LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 11, 14 January 1915, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A meeting of ladies in connection with the Scottish Society (Burns anniversary) will be held in the A. and I . office,'Broadway, at three o'clock tomorrow afternoon.

With regard to the arrest of Marlow: at Rangiora, the credit is to a great extent due to the description sent forward by the Stratford police, though the actual capture was made by Sergeant Bird. . j

\ public meeting has been called for this evening by His Worship the Mayor (Mr W. P. Kirkwood), to deal with matters in connection with the Fire Brigade's Garden Fete and Carnival. The meeting will be held in the reading room at the fire station at 8 o'clock.

The sea beach at Hokitika shows a considerable improvement during the! past week or two (says the Grey Ar-| gus) The bead! has made up considerably, and it is difficult to recognise the very grave" danger of such a short time ago when the waves were dashing with, great force against the hank, and carrying away valuable property.

The usual monthly meeting of the Stratford County Council will be held at the County Office, Stratford,, on Wednesday next, at 11 a.m. A special meeting to institute special orders authorising loans of £9O and £9lO for Kelly Street (Midhirst), and the Waihapa Road respectively, will also he held.

A disease anions the swede turnip crops of the district is reported,, farmers at Pembroke Road and Cardiff being specially concerned about the matter. It is understood the disease is commonly known as "Finger and Toe," but scientifically as "Club Root." Gardeners are also complaining of a similar disease among cabbages. A short article with reference to the disease will be found in this issue.

The Kiritawi correspondent of the Dannevirke News writes:—"A rather peculiar incident is reported by a local settler: that of a 15 months' old empty heifer being brought ilito milk by being continually sucked by another of its" mates. Tts udder is quite large, and when stripped.a quantity of milk is obtained. This seems incredible, but there is no doubt about the statement being quite true."

At a meeting of the Fire Bngade in the Fire Station on Tuesday evening, Captain T. G. Grubb was elected delegate to represent the Brigade at Timaru. A team consisting of Lieut. A. J. Davey, Secretary Geo. J. Bradley, Hydra ntnian E. Brocklebauk. I^ireman J. McDonald and >T. Henry will represent Stratford at the Timaru demonstration on February 21st. Members of the teim aie now bard at work training, an I although they hive orly just begun, they have already put up some very good times.

A Milton "sport" who visited Invercargill during the holiday races had a somewhat unenviable experience in the southern dry area (says the Bruce Herald). When seated comfortably in a room at the boardinghouse where he was staying be received a shock by the entrance of stalwart guardians of the law unceremoniously searching for liquor. The Miltonian was innocent, but nevertheless was locked in his room whilst the search was being continued throughout the premises, and liberated only on its conclusion.

Tokoma.ru Bay reports three slight slight shocks of earthquake this morning, no damage being done. P. A.

Weather Forecast.— Westerly moderate to strong winds and veering by west to south, then freshening for an unfavorable change in the weather. Weather probably cool and changeable afterwards. Barometer unsteady, hut rising after about ten hours.

Scotland has done well in the matter of recruiting.' Some of her methods are novel. A special recruiting car, tastefully decorated with the flags of the Allies and bearing in front the words, "To Berlin, via France," is running over the various tramway routes in Edinburgh. On the top of the car there is a piper, and on the footboard a recruiting sergeant, and young men who wish to join the army are asked to "jump on."^

A visitor to Timaru who was in the sea at Caroline Bay on Christmas Day had the misfortune to lose his false teeth when diving off the raft (says the Herald). The next day, when strolling along the sands at the north end of the bay, he had the good fortune to see his lost teeth wash up just in front of him, when he quickly recovered them, none the worse for their 24 hours' immersion in salt water.

Comment from the Melbourne Argus on Mr Statham's resignation of tho Dunedin Central seat:—Mr Statham (Ministerialist) has resigned his seat in the New Zealand House of Representatives because, had it not been for a clerk's blunder, his opponent, Mr Munro (Labor), would apparently have been elected. This is a rare example of chivalry; arid seeing that parties in the House are now equal, Ministerialists have everything to lose and nothing to gain in Mr Stratham's generous action. It may result—seeing that the right does not always triumph immediately—in giving the Opposition a majority of two, which is fairly substantial in these days. An interesting precedent is the case of the first election of Mr Deakin. He won the West Bourke election by a small majority against Mr Herhert Harper, but at Newham the presiding officer, having exhausted his supply of ballot-papers, prematurely stopped the poll. The real verdict of the electors was in doubt. When Parliament met, Mr Deakin moved the adoption of the Address-in-Reply, and then dramatically tendered his resignation to the Speaker. In the by-election, Mr Harper defeated him by a small majority. Mr Deakin's virtue was its own reward. More substantial reward came later.

For the third time within few months, the printerman at the "Stratford Evening Post" has had practical demonstration of the fact that the worker the world over has much m common. From Canada, where the rolls of-paper for the printing machine come from, have arrived as enclosures with the paper three articles in different consignments, these being a pieco of cheese, tobacco, and a potato. By the way, one might quite naturally call for beer and so complete the popular idea of the workers' most cherished commodities! However, the first two articles were not of such a nature that they might be easily kept and regarded with a sort of hands-across-the-sea feeling, especially in a print-shop, but the latest arrival, the potato, quite easily lent itself to the perpetuation of sentiment, yet the form which this took will he admitted to be of the practical rather than of the sentimen, tal kind. The potato is now actively engaged in parting the daisies in the "Post's" backyard, and the amateur gardeners on the staff are looking interestingly, forward to the time when they will be able to continue in their own home-plots the propagation of this particular species of tuber which has found a resting place so far from home! Should tile species prove to lie blight resisting, sentiment will be doubly rewarded.