LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 20, 25 January 1915, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Pupils of the Methodist Sunday School will hold their annual picnic in King Edward Park on Thursday.

In the case, Hodder v. Pope, heard at the local Magistrate's Court last Friday, costs amounting to £3 17s 6d were plaintiff, witnesses expenses being allowed.

The body of Archibald Bryson, the missing railway guard, was found in the Motu river, states a Press Association telegram from Gisborne this morning.

A Mangamaire farmer, Mr F. W. Blatchford, had a splendid return from a line of ewes this season (says the Pahiatua Herald). The lambs reared by 204 ewes totalled 280, a percentage of 137. Of this number 95 per cent were recently drafted by a fat stock buyer, while the balance were yarded at the stock sale in Pahiatua, and realised 10s 6d each.

"You can tell the Department of Agriculture from me," said Mr J. H. Coleman, at the Hawke's Bay A. and P. Society's meeting, in discussing the harm done by blackberries, "that unless some active steps are taken to eradicate blackberries, I will live long enough to see the whole of New Zealand affected."

During 1914 over 3,500,000 quarters of chilled beef, 2,500,000 quarters of frozen beef, 7,500,000 carcases of frozen beef, 7,250,000 carcases of of dairy produce, fruit, etc., wei* imported into the United Kingdom 1L steamers fitted with refrigerating it stallations.

The members of the Fiji contingent have their own war cry, and it is as it should be, in Fijian. Here is a translation:—Hasten the fighting, the night is approaching. (A, A, A! l, I, i! Uiyal i, i, i!) The crane flies quickly (6, O, 0! i, i, i! Uiya! i, i, i!) Catch the spy of a foreign land, Let Germany be smashed so that we may rest. (Uliva! i, i, i!)

lii connection with the peculiar green blight, which was discovered to be killing Californian thistle iu the Kaitangata district, and in isolated parts of South Otago, it is said that the fly commences on the flower of the thistle and works down the stem, wtih the result that the leaves wither and the plant is apparently rendered quite lifeless. A farmer in the Lake County (S.T.) says that about five acres of thistles on his property had already succumbed to the ravages of the fly, and he was hopeful that all the thistles on his land would soon be eradicated. The Timaru Herald reports that the blight has made its appearance in South Canterbury. A Oeraldine farmer has picked a bunch of dead Californian thistle off his land. He had a good deal of the thistle scattered over his farm, hut it has all been exterminated by the blight, and grass is now growing on the patches formerly occupied by the destructive weed. The blight does not merely kill the thistle above ground. but penetrates right to the roots. Some of the thistle was 4ft. high.

i The date of the Stratford School's , annual seaside picnic at New Plymouth is Thursday, February 4th.

The lion, secretary of the Stratford Patriotic Fund acknowledges receipt of a further donation of £2 10s from Mr S. H. Wickstccd.

Weather forecast,—Westerly heavy gale with a southerly tendency. The weather wiil probably prove sqally, with heavy showers. Barometer unsteady.—Bates, Wellington.

The Grandmaster and District Officers of the Manchester Unity, Independent Order of Oddfellows will pay an official visit to the Stratford Lodge to-night at 8 o'clock, when a large attendance is expected.

The Scottish Royal Standard flying in the breeze from the flagstau on the Town Hall to-day is a reminder (if reminder be necessary) of the Burns' anniversary function in the Hall this evening. The entertainment to be provided is sated as unique.

During the past three weeks the waters of Lake Rotomahana have changed their hue, taking on a darker yellow tint than hitherto. This is stated to be a rather unusual occurrence. The level of the lake has fallen considerably, as also has the level of the Tarawera and Rotorua lakes.

Concerning the wheat shortage, the official Year Book for 1914 shows that the wheat harvest for 1914 returned an average yield of 31.27 bushels per acre, the crop realised being 5,231,700 bushels, against 5,179,626 bushels in 1913, an increase of 52.074 bushels over 1913. The export of wheat in 1913 was 62,338 bushels, the lowest since 1908. Though, the export figures for 1914 are not available, there is no reason to believe that the export of wheat during last year exceeded that of 1913.

People who are worrying over the high cost of living should find some comfort perhaps in the announcement that the price of radium is likely to drop from one hundred and twenty thousand dollars a gram to forty thousand dollars. Chemists and engineers of the United States Bureau of Mines have found a new and cheaper method of extracting radium from its ore. Even at the new price (remarks the New York correspondent of the Otago Daily Times), persons of economical tendencies, will hesitate to purchase radium to any great extent, yet the cheapening of this magic stuff will lead to a proportionate widening of a most promising and attractive field of investigation and experiment. If the price keeps on dropping, our descendants can perhaps have radium clocks that will run for two thousand years without winding.

Visions of flying milk cans and spilt whey was an optical illusion for those people who were in Broadway early on Sunday morning. A horse in a spring-dray took fright at the top end of Broadway, but as nobody s-aw i the start it is not known whether the falling-out of the driver startled the horse, or the startled horse caused the falling-out. However, at a, good gallop the animal reached Newton King's, where he was momentarily stopped. What followed would be too severe a test for horsemanship at the forthcoming gymkhana, even if the Society were open for suggestions. The horse made straight for the Stratford Hotel side entrance, and pulling the cart after him steered capitally between the verandah poses, then turned sharply and continued past Mcßain and Childs' } where, at the corner, he went on to the road, this time missing two gigs and a telegraph pole. Another 50 yards of road being traversed, he took to the footpath again, steering between another telegraph pole and some more vehicles. Eventually the turn-out finished up in a vacant section unhurt and undamaged, while even the calves will not be disappointed, as not a drop of whey was spilt!