LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIX, Issue 41, 11 June 1914, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Publicans in the Taumaranui licensing district were granted permission at the meeting yesterday to extinguish their outside lights at closing time. After the last Gymkhana a movement was set on foot for the formation of a trotting club in Stratford., and it was expected that up to a hundred members could be secured. If the club can be formed it is intended to apply for a totalisator permit. Last night a big contingent of workers were busy at the Town Hall getting the floor ready for the Catholic social to be held to-night. It is reported that the floor is in excellent order, and therefore those who attend can look forward to a pleasant evening. Mr H. Williams, caretaker of the Stratford Mountain House, was very successful in the photographic section at the New Plymouth winter show. He was second in the class for landscape, farm, station, or bush , life, and first i nthe still life and comic classes.

Twelve members of the Wellington Typographical Union who are employed at the Government Printing Office resigned from membership (states the Press Association) on the ground that the Union was becoming a political organisation in that it voted money to strike funds. A deputation from the Union asked the Hon. Fisher, Minister in charge of the office, to insist that all Government employees in the office connected with the Union be compelled to be members of the Union. They sturdily denied the allegation that tho Union was becoming a political organisation. Mr Fisher said that neither he nor the Government would insist on compulsory unionism for Government employees. Under the rules of the Union members had a right to resign. He would do nothing to deprive them of that right. He was willing to help to settle the difference.

Mr T. Kirkwood has consented to take entries for the dogs at the Dominion Show at Hawera, and will also look after the dogs on behalf of local exhibitors. The entries close on Saturday next.

The section of railway to Whangamomona is rapidly approaching the stage at which it can be handed over by the Public Works Department to the Railway Department, and it is hoped that this will be effected early in July at the latest.

The Hon. R, H. Rhodes, Postmast-er-General, turned the first sod of the Culverden-Waiau railway yesterday afternoon. The railway will be fourteen miles long, and tile cost will be £64,000. The work will be carried out under the small contract system.

The monthly meeting of the Stratford County Council will be held next Wednesday, at 11 a.m., and (if necessary) a special meeting of the Council to consider applications for the position of engineer or overseer, will be held on Saturday, 20th inst., at 11 a.m.

A special meeting of the Borough Council will be held on Wednesday next to consider motions to rescind two motions passed at the Council's last meeting—one in reference to the flooring of the Club Hotel Stables and the other regarding the sending of a delegate to the annual Municipal Conference.

Despite the somewhat inclement weather there was a good attendance at the Mldhirst dance last night, the duties of M.C. being efficiently carried put by Mr Shotter; Miss Anderson presided at the piano, and Mr S. Parker played the cornet. Dancing was kept up until the early hours of the morning. The Town Hall Board are encouraged by the regular attendance at these dances held under their management.

F. 0. It. Phillips, a solicitor, of Otorohanga, was charged at the Otorohanga Court on Wednesday with fabricating v evidence by procuring a false acknowledgment to a receipt for £277, with intent to mislead the Maori Land Board in connection with! a native land deal. The prosecution alleged that defendant put in receipts for £277, purporting to be signed by Maori owners in connection with a piece of land, of which the original valuation was £ll2, but which was raised to £227.. The Board refused to confirm th© transfer until the balance of the money was paid. Phillips eventually sent in a receipt for the whole amount, and the transfer was granted. The actual amount paid was £ll2. Accused was committed for trial at the Hamilton Supreme Court, bail being allowed in one surety, of £IOO.

The only objection raised by the police at the annual meeting of the!. Taumarunui Licensing Committee at Waitara yesterday arose in the case of the Club Hotel, and the application of J. T. Gardiner. The police objected on the ground that the house was not conducted in a proper manner. Senior Sergt. Haddrell said it was alleged that a number of natives congregated about the house, and were alleged to become a nuisance. They were given drink, although they were not sufficiently drunk to be locked up. There were also allegations that Maori women got drunk through the men, and. that four or five disturbances had occurred on or about the premises during the year, and further that persons had been convicted of being on thete licensed premises, during illegal hours. Evidence was given by Constables La Pouple and Brown (states the Mail), after which Mr Johnstone (on behalf of Mr Gardiner) addressed the Bench, and said he could call evidence, if necessary, to prove that the house was well conducted. The Bench decided . they did not wish to hear evidence on behalf of the applicant, and granted him a renewal of the license

The annual meeting of the National Dairy Association of New Ltd.j opens at Palmerston North Winter Show on Tuesday, when the following notice of motion by the Whangarei Co-operative Dairy Company will be discussed:—"That the matter of advertising New Zealand butter in the United Kingdom be placed before the National Dairy Association at their annual meeting to be held in June, 1914, and that this company suggests a levy of 3d per box be made on each factory to cover the costs and expenses of such advertising." In the evening a meeting of the Factory Managers' Association will be held, and papers will be read by Mr J. Drysdale, Weraroa State Farm ("Dairying :Past, Present, and Future") ,and Professor Hilgendorf, Lincoln College ("Crop Improvements.") On Wednesday a meeting of factory delegates will be held to consider the Hawera Committee's report on a scheme for marketing dairy produce, and Thursday's proceedings which will terminate the conference', will be devoted to the reading of papers by Mr A. D. Bayliss, Department of Agricuture ("What is a Fertile Soil?"), Mr J. G. Wilson, Bulls ("Phosphates"), and Mr A. J. Isdale, Dairy Factory Managers' Association ("The Machinery and Equipment of a Modern Butter Factory").