LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 4, 5 January 1914, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A remarkable feature about the recent axemen's meeting at Wanganuij was that Pretty and Smith were not J able to compete, both being in the doctor's Lands for appendicitis. There is an entire of absence of all forms of tuberculosis, malignant disease, rheumatic fever, and infectious diseases in the Falkland Islands, according to a recehtly-issued report. A remarkable case is reported from Breslau, where a photographer 'has been sentenced to a fortnight's iin-i prisofimeut for insulting a policeman! "by staring at him in a vexatious manner." There is nothing that shows the increase of population and prosperity so quick as s 'the abattoir returns'. The liuiiiber of' stock 'killed in December*,,] idlS, compared 1 with D'eriember, 3912 was:--Cattle, > !9i3,' III; 1.912*," 84.1 Sheep, 1913, 290; 1912, 203. Lambs, j 1913, 251 ; 1912, 218. Pigs, 1913, 38; 1912, 24.

The gate takings at the recent meeting of the Stratford Pacing Club totalled £6BB 4s 6d, which compares very favorably with last year's total of,:£62h 3s. in view of the fact that this year there was a large increase in the number of complimentary tickets issued. The Rev. J. Flanagan .conducted the service at.the Methodist Church yesterday morning. At the Town Hall this evening Mr Flanagan, who has an established reputation as a lecturer, will deliver a lecture under the title "Catching Men Alive."

Dr. F. Trilby King, President of the Society for the Promotion of the Health of Women and Children, New Zealand, delivered a lecture at Hud-' dersfield Technical College, on "Health; and Fitness."' The Mayor of Huddersfield, who presided, explained that Dr.; Truby King was visiting England as; the representative of New Zealand at' the .Medical Conference of the English-' speaking races on Infantile Mortality.!' Dr. King said that he would not have! been there but for the extraordinary j, prominence of Huddersfield in the suh- i ject of the welfare of women and ehil-j dren. What they were doing- in New Zealand was known in Huddersfield, and what was being done in Huddersfield was known in Xew Zealand at i an early date through the Press. They

welcomed the evidence that they were , not on au isolated track. j Perhaps the most interesting feature iof the January "Life," which is just |to hand, is ;i photograph and an explanation of the origin of the epitaph! which was written for the memorial cross to Captain Scott and his fellow j heroes. It seems that when Captain Scott was leaving for the South Pole Dr. Alexander Leeper, ' Warden of; Trinity College, Melbourne, gave him' as a memento a little volume ofj Browning, in which lie wrote the cor l .-: eluding lines from Tennyson's Elys-' ses: "To strive, to seek, to fin<i. hut! not to yield." The little volume •.vas' discovered in the tent with Captain ; Scott, and the members of the search I party, considering the lines a most ar>- ! propriate epitaph, carved them on thecross which stands on Observation

Hill. Other interesting articles in this number tire: "The Greatest Business on earth," in which Frederick Palmer, the war correspond* at, tolls '.<..>.■ Science has robbed War of its romance: Mr Carlyle Smythe's description of Max O'Rell and his Australian tour; Jack ■'London's serial; and a stirring story j by Rex Beach, one of a serifs of which I "Life" has secured the exclusive Aus- | tralian rights.

Mr F. H. Wilkie's fox terrier met its death on Saturday morning. It got under the wheels of the north train and had one of its, legs cut off. It hopped about as if nothing much had happened; but Mr Wilkie despatched it with a revolver. The Borough ranger had a somewhat, exciting time yesterday morning in !iis endeavors to place a bull in the pound, and the services of the County ranger were required before the animal could be safely locked up. Speaking at Glasgow a few weeks back, Mackinnon Wood. Secretary for Scotland, alluded to Scottish Home Rule, and said that when they had a Parliament in Scotland they should make a degree of progress the country had never seen.

Riflemen H. Loveday (Ohura Defence Rifle Club) was the only Taranaki man to get into the prize-list oh the concluding clav of the Auckland Rifle As-

sociation's meeting, scoring 46 in the Penrose Match, ton shots at 700yds. In the Teams Match the Ohura team scored -119, the winners scoring 477.

A new system of road designation for the convenience of tourists has

been adopted in France. Every road in the country will be given a name and a number, and these designations v,iil be painted upon direction posts at the i'oad crossings and the one-hundred-metre posts along the road.

The tourist starting on a journey will need only a strip of figures and he will he able to find his way anvwhere.

The commercial department of the Mataura Ensign has acknowledged receipt of the sum of sixpence from the Official Assignee at Dunedin, being first and only dividend in a bankruptcy estate. The postal expenses in connection therewith were: Proof of debt

Id, notite of meeting Id, receipt returned Id, amount forwarded in stamps Id. The sixpenny divident cost sd, apart from the time involved and the stationery used.

The year the Burns supper, to he held at Stratford tinder the auspices of the local branch of the Taranaki Provincial Scottish Society, will take I place on Monday, January 26th, the actual anniversary of the poet's birthday, falling on the previous Sunday. , The president, Mr (I. Saligster, in V I formed a representative of this paper I J that lie has every reason to anticij pate that this year's gathering will be a larger and even more successful one than that of last year. Mr J. Craigie, M.P. for Tim am, has promised to be present and to deliver the oration. Mr Craigie is a noted Burns student and a patriotic Scot, I he having presented' a statue of the | poet to Tiinara about twelve months i }:go, and on the occasion of the unI veiling Sir Eobert Stout made his very famous speech on Burns. Something out of the common, can, therefore, be looked forward to.