LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 304, 22 December 1914, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The .Stratford;" A ( s,and P. Association pay out prize mdhey for the recent Show to-morrow and Thursday.

Weather forecast.—The indications are for southerly Ttfoderate to strong winds, squally at .times, with weather probably cool and changeable, and with scattered' showers'." .' .The 'night will .probably be very cold. Barometer rising.—Pemberton, Wellington.

The engine assisting the mail trapi to Stratford from New Plymouth this morning broke down on the re-i turn journey after leaving Stratford about 9.15. .. Nearly.two*hours delay occurred before the train could proceed on its journey, the breakdown occurring between Stratford aiict Midhirst, c '

A member of. the. third reinforcements for the Xew ; . Zealand Expedi.-. tionary Forde, .'Writing to a friend in Stratford, writes as follows of the Stratford men ■ A. ,L. Jones, W. ..Mather and H. Sehwieterß are in the non-coms' school; .S. Metcalf is orderly to Lieut. Munro,,who commands No. 11 platoon of 'the 3rd Wellington Co., including -the Stratford and other west Taranaki. men • Lee, Terry and Wallace are in the next tent, to the rest of the Stratford me»; Schwieters, Metcalf and McCartie want to get into, the mounted Sec. tion. There is no necessity to wish anybody the skin off his nose: it is off already in.every case.

A Melbourne boy of 12 years has the distinction of being, the only boy in Australia to have been mauled by a leopard.. It happened at the Melbourne Zoo, where, too, people-persist in throwing peanuts and almonds at lions, tigers, and other large carnivora. Why they do it is .a mystery. Anyhow, there were lying in ; front of the cage of a leopard some nuts which misguided visitors had failed to throw into the cage. The boy climbed over the fence separating the . public from the cage, and started to pick up the misdirected nuts. The leopard reached swiftly through the bars, and with vicious claws wounded, the boy on' hands,

neck, and head before some men drew the screaming lad away. The director of the zoo says, like'Plato, that boys are more difficult to.control than any other wild animal. ', Other means having failed to keep, boys within bounds, he is going to have barbed wire put up to prevent the human young animal from getting too close to the big cats.

The Magisterial inquiry at Napier into the stranding of the Koutunui at Orete Point (states the Press Association) found that the course set by the mate was too fine and that the captain committed an error of judgment in not putting to sea instead of continuing the voyage. The Court found that all behaved with skill and courage, and in view of this decided that neither officer's certificate' be dealt with, the captain to pay £6 16s fad, costs of inquiry.