LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 287, 2 December 1914, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

"Life" forwards two very good life-size portrait studies of Kitchener and French by the Australian artist, Charles Nuttall, drawn from original photographs. They will probably lie in demand.

The Postmaster announces that a telegraph office, for the despatch of telegrams only, will be open at the Show Grounds on both days of the Show, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

In the report of the Rifle Club concert on Monday evening it should have been stated that the fine piano tised was kindly lent for the evening by Mr T. G. Grubb.

By inadvertence the '"Post" report of the Rifle Club concert on Mondayfailed to make any reference to Mr Ranford, who received hearty applause for his two excellent comic songs.

A) West Coast paper considers that the present position has been well put by an Auckland candidate who said that the Ward Party was playing a sort of political cut-throat euchre.

The Christchurch correspondent of the Dunedin Star (an Opposition journal) considers that the outcome of the election in Avon in all probability will be that Mr G. W. llussell will- lo&e his seat.

The effects of fche drought in Australia are evidenced by the Government Statist's pre-harvest estimate that 2,790,000 acres of wheat will be sown for grain, with an estimated yield of 4,084,865 bushels, an average of 1.46, the lowest since the drought year of 1902.

Customs duty collected at the port of New Plymouth during November amounted to £3545 6s (beer £B6 9s). The amount for the same period last year was £2722 6s 8d (£94 Is.)' The increase is largely due to the fact that the strike was raging at this time last year and shipping was consequently hindered.

The war service record has been set up by a Lancashire man who left England for the front on a Thursday, was wounded in the firing line on the following Monday, and was back in England in hospital on the succeeding Thursday—the eighth day after he" left England.

The statement was made to a representative of the "Sydney Telegraph" by a well-known Sydney'dooor, who bad just returned from a visit to England, that the Highland clans were being got together again for the first time for over a hundred years. The Macdonalds, M'Leods, Erasers, Mackenzies, and other great clans were again hearing the call of battle.

The Taranaki Agricultural Society will introduce a gift-calf competition at the February show, and already numerous calves have been offered from throughout the district. It is anticipated that this will be the largest class entered. This competition is an excellent idea, as it gives the farmers a chance of very materially assisting the society.

At a meeting of the Stratford Committee of the British and Belgium Relief Fund, held last evening, it was decided to send an instalment of £SOO to the Central Committee at Wellington. Of course the fund is still open, and contributions urgently needed. The disposition of the £SOO forwarded to be, £3OO to Belgium and £2OO to Britain.

The Committee of the British and Belgian Belief Fund have decided to take up a shilling collection on the Show Grounds to-morrow, the proceeds being devoted to the purpose of providing Christmas gifts for the Belgian children. The object is a very worthy one, and no doubt there will be a liberal response from the people of this favored country towards providing Christinas cheer for their brave and suffering Allies.

An amusing story comes from a Berkshire town, where the wife of a recruit for Kitchener's army went to her husband's firm for his wages, the firm having agreed to pay them during his absence. The . good woman was astonished to receive £2 instead of the 30s which she believed to be. the amount due. She was assured it was correct, and to a friend she subsequently remarked: "The old scoundrel! Wait till he comes back. He will have to go through it for withholding that 10s every week!'