LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXX, Issue 32, 24 September 1914, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Only civil business will be proceeded vitli at the Court to-morrow —fifteen cases (three defended) and two judgment summons cases.

It is understood that at tho Court to-morrow a further remand will be isked for by the police in respect"ol tho charge of theft against A. W, Ran les.

The committee in charge of the Stratford .Mountain House met on i uesdav evening, when the affairs of die House generally were fully dismissed. It was decided to erect a

.tout gate on the track just off the nelal. The committee is to visit the louse at an early date and will inspect ,h e track and the House, and decide m what improvements are desirable.

The members of the Girls’ t rienclh ,’ociety are giving a reading of Shake sjeare’s li As you Like It in the lai •! Hall this (Thursday) evening, at 7.45, •ml as a good deal of time and ?n----.husiasm has boon devoted towai 1 •' unking the entertainment a succest is anticipated there will be a good ittendance. Admission is free.

Before the House of Representatives ••ose Inst night the Hon. Allen animineed that the men who had been n camp at Palmerston North had sent dm a sum of £lO7 16s 6d towards the ■ssistance of those who had suffered iy the Hnntly disaster. Sir Joseph ,Vard felicitated the men upon tho ■zen crons impulse which had induced them to make this handsome donation.

White Island is most difficult of ac

■oss even ill calm weather (states a viiter in the Christchurch Sun), there (oinc; no natural harbour and. a heav' ocean swell jrerpetually prevails. Dunking water is practically unobtainable on the island. Sometimes there is a ..rood supply and then the source fails or its course is altered and the gentle dream is no more. One side of the island is a precipice, covered, more or 'ess, with native foliage and he-e nyriads of sea fowl make their bone', dannets and shags predominate and She screaming of these birds and the vil-srnelling atmosphere, accompanied by tongues of flame bursting from th° very earth, give an excellent idea of vhat "Dante’s Inferno is like, the only kicking element being the aimless wandering of the lost souls.

A Tirnaru message states that a plate-glass window iu J. McNab’s jeweller’s shop had a hole broken through it last night and about £SO worth of ladies’ watches, brooches, etc., was abstracted. There is no clue to the thief.

Another of the Fire Brigade’s popular weekly dances will be held in the Brigade Station this evening. The success of these evenings right from the initial dance is sufficient guarantee of an enjoyable time to-night.

An inquest was held at Taieri Feirv (near Dunedin), last evening on thff body of W. B. Appleby, headm -.'ter of the Lovells Flat school, who had licei missing since August 22nd, and whose body was found in the Taieri rivet on Tuesday. The evidence showed deceased had no worries, financial or otherwise, was a teetotaller, ard was in a normal state of mind on the day he disappeared. A verdict of found drowned was returned, there being no evidence to show how deceased got into the water. —P.A.

There was a marked advance in the price of beef at Burnside (Dunedin) sales yesterday, reports . the Pi ess Association. There was a small yarding. It was an open secicc that export buyers were operating fieely, and that probably there would bo a real shortage of cattle. Prices at times were as high as 50s por 100 lbs., the biggest price ever paid at Burnside. Retailers had to buy at what they consider excessive prices, and regard an advance in the retail pi ice certain.

About sixty men have registered themselves with the local Defence office for service in the Expeditionary Force reinforcements. Applications are still being received, and preference will be given to men who have had previous service or training. On a basis of twenty per cent, of the contribution to the main force, Taranaki will be called upon to supply somewhere between fifty and a hundred men, but more or less may be required according to the number of suitable men offering' in other parts of the Dominion.

“Life’s” second war number (October issue) contains many good and timely' things. The chief attraction, among many war features, is a study of the war by Dr. W. H. Fitchett, thfe author of “Deeds That Won the Empire.” Under the general title of “The War of All the Centuries,” Dr. Fitchett writes three separate articles—one on “The Forces Behind thd War:” a second on “The Scale of the War and its Strategy;” and a third on “The Study of the Actual Fighting.” On themes such as these Dr. Fitchett writes with eect—for he has Fitchett writes with effect—for ne has present war, and draws on a vide knowledge of history won in writing many popular and patriotic-books.