LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXX, Issue 53, 29 October 1914, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

I , , A varied programme lias neon mranged for the concert to he given in i the Regan Street Hall to-morrow night iby the children of the Methodist Church. Half the proceeds will go to the British and Belgian Relief Fund, the other half going towards the piano fund.

I A final reminder is given of the inask- ,, ’ ' ll to he held in the Town Hall this evening under the auspices oi the fire Brigade. Half the proceeds will he donated to the British and Belgian Relief Fund, and the remaining half will he put into the Brigade’s luiul 1 for the purchase of a motor fire engine. .

I . A Kaponga correspondent writes; “Messrs B. Fearon, T. Preece, and ('. Hartley, of Kaponga, made what is claimed as a record catch of fish ofi Kaponga on Labor Day, the haul consisting of one hundred and five sharks, two octopus, one sehmipper and twenty crayfish, all except the crayfish wore caught on the line.”

The time when daily there will he a passenger train, a goods train, and a ballast train on the eastern railway is approaching—perhaps. At any rate it is known that on several occasions lately the morning ballast train has had two engines and the evening passenger train has been twice similarly honored during the past week. Last right the two engines had to pull out twenty-six waggons and two vans.'

To-day the local butchers had dressed at the Abattoir the first oi the season’s lambs, which arc reported to be excellent specimens. 4 T 11 . _ . ... I 1 cf nf AO fllfl f

ItrT UUUiTJt. Hie prices at the wool sales at Geelong were on a par with those ruling at the Melbourne sale. Wliangaraomona is becoming more like London every day. At its meeting on Tuesday the County Council decided that notices should be posted requesting residents not to deposit debris and empty tins and bottles on the streets. Last night the air was extremely cold and in the vicinity of midnight a fairly heavy fall of sleet and snow was experienced in town. A light fall oj snow was observable on the lower Mopes of Mt Egmont this morning ,\ Waimate gentleman has received a letter from a relative in England (says the Advertiser) who lias taken charge of a little Belgian girl, and refugee, who has had both her hands cut off at the wrists.

Weather Forecast.—The indications are for southerly moderate to strong winds. The weather will probably prove squally and changeable. The night will probably be very cold. The barometer has a rising tendency. A man appeared at the Court this morning on a charge of drunkenness, Messrs C. D. Sole and J. Masters, j.P’s., being on the bench, and a conviction without fine was recorded, the man consenting to the issue of a prohibition order. A Wellington Press Association message reports that the Appeal Court has made an order absolute, striking Robert Taylor Wood, of Auckland, off the roll of Barristers and Solicitors of the Supremo Court, and ordered him to pay £ls 15s, costs to the ‘ New Zealand Law Society.

Alter having successfully avoided detection for nearly two years, reports the Press Association, at Dunedin, Ah Chung appeared at the Police Court this morning, charged with in December, Iff]2, having in his possession opium in a form which might be made suitable for smoking. Accused was arrested at that time and appeared at Court, but the case was adjourned and accused disappeared. He was arrested at Wellington three days ago. Accused was fined £2.

At a cricket, match at Northcote (1 ictoria) a ball which was thrown, "'as on the point of striking a spectator, when a player named G. Wass jumped into the air and diverted the ball. As he fell, however, Wass struck his arm against the edge of a knife with which the spectator was Cutting tobacco, and an artery was severed. M ass had to bat with one hand when lie went in, but he made the necessary runs to win the match.

German atrocities are now frequently referred to in letters received by New lenders from relatives, and friends ip England In a letter, which arrived last week, reference was made to the return home of a nurse from a northern county 1 who had the fingers of both hands cut off at the knuckles, and the thumbs at the first joint by a German soldier. ■ The writer stated that the nurse was attending the British wounded when she was thus brutally maimed for life. Her return home gave recruiting a great imeptus in the district.

An unusual discovery was made in a. gully close to Picton last week by two lads who were rabbit-hunting. The fern was recently fired, and the lads came across about 100 spoons, knives, forks, eggeups, and tumblers, which, it is believed, had been reemoved from the George Hotel, Picton, burned down 14 years ago. There was (says a Marlborough paper) some comment at the inquiry on account of the fact that there was no evidence of the silverware amongst the debris. It had evidently been rescued from the flames, “planted” in a safe spot, and forgotten in the excitement.

The manner in which Merlin Agnes Rose, the four-year-old daughter of Robert Henry Rose, a telephone mechanic, met her death recently at tho Methodist Church bazaar, at Brookvale (N.S.W.) was told*at the inquiry. The father was in charge of a shooting gallery in the grounds of the church, and one of the guns—a pea-rifle-r-re-fused to go off. Rose was examining It, and found that tho breech would not close properly. He took the firearm, and the charge exploded. The bullet penetrated the wooden walls of the building and struck his daughter on the loft temple.. The child died two hours later at the Athelston Private Hospital.

The executive of the Stratford Patriotic Fund held a meeting last night at which it was decided to forward to the Defence Department £SOO out of the balance of approximately £IOOO which was collected for the fighting fund. The remaining balance is to he placed in trust in the Post Office Savings Bank to wait the course of events, as it was thought it might not he wise to finally dispose of the whole sum at this juncture. It must not he forgotten, however, that the British and Belgian Poor Relief Fund, which is now open, is quite a distinct matter, and it is highly desirable that tile greatest liberality he shown in the contributions to this fund. An enormous sum of money will he required to at all appreciably relieve the fearful distress which the present horrid war has caused throughout Europe, and there are many ways ,in which wo who are so much more happily situated, may. with the smallest, of self-denial, help our suffering brethren in the much-distressed countries which have suffered at tke hands of the luthless German invader.