LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXX, Issue 41, 5 October 1914, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The death sentence passed last month at Auckland on Daniel Hammon for the murder of his wife at Whangarei, has been commuted to imprisonment for life. According to the Hon. George Fowlds there is a growing sentiment in Scotland in favor of prohibition, and, in 1920, the date of the next poll on the question, he expects to see prohibition carried. In England, however, he thinks that temperance reform has made little or no headway.

Further good catches of trout continue to be reported, the latest bags being as follow:—F. Collins 12, S. Campbell 5, and 11. F. Harkness 14. Anglers report that the rivers veie never in better condition at this period of the season, and that fish are plentiful.

Captain Arthur Allen, of Ngaere, isles that it be made known that he is willing—and will be pleased—to recite Kipling’s “Absent-minded Beggar” at any Pati’iotic Concert or function in the district. Captain Allen says distance is no object, and will be glad if secretaries who desire his assistance will communicate with him.

The rainfall in Taranaki in September seems to have been very much the same at all recording stations, totals available being:—Stratford 2.49im, Inglewood 2.48 in., Whangamomona 2.43 in. There were ten wet days at Inglewood, but over half the total fall was recorded on the 24th, 25th, and 26th, 1.46 in. being registered, as against 2.03iu. at Whangamomona on those days and 1.79 in. in Stratford. Four of Inglewood’s falls were under ten points.

The following report is to be presented at the fifteenth annual meeting of shareholders of the Inglewood Cooperative Bacon Curing Co., to be held at Inglewood on Saturday next:— The results of the year’s working are very satisfactory. There has been a substantial increase in the number o( pigs handled at the factory, whilst the average price paid per pig has been higher than in the previous year. r lhe demand for bacon during tire year has been good and the market price has been maintained at a fairly satisfactory figure. During the year the company has paid out to shareholders the suin' of £238 ts 7d in excess of the market price for pigs. A further payment of £605 5s Od, being at the rate of one farthing per lb. on all pigs received, has also been authorised and paid. There is a balance of £l3 10s 4d to the credit of the insurance fund. A dividend of 5 per cent, on share capital has been authorised to be paid. Your directors have considered it wise to substantially increase the amount written-off for depreciation, and the assets have accordingly been reduced by the sum of £379 12s 7d. After providing for various payments and deductions there remains a net balance of £39 7s lid to carry forward. There has been a substantial increase in the number of shareholders and the share capital account is in a highly satisfactory condition. Owing to the prices of all food stuffs having been materially increased, and being likely to remain high, the outlook for the coming season appears to bo good, and it is anticipated that the price to bo paid for nigs will continue to bo satisfactory to the producer.

Members of the Defence Rifle Otati will assemble this evening at Defence Office for the usual parade* Mixed foursomes will be played oH Thursday for Mrs Young’s trophies. The formal closing of the season will be held on Thursday week. Weather forecast.—Westerly strong winds to gale prevailing. The weather will probably prove squally aiid changeable. Barometer unsteady.— Bates, Wellington, I “Feminism is the process of putting father out of business, of reducing the lord of creation to the status of a tomcat,” declared Mrs Catt, a leading feminist, at a suffrage meeting in Philadelphia. According to Talbot Mimdy in India men never tell the truth to chance-met strangers nor to their enemies: the truth is a valuable tiling to be shared cautiously among friends, A naval pensioner named Pugvine, residing at Chobham, Surrey, volunteered for active service, but the authorities thought that at 80 years of , age be might be allowed to finish his days in peace. Many intoxicated fish were taken from the surface of the Kanawha river at Parkersburg, West Virginia, into which casks containing 17,000 gallons of beer had been emptied by revenue officers on the adoption of a teetotal law in the State. One of the curious methods of warfare employed by the Germans is the despatch of Uhlans in groups of six and eight, who ride for miles iu advance of the army, enter undefended towns and villages, announce the arrival of the bulk of the troops, and return. It is amazing how far ahead of the army they advance. Ah Australian paper states that a railway employee at Helensburgh named Turner lost £6O in a peculiar manner. The money, twelve £5 notes, was in a small bag, and Turner, who had been cleaning a gun, laid the bag of money on a box close to the rags used in the process. He picked the lot up, and threw them into the kitchen fire, the notes being completely destroyed. A Wellington P.A. telegram says: John Alexander McKinnon, a young man who arrived from London under escort, was this morning brought before the Magistrate’s Court on eightytwo charges involving misappropriation of £3OOO at Christchurch. In the court- he was formally charged with the theft of £44, the property of the New Zealand Express Co. He asked for bail. McKinnon was remanded, to appear at Christchurch to-mor-row, hail being fixed at £SOO. and two sureties of £250 each.

Those who assert that this is the day of the young man, and that a man is “too old at forty,” may he induced to modify their views by noting the ages of the principal gen- v erals engaged in the present war, states the Melbourne “Argus.” General Joffre, the Commander-in-Chief of the Franco-British forces, is sixtytwo ; his principal subordinate, General Pan, is four or five years older; Sir John French is sixty-two; von Kluck is sixty-eight. These veterans present in this respect a striking contrast to the leaders of the Napoleonic era. Napoleon himself was only twenty-six when he was placed in command of the army of Italy, and only thirty when he won the battle of Marengo. He was not fortysix at Waterloo, and most of his brilliant cluster of marshals were about the same age as their illustrious chief. Wellington, his great antagonist, was only a few months older.