LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXX, Issue 59, 26 October 1914, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A nice bag of trout was secured by Mr W. Lovett on Saturday in a very short space of time. He caught eight fish, the total weight being somewhere in the vicinity of 251 b.

The Germans bound for tha. prison camp on Somes Island, Wellington, passed through in this morning’s mail train.

A Press Association telegram from Hawera this morning says that Joe Lee, a laundryman, committed suicide by hanging last night. Deceased was single, his age being about GO.

The eastern railway keeps on advancing ; and it is now announced that from to-day the Stratford station will book goods for Kohuratahi, the Public Works goods service now being in operation over the section from Whangamomona to Kohuratahi.

The special train which left this morning for the Waverley racecourse was very long and was well filled. /The number who left from Stratford was about a hundred and fifty. The town, naturally, was on the quiet side this morning.

Weather Forecast.—The indications are for variable and moderate breezes, but southerly moderate to strong winds prevailing. Weather porhahly cool and changeable. The barometer has a rising tendency.—Bates, Wellington.

The choir concert in aid of the British and Belgian Relief Fund promises to be one of the best musical events of tho year. The choir is being augmented by members of all the other choirs in town, and a fine full orchestra will accompany the oratorio items. Practices are being well attended, and another will be held in Broadway Church on Tuesday evening, at 7.45. Intending singers are requested to bring their copies of “Messiah” and “Creation” oratorios with them.

Tlio flower-selling operations on Saturday in aid f of the British and Belgian Relief Fund were of a highly successful nature, and a sum in the vicinity of £SO was gathered. The children did excellent business with the flowers, and help was lent by a number of local vocalists, who rendered songs at the Post Office, where a good crowd was congregated. A feature of this portion of the day s operations was Captain Allen’s recitation of “The Absent-minded Beggar.”

An experimental farm of six acres is to be established at Fitzherbert Street. Palmerston, within a few hundred yards of the Square, on land lent for the purpose by the Borough Council. Operations will be under the control of a committee, consisting of representatives of the Borough Council, the Kairanga County Council, the High School, and Technical School Boards, and the A. and P. Association. The farm will be primarily for the'training of boys interested in agriculture.

At an inquest on Saturday, on the body of James Ross, who died at Mount Royal station from poisoning, the evidence showed that John C. Walters, who was also taken violently ill but recovered, bad purchased in Dunedin strychnine for poisoning cats. This had been placed in a sapper, and though he burnt what remained of the poison before he left for Mount Royal, some evidently remained on the saucer, which got into the house in some way, and Mrs Walters unwittingly placed the saucer over the top> of a basin containing the custard pudding, which was sent to Walters and Ross, who ate it. The analysis showed strychnine in the body of deceased. The jury found deceased died from strychnine poisoning, partaken of in rice custard, and added that gross carelessness bad been shown by Walters in handling the poison.

I 'Flic track to the Mountain House l is in extraordinarily good condition this year. During the. past week three motor cars have been run to the House. Last year it was January before a car was got to the House, so the excellent condition of the track can be guessed. It was expected that to-day would be a busy day at the House.