LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIX, Issue 37, 5 June 1914, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Judgment by default was given m the following case at the Court this morning;—George Lidclington v. Henry Jones, £1 Is bd, costs os. IVI licit indignation (states the Opunake correspondent of the News) was expressed by townspeople at the person who placed printed placards up in public view on the day of turning the fiist sod of the railway, with the words: “D the railway; give us the harbor.”

The Borough Inspector had only one case at the Court this morning, G. Ford being fined 10s, with costs 7s, for riding a bicycle without a light on May IStli. The executive meeting of the United Friendly Societies’ Hospital Association was held in the Foresters’ Hall on Thursday, there being present: Bros. 0. Spurdle (President, in the chair), Taylor (Hawera), Gilbert (New Plymouth), Kivell (Stratford), and Amoore (secretary, Eitham). The auditor’s report was received and was adopted, and it is to he printed and circulated to all lodges. The amount paid to various hospitals throughout the Dominion for the year totals £ll2O 2s. The annual meeting of delegates will be held at Stratford on Thursday, June 25th. The Ohura Advocate reports that the contractor for the Okahukara tunnel has 112 men at work, and that good progress is being made with the work. It is epected that the tun-' nel will be pierced in nine or ten months from now, and completed within the contract time of three years. About 110 men are employed on formation work beyond the tunnel, or rather on the Taranaki side of it. At present contracts have been let as far as the 12-mile peg from the junction at Okahukara. James Kennedy was fined £3; with costs 7s, at the Court this morning for failing to clear blackberry on a section of seventeen acres near Inglewood. In connection with the charge against Jesse J. Hills, in respect of weeds on land at Strathmore, the S.M. expressed surprise at the great trouble the Department went to give owners notice to clear their land. They seemed to go to great expense to beg owners to observe the law'. The inspector (Mr A. F. Wilson) said the communications which had passed in the matter numbered fourteen. A fine of £5, with costs 7s, was imposed, and the S.M. said that if charges continued to be laid it would bo necessary to increase the fine. The locomotive which was wrecked at Whangamafino last week was restored to the- track on Sunday, and has been taken to Auckland for repairs. Owing to the swampy nature of the ground into which the engine overturned, a heavy flooring had to he laid to carry the two derricks by which the engine was lifted. Power was obtained from a steam winch and a steam crane, and by means of the gear the locomotive was gradually lifted and blocked up until it was finally placed on the track.. One end had to be lifted about 9ft and the other 3ft or 4ft, while the whole mass of 72 tons had to he turned during the lifting operations in order to restore its proper position. The tender, weighing 23 tons, was also placed -on the rails again, the whole operation occupying about 12 hours. Very little damage was suffered by the locomd- ■ tive, but it was not able to travel un- « der its own power. One day last week a young lady employed in an Invercargill establish’-' ment took to her wbrFa pfifceFcbn-’ taining a nightdress and a hot-water bottle, it being her intention to attend a party at a friend’s place, where she had been invited to stay over-night (says an Invercargill paper). A ..fel-low-employee also brought a parcel to work, and this contained a military coat. She was to proceed to the Bluff and lend this coat to a young man for the purpose of wearing it that" night at a fancy dress ball. Fate decreed that the parcels should become mixed before the day’s work had con-* eluded. One can well imagine the look of surprise and disappointment on the face of the young lady at the party, when in the early hours of the cold morning she unwrapped her parcel and discovered that the only comforter for her icy toes wash khaki garment, with cold brass buttons. The statements which emanated from the gentleman at the Bluff with respect to his discovery and disappointment have, for--1 innately, not been preserved. “When is an occupier not an occupier, and what is an occupier, anyway?’’ was a question argued at some considerable length in the Court this morning. Charles Leatham was charged with failing to clear noxious weeds, and his counsel, Mr H. E. Lawrence, contended that he was not the occupier of the land. Leatham was milking on shares, and counsel quoted a number of clauses from the agreement which set out that Leatham was to do a good many things at the command of the owner. Therefore. Mr Lawrence contended, Leatham should he regarded purely as a servant of the owner. The S.M. said the agreement laid it that Leatham was not to he regarded as a tenant or partner of the owner, and the question then arose: “What was he? In some similar agreements it was clearly set out that the sharemilker was a contractor. Mr Lawrence held that throughout the agreement the relations of master and servant were set up, and therefore Leatham’s occupation was merely the occupation of a servant on behalf of a master. The S.M. said the question was an important one, as it arose in all milking agreements. As .ihe Inspector of Noxious Weeds had recei- - red .very short notice of the ground of defence the case would be adjourned for a week, so that the Department if it desired could be represented by counsel.

This evening a memorial serivce in connection with the Empress of Ireland disaster will be held in: Holy Trinity Church. The offertory will be in aid of the distressed relatives. A special memorial service for their late officers and comrades who were lost in the wreck of the Empress of Ireland will be held in the Salvation Army Barracks on Sunday evening. ■'l ■’ :> r .7. j'. » ~ A Press Association telegram from Waihi to-day says: The Waihi Grand Junction intersected a lode in the bottom level. The width of reef so far exposed is eight feet, which is worth 66s per ton. A man iramfed Poynton was brought to the Stratford Hospital this morning from Tariki. He fell down a 25-foot bank on the Mount Egmont railway works, and suffered very severe lacerations of the face and injuries to the back. Mr Isaac, of the head office of the Education Department, visited Stratford yesterday in connection with the agitation for the enlargement of the school playground, and inspected the land and buildings with the chairman of the Board and Mr R. Masters, who explained the suggestion to do away with the school residence and incorporate the three-quarters of an acre on which it stands in the playground. N Hollymount Station, near St. George (Q )j comprising about 100 square miles, unstocked, was sold by auction at Toowoomba on the 27th ult. by Messrs Trebeck, Son, and Co., M’Phie and Co., and the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Co., Ltd., for the sum of £7500 cash, the purchaser being Mr Donald Gunn. Subsequently (states the Sydney Daily Telegraph) the same buyer purchased 1000 cattle, mostly bullocks, now running on the property.

The Otago Daily Times of Tuesday states: The double railway line from Abbott’s Creek to Mosgiel, through the new Chain Hills tunnel, was linked up on Sunday, and \the new track brought: into use yesterday. The new Chain Hills tunnel was opened to traffic on March 23, but only one track was then ready for use. The linking up of the second line southward now makes the duplication of the line complete, with the exception of a little supplementary work. As a consequence t&e time table between Dunedin and Mosgiel has been altered. Nine of the trains travelling south are now scheduled to take 27 minutes on the run to Mosgiel, and four of them ,28 minutes.