LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 17, 21 January 1915, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Chamber of Commerce will hold its annual meeting to-night at 8 o'clock in the Fire Brigade Hall.

Manaia just now (remarks the Witness) is a favorite hunting ground for commercials. A local business man reckons that they visit him at the rate of about sixty a month.

The tender of Mr C. Milner, Stratford, for the position of ranger over the whole of Stratford County, at an annual salary of £l6O, was accepted-by the Council at its meeting yesterday.

This morning a water main burst in Victoria Park, making a self-ap-pointed fountain, at which the water spouted several feet high.

An improvement is noticeable in King Edward Park at a point, where the path ,was previously very muddy after rainy weather. A deviation has been made and eighteen loads of gravel placed on the path, the work now Hearing completion.

At the last meeting of the Domain Board, all members being present, permission was given to the Methodist. Sunday School to hold a picnic in King Edward Park. Other business included the writing-off of a small amount clue for rent, and the passing of accounts totalling £9 4s 4d.

The increasing popularity of the Stratford Mountain House was well illustrated by the figures supplied by Mr E. Jackson at the meeting of the Stratford County Council yesterday. He stated that 1000 had visited the house last year, as against 200 the previous year, while since Christmas over 300 had made the trip.

By the Sonoma last week nine members of the crow of the American gunboat Princeton landed in Sydney. The Princeton is .stationed at Pago Pago, Samoa, and she recently bumped a reef in the Sampan Group and had to be beached. She has since been refloated, and will be sent to Honolulu for repairs.

The Farmers' Union Mounted Rifle Chib promises to be a very powerful organisation before very long. The membership for the Auckland province is expected to exceed 1000. The objects of the corps are "the preservation of our rights, the maintenance, of law and order, and the defence of our country."

Tribal warfare was raging at Malaita, in the Solomon Group, when the steamer Koonookarra left the islands for Sydney. The trouble occurred between the Bush boys and coast natives, and some' fierce fighting took place. When the fight ended six of the natives were found dead in the bush. The coast tribe was driven off, being compelled to take to their canoes.

Inglewood borough is moving with the times. The Record says that the •borough steam-roller has arrived. The delay in reaching here, caused by the British prohibition against the export of like implements, has been a great loss to the borough, as it has prevented much work being undertaken during the best time of the year for its execution.

A peculiar case of mistaken identity was brought to light at the Brisbane Police Court last week. A man was cbarged with having sold liquor without a license. A revenue officer swore positively that defendant had sold him the liquor. Evidence was adduced which proved conclusively that at the time the alleged offence took place defendant was in Sydney. The officer in question then admitted that he had made a mistake as to defendant's identity. The Bench dismissed the case, with £G lis (id costs against the Crown.

A solicitor in an application for n. land agent's license before Mr Kenrick, S.M., at the Manaia Court yesterday, remarked on the crudity of the procedure under the Act, and generally on the ill-digested manner in which the Act was drawn. The AVitness states that His Worship agreed, and added that the law in its present form afforded no protection to the public from an undesirable class of men entering the business. In that respect it was bad for land agents themselves. The fact that an applica-j tion was about to be made should be advertised in the papers for fourteen' days, which would give the puhlic or even land agents themselves an opportunity of knowing the character of the man who was applying and objecting to him if necessary. At present the law is so constructed as to preclude them from doing that. That 1 is one feature of the Act that badly needs amending, K j

Weather Forecast—Westerly strong winds to gale prevailing, and_ veering by west to south. The weather appears likely to be cloudy and unsettled with rain following. Barometer unsteady with a falling tendency.— Bates, Wellington. The Auckland division of the British Medical Association carried a motion approving of the scheme for the formation of a military base hospital at Trentham, aiid pledging the cardinal support of the members. A collection was taken up in the room, and about £650 was subscribed, including one donation of £SOO. The Californian thistle, which up till now has been generally regarded as a very undesirable noxious weed, is proving exceedingly valuable to farmers in Hawke's Bay this season, as the sheep are feeding on them. The New Zealand Times states that Mr G. P. Donnelly has expressed his intention of sowing 4000 acres with this thistle, and says he will pay for all the seed he can get.

It is probable that scarcely n u\nn in the Ghurka regiments had ever seen the ocean prior to their voyage from India to the seat of war. "The Ghurkas were very funny coming over in the boat," says a white officer of one of the Indian regiments. "4fto.r being two whole days at sea without seeing land they said: 'Without a doubt the captain of this ship bas lost his way.' But they consulted together and decided that it was ail one anyway. And they wove immansely pleased on noting the long wake of water churned up by the screws. 'Without doubt the captain sahib follows the path,' they said. The Germans have already discovered that when it comes to sniping, the Indians are all there and a bit over."

During the hearing of a claim in the Hawera -Magistrate's Court on Tuesday by a local firm for two suits sold, the question arose (states the Star) as to what was a tailor-made suit and as to whether there was a distinction between a tailor-cut suit and one made in a factory. The suits in dispute were made in a factory in Wellington and the plaintiff admitted, under cross-examination, that they were really not tailor-made, but suite-to-measure. One witness said that a suit, although it might be made by a tailor in a factory, was not a tailor-made; a tailor-made suit was one which was made by a tailor and of which a try-on was given while it was in skeleton-shape. Another witness, a tailor, considered that there was a difference between a tailor-made suit and one made up in a factor}', for in the tailor-made article there was not so much machine stitching, while in the other it was practically all machine work. Witnesses that the suits in dispute were a reasonably good fit for ones which had not previously been tried on, and also a reasonable article considering the price, which was below that of a tailor-cut.