LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 12, 15 January 1915, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The gold production of the Common, wealth during 1911 aggregated 2,0-18,, flOoozs, compared to 1,202,5-lGozs pro, duced in 15)13. Sheep-worrying lias been rife in some parts of the district, and one farmer in taking steps to combat the evil has inserted a notice in our advertising columns to the effect that dogs found on his property will be destroyed. The first steps in connection with the holding of the Fire Brigade Carnival were taken last night, when a I public meeting was held, at which the matter was taken up enthusiastically, His Worship the Mayor pre. j siding. The date fixed for tin 1 event ! was Thursday, 18th February, and it was decided that it should lie run on tin* lines of last year’s fete. Mr J. Mulvey was appointed chairman of committees, the personnel of which was arranged. Further particulars appeal- in a report of the meeting appearing on another page. A further meeting will be held on Monday night. V

; Weather Forecast. —The indications i are for southerly moderate to strong i winds. Weather probably coof and changeable with signs of improvement. Barometer rising. ,1 i At the local Court this morning ' judgment by default was given in the leases of Manny v. Taylor, £3 Is Id, with 18s costs, and Harkness v. Bevan, £7 12s Id, costs 18s 6d. Mr Newton King has on exhibition I some very nice samples of Early Rose, I Beauty of Hebron, and Robin Adair—grown by Mr H. E. Abraham, and manured with Fison’s special potato manure, for which Mr King is agent. The Kaiser’s gift to Harvard University, a bronze copy of the famous statue of “The Lion of Brunswick,” has been assailed with rotten eggs, which soon dried, encrusting the statue from head to basement with a thick coat of yellow.

Following are the values of the principal exports of produce from New Zealand during the week ending January 12th:—Butter £131,937, cheese £24,679, frozen lamb £763, frozen mutton £1261, frozen beef, etc. £36,056, gold £5lB, grain and pulse £lO,854, hides and skins £13,644, kauri gum £4903, llax .and tow £654, tallow £3977, timber £3527., wool £179,724.

Amongst the many remarkable features of the present war none is more interesting that the fact that the authorities in Whitehall are able to sneak hy telephone direct to General French. Messages are being received almost from the battlefield itself without delay, and with as much ease as from Glasgow to . London. Lord Kitchener can, as a consequence, sit in his chair at the War Office and speak to Sir John French without any more trouble than if the commander of the British forces in France was at Aldershot.

The Department of Agriculture, In, dnstries and Commerce is in receipt of the following cable from Mr G. L. Tacon, Buenos Aires, who is visiting South America on behalf of the New Zealand Government to inquire into the prospects of the sale of New Zealand fruit; **! advise that the shipments of March and June should average ten shillings c.i.f. at Monte Video. The demand is only for first and second grades. Large sizes are favoured, good grading and packing being imperative. I recommend as agent Francis Neill, address, London and Brazilian Bank, Buenos Aires. My address is the same. I am pi epared to stay and assist to inaugurate the sale provided there is a minimum of 200,000 cases as a guarantee. Cable me the approximate quantities and the soonest date when Tasmanian consignments will arrive.

The latest list of donations to. the British and Belgian Relief Fund in South Canterbury contains an interesting item, “Last past the post, 10s. Thereby hangs a tale, says the Timaiu “Post.” At the Omani races on Saturday two fr.ends had a little side wager. They may be labelled, for the sake of convenience. Brown and Robinsin. Brown bet five shillings that a mare called Dolly Daylight would be the last to finish in the Lady’s Bracelet. Dolly Daylight fell at the top of the straight, broke a fetlock and had to be shot. Then arose an argument as to whether she was last. Robinson said the mare was not last, as she had not passed the post, and Brown consulted a turf lawyer, who spent some time arguing pro and con. Meanwhile the mare’s corps was carried down the straight and past the finish post, and Brown at once claimed that the mare had passed the post and the stakes were his. Robinson replied that she bad not finished of her own volition and had not carried her jockey past the judge. The argument might have gone on interminably had not a member of the South Canterbury Relief Fund Committee been drawn into it. His verdict was given quickly; he suggested that the whole of the stakes should be given to the fund. The good-humoured argument was dropped at once, and the visitor from Timaru. returned with 10s in bis pocket for the fund.