LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 5, 6 January 1914, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A cablegram from Sydney states that the heat has moderated. At the Royal Horticultural Society’s Shaw a yellow chrysanthemum of the “Bob Fulling” variety measured %ju in circumference, it is said to be the largest in,th& world. Mr A. Ashworth, of Central Otago, 1 recently sent a sample ofvgooseberries! grown by him in Alexandra to the Otago Daily Times office, Dunedin, fourteen of which weighed a pound. The Government tax on the gross revenue of the Stratford Racing Club for the two days’ race mooting at New Year amounts to no less a sum than £791 3s sd. A Sydney cablegram states that Mr J. Birks has purchased the stallion St. Medoc for nine hundred guineas. “A compact Liberal-Labor alliance faithfully carried out is absolutely certain to defeat the present Administration.”—Excerpt from leading article in the Eltham Argus, which is owned and edited by the Hon. W. Carncross, M.L.C. Supersitious folk will say that the wreck of the barque Triton was preordained, for tiro •number thirteen occurs several times in the story of her lafetMvoyage, Slum was carriyng thirteen persons at tho time,’she was making her thirteenth voyage from New Zealand lt> Malden Island, and at leapt one of tyer crew signed" on the articles on tho thirteenth of th n mqutji.. Further than this, she Toft Bluff for tho island on a Friday.

Mr Casey, Chairman of Committee of the Victorian Racing Club. mho lias returned from a visit to England, states tiiat there is a boom in horse flesh. "Rich men have taken to Inlying horses as if they were pictures by old masters. Tf they set their mind on an animal, they will not stop bidding till they got it. It would Uot astonish him to see in the near future English owners entering for the big Australian handicaps.—(Melbourne cablel. In Victoria there is a law or custom that anyone who has been a Minister of the Grown should, on retiring, be entitled to a free pass on the railways for the remained of his life. The Elmslie Government was in office for a week or so only, and. never had a chance of getting a majority, being twenty strong all told, but nevertheless all the members of that shortlived Ministry will in future ride on the Victorian railways free; and will also have some traditional claim for tlie recognition of their passes on the lines of other States.

There was only a moderate audience at the Town Hall last night, when the J 1 e'v. J. Flanagan delivered a lecture under the title of “Catching Hen Alive.” Mr Flanagan has an established reputation as a lecturer, and last night he was in particularly good form. He dealt at length with his own conversion and with the evil conditions obtaining in the industrial centres of Great Britain, explaining at considerable length his first fight for Christ after his conversion. He enlivened his discourse with a number of bright anecdotes and treated his whole subject in an entertaining fashion.

Feu- New Zealanders realise how well off they are in. tlio matter of sunshine. It is only when they go Homo and experience an English wintor that they apperciate fully the brightness of New Zealand days. The Government Meteorologist (Mr Bates) shows that Now Zealand enjoys much more sunshine than England. Tn the Old Country the hours of sunshine in the year average from 1200 i-i the North'to 1(500 in the South of" England, whereas the average of Nanier for the last six years is 2-)M and of Xolson .during the last four years 2-lfi". Canterbury can show figures well above the English one;. Lincoln's average for the fh"« vear? ending 1011 being 2168, Bu+ th« most interesting feature of Mr Rates' snnshine comparisons is that Xanier and Nelson are both sunnier than nlaees in THlv. according to the averages furnished for that country.

I’he Rev. Henry" Hodgson, curate of Greclitou, Devon, was the victim oi a strange accident recently. He had in his possession a Boer shell that was believed to be harmless,, and desiring to fit a handle to it he heated a bayonet - and tried to force it into tile top or the shell. Instantly there was an explosion, winch shattered Mr Hodgson s leg, smashed the furniture, and broke the windows Iwo or three years ago (says tiro Dost) Mr William CampVi a wellknown provision mer-luot, of Wellington, admitted some of Dis employees who had been in: in his service into a prolit-sua. - !. .■ -•■■home, and it is now ahao'M' od n..ia- formed the bur - ss into .. p., att company, with a capital of £2O ( OU, in £1 shares A unique event will take place in the Salvation Army Citaom a- -A•-Kuu'ton on Monday evening, Jaunar., 12, when 39 new officers will be commissioned. Hitherto cadets have received their commissions in Australia: now they will receive their commissions ’at the hands of Commissioner Richards. The 39 will be the first officers to be train ed in the new training college and commissioned on New Zealand soil. lire Stratford-owned horse Royal Dragoon continues in winning vein in his tour oil the West Coast of the South Island. A telegram to Mr C. . Ruscoe yesterday stated that Royal Dragoon won the Jubilee Cup at Hokitika. Out of seven starts in the West, Royal Dragoon registered four ; wins and twice occupied second place, being tim'd once. The nine included two ctips.

News was published recently to the effect that a man named Bragato, formerly connected with the Victorian Department of Agriculture, had been found dead in an hotel at Vancouver. The paragraph, no doubt, refers to Signor Romeo Bragato, who was for a number of years Government viticulturist in New Zealand, and had charge of the Waerenga experimental farm. After he retired from the Government service here Signor Bragato resided for some time in Auckland, and finally went to Canada, i The work of laying the underground telephone cable has been steadily progressing, and the work is now nearing completion. The outlying sections were done first, and now the going is ens- shrdluetaoi now the gang is engaged on the central section—Broadway, from the bridge to Regan Street. The work on this section has been splendidly organised, and is being carried out wit!; the absolute minimum of discomfort to users- of the footpath. A lesson- in tact was giyeu to a tramway conductor recently by Mr Syrhmbns, the Magistrate at North London Police Court. It was alleged that the conductor, finding an inside passenger smoking, snatched a cigarette out of his mouth and put it out. The passenger admitted striking the conductor, but said the cigarette was not alight. Mr Symmons said surely it .would have been better for a conductor, finding a working man smoking inside a car, to say, good-hum-oredly. 1 “Dowse the glim, Charley”; of if the by-law was being broken by a “nut.” “Put it out, sir, please.” if the right thing were said at the right time much unpleasantness would be avoided. A tactful man always avoided a lot of trouble. The passenger was bound over.

A surprise awaited a clerk at the Palmerston North railway station, when a traveller approached the parcels’ office counter and asked for a dog ticket for a station on the Main Trunk line. “Eight; where’s your dog?” was the clerk’s remark, as he produced the ticket. “Here,” repiled the traveller, as he drew from his pocket a pug of Japanese breed. The animal was 13 weeks old, and sai l to be fully grown, yet it found a comfortable resting-place in its owner’s pocket. “1 would keep it in my pocket, but it barks too much,” was the traveller’s humorous comment as he placed the pug in a nest specially made for the occasion in the dog box of the van. Prizes were given at the Auckland Rifle Association’s meeting for range aggregate (aggregate scores at 300, 000. 600 and 700yds in all matches) and for long range aggregate (Aggregate scores at 800, 900 and 1000yds). Roots (Patch) won the first-named prize and Loveday (Ohura) the latter. It is worthy of note that in the short-distance competition there were good margins between the scores of the prize-getters, while in the long distance competition there was never more than two points difference. and that at the bottom of the list. For fourth, fifth, sixth and ■wreath places, count-backs were necessary, five scoring 134 for seventh ’dace. The win-Vs score was 140.