LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 1, 2 January 1915, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

On New Year’s eve the Salvation Army carolled through the town on behalf of the Belgian Rebel' Fund, tiie resulting collection ainon iDng to £9

In accordance with the recommendation of the General Assembly, special intercessory services will he held in the St. Andrew’s Church to-morrow. The Rev. J. Pattison will speak in the morning on “The Christions’ attitude to the War,” and in the evening on “Just for a Scrap of Paper.”

Customs duties collected at Wellington during the month of December totalled £65,299, as compared with £75,229 in December, 1913. Beer duty collected in the same period was £1459, as against £1556 in the previous December. For the SeptemberDecember quarter, the figures are:— Customs duty, 1914, £193,774; 1913, £197,373; beer duty, £3,677,375.

What looked like a deliberate attempt to wreck a train is reported from Temuka (states the Press Association). A surfaceman crossing the Opohi bridge before the first train was due this morning discovered two big stones, one weighing about 2001hs, wedged alongside the rail between the sleepers, so that the wheels of a passing train would have come into dangerous contact with them.

Vital statistics for the Wellington district for the month of December for the year just closed are as follows; —Births, December, 1914., 199; December, 1912, 184; deaths, 72, 85; marriages, 132, 126; births for year 1914, 2155; year 1913, 2013; deaths; 928, 830; marriages, 1101, 1001. Of the marriages 295 were celebrated in the Registrar’s office. An increase of births for the year is thus shown of 142, and there have been 100 additional marriages.

Shopkeepers and others who make frequent use of the nimble half-sove-reign should beware of spurious coins of that denomination. A “New Zealand Times” reporter was yesterday shown an excellent imitation halfsovereign, which had been accepted by a bank teller. The coin was dated 191 1, was gilded the right color, and bore the correct dragon impression on the back. The coin, which was evidently made in a mould, was manufactured with an alloy of lead and copper, and was a perfect specimen of the coiner’s art, being “finished” to a detail. The only guide to its baseness is in its weight, which is less than the true coin. Those persons, therefore, who -do not want to be “had” should carefully weight all half-sovereigns that pass through their hands. The bank authorities have passed the spurious coin on to the police, who are making inquiries.

A curious incident occurred on a motor ear trip to Akaroa on Christmas Day (says the “Lyttelton Times”). A car containing a party of Christchurch residents on their way to spend the holidays on the Peninsula was howling along past Lake Forsyth, when suddenly the tyre and rim of one wheel flew off and disappeared. The travellers got out and made a. search for the missing gear, but could not find it anywhere. At last the tyre and rim were discovered in a. hole in the lake close by the road. The hole was a deep one, and as it was necessary to dive, a member of the party stripped off and got into liis bathing suit, which he had in his bag, and went into the lake. Me recovered the wheel gear, which was put on again, and in a few minutes after the stoppage the journey was I resumed. I

Report of yesterday’s races at Stratford appears on page 8, and other results throughout the Dominion on page 2. The largest vehicular traffic ever known in Stratford was recorded yesterday, both motor and horse vehicles being present in seemingly countless array. In Broadway tin* traffic was well regulated by Mr W. Barlow, the borough inspector.

For the iirst time in the history of the Stratford Racing Club, a competitor in one race has gone to the post hacked to the extent of over £IOOO on the totalisator. A special arrangement to display the fourth figure on the face of the machine had to he made yesterday in the case of the investments in the Farmers’ Plate on Harbor Light, who, also on the occasion in question, put up still another record by returning the lowest “div” in the Club’s pay-out. The investor received an amount exactly sufficient to purchase a ticket for the next race on the outside machine.

A comparative table has been coinpiled showing the total cost of maintaining the various Parliaments of Australia. In 1908-9 the total talk bill for the Commonwealth was £559,592; next year it rose to £684,391; and for the twelve months ending December last it reached £765,145. These (says the Sydney “Telegraph”) are startling increases, -and there is nothing to show that high-water mark has yet been reached. To legislate for a. community of less than 5,000,000 people there are fourteen Houses of Parliament, most of them paid, seven separate Ministers, and seven Governors to play the part of Royalty. The fourteen Houses of Parliament contain an aggregate of 654 members. This makes the total cost of merely legislating for less than five million people average £ll7O per legislator. If the British Parliament were in the same proportion to the population of the United Kingdom it would contain about 6000 members and cost the tax-payers over £7,000,000 a year. Great Britain, however, in the matter of talk, is model of temperance compared with Australia. Although she has nearly ten times as many people to legislate for, she employs fewer legislators, and pays them less than the salary of an ordinary member of the New South Wales Parliament, not to speak of a Federal politician.

In order to try the effect of a topdressing of nitrate of soda on a green fodder crop an experiment has been carried out by Mr George Langley, manager for Sir William M'Millan on his farm at Albion Park, reports the Sydney Daily Telegraph. The crop sown was Thew wheat, three plots being provided for the experiment. No. 1 plot received no manure, No. 2 plot received a top-dressing of 641 b of nitrate of soda per acre; and No. 3 plot 961 b. The manure in. each case was carefully broadcasted, the crop being about 4in high at the time. A care-fully-measured patch of the same size representing an average of each plot was cut and weighed, with the following result:—No. 1 plot, unmanured, yield per acre, 7 tons 14|cwt., worth £3 17s Id; No. 2 plot, manured with 641 b. nitrate of soda, at a cost of Bs, yield 10 tons, worth £5; No. 3-plot, manured with 961 b, at a cost of 12s, yield 13 tons 17cwt, worth £6 18s 6d. The results were recorded by Mr Lang-, ley in the same manure as he lias carried out similar tests for the Government. The value of the green feed was set down at 10s per ton, and the experiments proved that for 8s worth of nitrate of soda, 2 tons. Sfcwt. per acre more feed, worth £1 2s lid, was obtained; and for 12s worth of topdressing 6 tons 2Jcwt. per acre extra green fodder, worth £3 Is sd, was harvested.