LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 297, 14 December 1914, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A fish, claimed to be distinctly rare, has been wasnjd up on the Te Horo beach. In shape and size it resembles a schiiapper, bnt the bAly resembles a mass of barbed wire.

This year’s , Rhodes' Scholarship has been awarded to Henry Stokes Richards, 8.A., of Canterbury Col. logo, slates a Wellington Press Association telegram.

The actual weightcarried by the British infantryman, exclusive of ins clothes, rifle, and bayonet, is: Ammunition, 91bs; tools,' 21Iu Sjoz; accoutrements, 81b 4|os; contents of pack, 101 b Ofoz; -ations and water, 51b 13]oz; total 351 b Idjcz. The tifle and bayonet weigh, together, 101 b gJ-oz, making in all, 4’Jib 4-Joz.

The deaths from cancer! in New Zealand during the last few years have increased with an almost alarming rapidity. In 1904 the number of persons who died from this disease was 571, while in 1913 the lumber had increased to' 856. Only th.rcyseven of the latter were under thirty years of age. If we reckon that one. half of the population of the Dominion is Over thirty years of age, we find that almost one in every fifty matured persons dies from cancer.

A correspondent at Wairoa telegraphs to the Poverty Bay Herald as follows“ There is considerable comment at a. divergence in the pioneerings at Gisborne and Hastings in the methods of taking the nolicense poll. In Gisborne two officers are being sent out; in Hawke’s Bay, only one. There is also a difference in the way in which the issues are advertised. In Hawke’s Bay some people argue there will be an illegal poll if it is not amended.

.To estimate the width of a river without the use of surveying instruments, a simple plan has been in vogue for centuries. Choose a section of the river bank where the ground runs back -.evel, and, standing on the water’s edge, fix your eye on the opposite bank. .Now move your hat down over your brow until the edge of the brim is exactly on a line with the water line on the other side. This wil give .you a visual angle that may be vaed on any level surface, and if, as has been suggested, the ground on' your vide of the river is flat, you may mark a- corresponding distance on it. To do this you have only to hold your bead steady, after getting the angle with your hat brim, and turn slowly round until your back is towards the river Now take careful note of where yonr hat brim cuts the level surface of the ground as you look out over the latter, and from where you stand to that point will he the width of the river, a distance that may he measured by stepping. If-ybu are careful in all these .details, you can come within a few feet of the river’s width.

An Onehunga tradesman is now in a position to estimate - the value of the law in helping him to collect long-standing accounts. Somb' time ago (says the Auckland Star) he obtained judgment against a debtor for £l3, and £3 costs. The debtor was ordered to pay the total amount of £lO at Is per week. The creditor congratulated himself upon getting the order, and remarked that it would take only six years and eight weeks to liquidate the account. Since then, however, fie has discovered that the order of' the court holds good only for one year, so that to get all his money he will have to apply for a renewal of the order each year, at an annual cost of £1 15s, made up of court costs and travelling expenses for the debtor. If all goes well and the court favours each application for renewal, the account should he liquidated in 10 years and 48 weeks. As all costs will be added to the original debt of £l3, the debtor under this process will pay £44. Under an

amendment of the Act, passed last session, the debtor may apply to the court at any time to have the order varied, which will he granted if he can satisfy the court that he is no longer able to pay Is per week.

The dust storm in Dunedin on Sunday evening was bad enough (statethe Otago Daily Times), but it was evidently trifling to the sort of thing liable to be encountered up the Or.ago Central, Dust storms in that vicinity have sometimes a force and solidity which nobody need desire to experience, as a local agent and party in a new motor car discovered to their infinite discomfort. Between Wsdderburn and Gimmerbnrn on Sunday evening the car ran into a dust storm of savage violence against which it was found quite impossible to proceed, too route being obliterated in a blinding cloud of dust, grit, and shingle. The occupants had need of all their philosophy in the face of such circumstances, and when after about an hour the storm had abated, its effect on the appearance of the car was striking evidence of its force. The side of the vehicle exposed to the storm was practically burnished clear of paint, while the new head-lamps, as submitted foi our inspection, present an aged appearance, being worn bright on the unsheltered side, the brass reduced to a dull and frosted condition, and, what is most surprising, the glass where exposed dulled and corrugated to an extent that makes it of admirable service as a match striker.