LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIX, Issue 3, 24 April 1914, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Last week a representative of the Tenraka Loader was shown a freak of Nature in the form of one stalk of carnation holding four diffe -out varieties of the flower. A lad was charged at the Juvenile Court this morning with having placed a railway velocipede on the permanent way, and after being admonished was convicted without penalty. Cr. N. J. King will continue the Mayoral compaign at the Town Hall tliis evening, when he promises to correct misstatements made by Mr Kirkwood in his address on Monday. Only one judgment by default was given at the Court this morningOfficial Assignee in the estate of Frederick Gooch v. D. McMasters, £2 16s, costs £1 17s. One case was confessed and the rest of the cases were adjourned.

Many tales are in course of circulation concerning the young man who had such a busy afternoon shopping round town with spurious 10-pound notes on Saturday last (states the Auckland Star). One of the best of them relates to n transaction at the office of a monumental mason in Symonds street. The youth, after a careful examination of different designs, selected a gravestone and oifered a deposit of £2, receiving £8 change for his bogus 10-pound note.

The North Taranaki Hunt Club held its first meet for the season yesterday on Mr hurdling's property at Waitara. There was a large attendance of followers and spectators, and the hounds put up a number of hares,one run lasting for about four miles. After the hunt the members were entertained at afternoon tea by Mrs Birdling. The Hon. W. Eraser, who had just returned from a trip to Awakino, was present during part of the afternoon and witnessed some of the runs. The Stratford contingent at the hunt consisted of Messrs Mason, Abraham, Fulton, Nicholson, Crawford, Davey and Brannigan.

There will bo 16 inspections of cadets during'General Sir lan Hamilton's visit to New Zealand. Upwards of 26,000 lads will take part. The biggest review will be held at Auckland on May 1& when some 4500 youths, comprising 60 companies, will parade. The next biggest parade will bo held at Christchurch, on May 2, 3-825 cadets participating. At Dunedin, on the 28th inst.. about 2700 lads will march past. The Wellington" cadets, drawn purely from the city and suburbs, will parade 1950 strong. A North Sydney motorist denies the truth of the assertion that *-a woman is as old as she looks. He wag driving along the road beyond Chatswood the other day, and overtook an old woman carrying a heavy bundle. Being a kind-hearted fellow, he stopped his car. "Madame," he said, "you have, a very heavy parcel. Will you allow mo to give you a lift? I may be going your way. In fact, I shall be happy to drive you wherever you wish to go." The old lady eyed him for a second, and then shook her wrinkled fist at him. "How dara you!" she shrieked through her toothless gums. "None of vour white slavery business here!"

The "Flying Squadron" of Progressive Liberals will risit the Stratford Electorate next month. Mr T. M. Wilford, MP. for Hntt, will address n meeting iu Stratford on Friday next, while on the 4th prox. Midhirst will ho visited by Mr G. Witty M.P., for Riccarton and Mr P. W. Smith, M.P. for Waimarino; Tariki will receive Mr G. W. Forbes, -M.P. for Hurunui; and Whangamomona is set down for Mr L. M. Isitt, M.P. for Christchurch North. No tickets will ho required for admission, everyone being welcome to the meetings. The dress circle at the Stratford Town Hall will be reserved for ladies and their escorts (m the occasion of Mr Wilford's address. ""WHAT CAN'T BE MUST BE ENDURED i" Science nowadays hn« discovered manv valuable remedies, but none more popular for what it has really accomplished Mian Tonking's Tinseed Emulsion, the sure cure for coughs, colds, influenza, etc. Is 6d, 2s 6d, 4s 6d, chemists and stores

An exceptionally heavy four-tooth wether was slaughtered at the Mataura Freezing Works recently (says the Ensign). It turned the scales at 15411), and is the heaviest wether that has ever been shipped from-the works. At the Court this morning, C F. Crawshaw, a member of i) Squadron, 2nd Mounted Rifles, applied for exemption from attendance at the camp at Takapau. Applicant stated that be bad to sit for an examination on .May 19th. The exemption was granted on condition that applicant attended both camps in 1915. A start was made yesterday with winter sports. The Stratford Football Club held a practice at the Showgrounds, there being a good muster of members. Members of the ladies' Hockey Club journeyed to Kaponga, where they took part in a seven-a-side tournament, but they were defeated in their first game by Kaponga A.

Since Easter there has been uo bowling on the local green until yesterday, when, however, the conditions were very pleasant. The green rapidly improved in the bright sunshine, and played with a good draw. Arrangements were promised to complete the championship ties, but these were not carried out, and, instead ; scratch games were indulged in.

A rabbit of extraordinary colour was received at the Mataura Freezing Works the other day. The animal was full grown, and its back was jet black, belly all white, behind the ears it was bull' colour, and the front half of the ears jet black, while the rear portion was of a grey tint. The head was jet black and there was a grey ring around each eye, while under the neck, from the jaw to the shoulder, there was a, V-sliaj'd white strip. Its tail was pure white and the legs were sprinkled with black and grey. The rabbit (the Ensign states) was caught in the Wyndham Valley district.

It was a susprise to Sir lan Hamilton to find, during his inspection of the New. South Wales encampments, that the Australian military horses are fed on the oats which are imported from the Argentine. "Putting aside all patriotic motives," remarks a Sydney paper, "it would seem to be economically unsound that Argentine oats should be cheaper to purchase than those which are grown in Australia. It is certain that they are not in any way superior in nutritive value. It is a matter which must have the serious attention of the Minister for Defence. Australia must be self-support-ing. It is ridiculous for a country exporting so much grain to have to import the oats used by the Defence Department."

Speaking at the ceremo.iy of the unfurling of the flag at Spr:"gtiei<i yesterday afternoon, the PoumasterGeneral, Hon. K. H. Ehodes, announced the return of the Post and Telegraph revenue the financial year, 1913-14. The return, ne said, which had just been compi'ed, dis61osed a very satisfactory position. The revenue from all branches totalled £1,269.102 exceeding the Estimates by £231,102, while it exceeded the revenue of the previous year l>y. £102,068. The increase was general. Each item of revenue exceeded that of the previous year, as the following particulars showed : Postal stamps £47,982. telegrams £20,260. telephone £30,953, postal miscellaneous £2509. telegraph miscellaneous £384, total increase £102,088.

A Press Association telegram from Waitara states: The Hon. W. Fraser (Minister of. Public Works) has just returned from a tour of North Taranaki. To deputations who met the Minister at Okau and Awakino on the main road, he said there was a great call for expenditure on the main artery, and he gave the settlers ground for hoping that a substantial grant would be made to make the means of communication easier, especially as regards Mt. Messenger. He also said lie favored special means being devised to meet the demands of the backblocks generally for improved roading. Banquets at xlwakino and Urenui were tendered, when the Minister expressed his thanks to promoters of the tour for the opportunity it afforded him of acquiring first-hand information. The party left for New Plymouth this morning.

Prior to the passing of twelve months' imprisonment for sedition on Henry Holland, a prominent member of the Social Democratic Party, and at the time of his sentence a candidate for the Wellington City Mayoralty, accused addressed His Honor (Sir Robert Stout), his deliverance occupying about 40 minutes. In conclusion, Holland said:—"l have said once before—! say again—through all the ages of that blood-red tragedy that men call history, the milestones that have marked the highway of human progression have been the gaols and the gibbets of the ruling class. If it should be that I have not convinced Your Honor, and that you feel it your duty to proceed to sentence, then once again 1 repeat that I have no apology to utter, no plea for mercy to make. I bow to the inevitable, conscious of the righteousness and the strength of my own position ; and Out of the night that covers me, Black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever Gods there be For my unconquerable soul. I thank Your Honour."

A Sydney cablegram states that one case of smallpox has been reported from Newtown.

G T. Davidson was lined '2os with costs 7s at the Court this morning for having driven a gig without lights.

A Press Association message from Dunedin states that the Railway Department has conveyed 167 officers, 4060 men, and 1005 horses to the Matarae camp, where General Sir lan Hamilton reviews the troops on Wednesday.

The great total of 316,900 persons attended the Sydney Show for the eight days of the carnival, which is *a record, although the "gate" was £2OO behind the record one of 1912. This peculiarity is accounted fotf by the fact that a much larger number of members' tickets was issued this year, leading to a large attendance •without payment for entry.

The driver of a dray had an exciting experience at Midhirst on Wednesday. It appears he was in the act of getting a dray load of sand from the river when the dray slipped sideways over the bank, carrying the shafter into the river. The driver, up to his armpits in water, spent over a quarter of an hour holding the horse's head above water. Then Bill Sharrock with his bullock team happened to come along. and being hitched on, the bullocks pulled the unfortunate horse and dray up on the bank. The driver's position was an unenviable one for a time.

The Corporation steam roller at Napier got out of "hand last evening whilst descending Shakespeare Road (states the Press Association), owing to the pin .which holds the gear in place breaking. The brakes failed to • hold, and the cumbersome roller gathered up speed. Nearing the bottom, the roller swerved and crashed into Nurse Jones's cottage, carrying awaj the whoie side of the house and pulling up in the front bedroom. The driver had a miraculous escape. A woman patient and an infant were removed from the room only a coupk of hours before the mishap occurred.

One Sunday morning, in the course of his sermon. Dr. Gordon, of Old South Church, Boston, in an impromptu "aside" remarked that it did seem to him sometimes as if Christians were about the most stupid people in the world. An emi*nent educator of the city usually attends Old South Church," but that morning he was uot able to be present, and at dinner-time his wife, reporting on the sermon to which she had listened, quoted this particular remark of Dr. Gordon's. The small boy of the family at once spoke up and said, "But mother, do you think ■that was a very tactful remark? There might have been some Christians there." Xo one has laughed more loudly or frequently over' this incident than' Dr. Gordon himself:' '

At the citizens' farewell banquet to Lord Denman in Sydney (says the Daily Telegraph), he said he hoped he would have the opportunity of meeting old military acquaintances sometimes at the heart of the Emipre. He did not know whether he would have a similar experience to that of a former Governor of this State. He was a very distinguished Governor, and a highly respectable member of the House of ■ Lord 3, and at the Diamond Jubilee he met a party of New South "Wales Lancers on a suburban railway station. He shook hands with the sergeanff, and the- sergeant mistook him Vfor an old acquaintance |of his. He was delighted to see him. He smacked him on the back, and then, eyeing his fairly prosperous appearance, "My dear fellow," he said, "fancy you having kept from the drink so long J" (Laughter). "Well," said Lord Denman, "I don't care what reflections they may make on me, I shall always welcome such old acquaintances as friends and comrades." (Applause)