LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 8, 11 January 1915, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Borough Council meets tins even, iug at 8 o’clock.

Swindling hoarding-house keepers is a common proceeding, and in this connection the Eltham Argus remarks There have been some disgraceful instances in this town of Eltham of young sparks who kept up appearances, enjoyed all the sport that was going, but failed to pay for their board and lodging. It made no difference to them if they were swindling a hard-working woman. They hadn’t a spark of manliness or honor. We would dearly like to publish the names of some of these young rogues.

In presenting an election petition the procedure is as follows, states a contemporary: The petition is addressed to the Chief Justice, and presented by delivery to the returning officer of the constituency, who forwards it to the Registrar of the Supreme Court at Wellington. The Chief Justice then appoints two judges as the Election Court, and 14 days’ notice is to he given of the trial, which ordinarily takes place within the district where the petition originates, hut may he shifted to another district if good reasons are shown.

Aii interesting little sidelight upon the way in which the Chancellor of the Exchequer can set out to obtain necessary information appears in Mr Lloyd George’s War Budget speech. He had decided to tax beer, and he was anxious that the tax should be paid, not by the seller of beer, but by the consumer. The question was, how to find a tax which could be easily and fairly passed on. The Chancellor left the Home Secretary to prosecute enquiries as to the form in which the people take theiri beer. “My right bon. friend,” Mr I Lloyd-George said, “has had 120 j public-houses visited in a single even-1 ing, and there at the public bar there 1 were 138(5 glasses called for. 10,133 ; half-pints and 1 .TOO pints. It is per. I feetly clear from that that the bulk of the drinking is in half-pints. That means that if we are going to impose a tax which the publican and brewer can pass on to the consumer, it must lie in some current coin of the realm that can be put on the half-pint.” So a halfpenny on the half-pint was decided upon, and this is the basis of the new impost of 17s 3d a' barrel. ! k i

A Sydney cablegram slates that as the result of the extreme prices, the butchers report a heavy decline in the demand for meat. A heifer belonging to Mr Finn, of Limebills,i has five teats (says the Winton Record). Each gives an equal flow of milk—something of a novelty in the animal world.

The tender of G. M. Fraser, of Hunt, ly, has been accepted for the erectionof the Oliura River bridge at Niho Nibo, in the Ohura, tbe amount of the tender being £lO2l.

' A parade of the Stratford Home Defence Corps will be held this evening at 7.30. All members are specially asked to be present. t

The arrest has been made at Rangiora, of F. M. Marlow, one-time bailiff at Stratford, on the charge that in August, 1913, he received the amount «if £sl 9s 4d and failed to account for the same to the Clerk of the Court at Stratford. Tbe accused will appear at tbe Stratford Court, on 13th inst.

A new postal regulation gazetted this week reads as follows:—“No articles of value such as coupons, tickets, scrip, or similar articles are allowed to be enclosed in a packet of printed or commercial papers. Should any such articl e bo detected enclosed in a printed or commercial paper the packet will be charged double deficiency at letter rate of postage.”

In connection with the junior examinations for the National Scholarships it is notable in the Wellington, Wanganui, Hawke’s Bay, Marlborough, Nelson, Grey and Westland lists that out of four candidates who gained over 600 marks, three were Taranaki scholars. Charles Bertram Hodgson, of Nelson, with 620, gained top marks. The Taranaki list appears on page 7.

The demonstration to be given on Wednesday evening by the boys of the Eltham Salvation Army Home should prove a success in every way. The boys are said to be very good in their drill and choruses, and the programme will be bright and topic d, with a great deal of variety in it. 1 he proceeds from the demonstration are to be used for the relief of the Belgians.

The New Zealand Association of the Public Schools of Great Britain has presented a challenge cup to be won by the New Zealand school that secure* the highest aggregate in the Schools of Empire shooting competition, an event that takes place annually among the secondary schools of the Empire. The cup has to be won three times in succession or five at intervals to become the property of a school.

Americans who have reached Venice on their way to the United States sa that a Highlander iiMiniform is on show in Buda Pesth. The Austrian troops who took him prisoner sent him to Hungary to convince the Hungarians of the prowess of their arms in Western Europe. The unfortunate Highlander is behaving very quietly, and shows the greatest unconcern. Most Hungarians have never seen a Highland costume before.

There is feeling of great satisfaction in local dairy circles at the prices now being obtained on the London market. Cheese is bringing as high as 77s—“a price which was unheard of in the past,” remarked our informant, who is a walking encyclopaedia of knowledge of the dairy industry in Taranaki. Butter is also a sound proposition, judging from the price realised for Midhirst production, which, according to the latest cablegram, was quoted at 137 s to 138 s.

A most despicable act was committed in Okaiawa last week (writes the Hawera Star correspondent). The taldes for the wedding breakfast in connection with a wedding were laid the evening prior to the event. The feelings of those concerned may be better imagined than described when it was discovered next morning that the ball had been entered during the night and the tables so disarranged and messed up that they had to be cleared and re-set. In addition to tliis the top-tier of the wedding cake was removed, and this article, which upon such an occasion is the cynosure of all eyes, was, so far as appearances were concerned, quite spoiled. The correspondent adds that the act savored more of petty spite than any. thing else.

During the holiday season numbers of houses in the city are empty, the owners being at the seaside, and this is a chance for burglars to pursue their calling unmolested (telegraphs the Wellington .correspondent of the Christchurch Press). A resident of returned the other day to find that his house had been visited by someone who was not on the visitors’ list, and he decided to remain in the house in case a second’ visit was ■ made. In the dark hours of the night he was awakened by a noise at the back door, and stealing quietly along the passage, being guided by the flash of a bullseye lantern at the keyhole, he opened the door suddenly and let out a hefty right, catching the intruder fair on the right eye and sending him and his lantern spinning across the yard. There was a howl of rage and indignation, and the householder received a shock when

he discovered that he had assaulted a burly policeman who was doing his duty by the absent householders. The policeman now wears the blackest of black eyes as a testimony of that effective right. The householder found a way of assuaging the constable’s pain and mortification, but the latter will not do street duty again for a few days.