 minutes, with a competitor second with 16 crows to his credit.

Mr John Banker, known as the “Izaak Walton” of New Hampshire, who has arrived in Boston after an exploring trip of two months in Greenland, lias brought hack photographs and actual specimens of what he calls “Polar trout,” the only fur-bearing fish known to natural history. This peculiar denizen of the Polar regions resembles a square-tail trout in shape and gameness, and reaches from ten to fifteen pounds in weight. The skin is a fine brownish fur, resembling the texture of moleskin.

A new railway by-law prohibiting the throwing of missiles has been gazetted. It .provides (a) “Xo person shall throw or cause to be thrown from any carriage or other vehicle upon any railway or on any part thereof, any glass, filth, dirst, rubbish, or. any matter of a similar nature. (b) Any person who shall commit a breach of the foregoing by-law, or shall do any act which by such by-law is directed not to he done by him, shall he liable to a penalty not exceeding • £lO- for each such breach or the doing of each such act as aforesaid respectively, but if any ‘such person is employed on or about the railway, and the by-law relates to his conduct, he shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding £1 for each breach or act respectively.”

The township of Lnmsden, in Southland, possesses a model schoolboy. The Otago Daily Times states that at the “break-up” ceremony at the Lnmsden public school a gofd ineda,!,, the gift of Dr. Arthur Martin, of , , Palmerston Xorth, was formerly a pupil of the school, was presented to W. T. Johnson, who had never been absent half a day between Tannery, 1901, and December, 1913, thus securing ten frstclass attendance certificates. The family to which the boy nehngs may well claim to be the best school- attending family in Xew Zealand, for during some 12 years past nine members of it have secured forty-ox lusl-ciass atd thirteen second-class attendance certilmatt's.

The Rev. James Flanagan, the popular author and lecturer, who is conducting mission services in Stratford on Sunday and Monday next, has written a number of books, amongst them being “Scenes from my Life,” “Mail’s Quest,” “The Romance of Evangelism,” “My Brother’s Blood,” and others. In the first named there are several humorous passages, one of which lie describes as “the most peculiar fix I was ever iu.” He relates that on one occasion he was billed to deliver a temperance address in an English provincial town. A British Admiral was to take the chair and the company was the most brilliant in the town. Air Flanagan forgot the time of meeting, and was somewhat hurried when he departed. He found that he was in need of a handkerchief and rushed upstairs for ope. He saw what he thought was required and hastily .put it in his pocket. It seemed bulky, but ho presumed he had picked up two handkerchiefs instead of one. He thought no more on the matter at the time, but during he lecture he had occasion to use his handkerchief, and when ho unfurled it with a flourish he displayed—saints and angels help ns, he exclaims—a child’s night shirt.