LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 33, 10 February 1915, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

About 170 passengers travelled by train from Stratford to-day to the races' at New Plymouth.

Auckland Press Association wires,: —Mrs Edith Reals is still unconscious and is not expected to recover. The police are understood to have a strong clue, to the perpetrator of the outrage.

A lad named Thomas Henry Addis, son of a farmer at" Winchmbre, near Ashburton, when' cycling on Monday evening, Was pitched over the front of his machine owing to the forks breaking. He’ sustained' severe concussion of the brain, and' died in the hospital early this morning.—P.A.

The following are the handicaps for the 75 yards race to be swum to-mor-row evening at 5.30:—C. Kivell scr., R. Foden scr., L. Curtis 2sec., A. ’Masters’'3, B. Kivell S, W. Kivcll 5, D. Thurston 6, Oxley 8, N. Kivell 8, C. L. Kivell 9, Bennett 14, Symons 14, O’Neill 16, Lester 16, Reeves 16, Anderson 16, Potts 16, Rogers 21, Areda 24.

The Maori youth named Roera, who died’in the hospital on /Monday, was not a member of the Maori Contingent in camp here, as incorrectly reported in the morning papers, blit a. school boy from the Three Kings, wfio was - living at Orakei. Since the Maori camp began (says tile Press Association), the general health has been ! remarkably ’ good. ‘Some three or four cases of typhoid occurred, hut none with serious consequences. All the men in camp have been inoculated, and every precaution taken against infectious disease, pax-ticular-ly with new arrivals from country districts.

A correspondent writes:—On Sunday a party, consisting of Messrs Wilson, Kennedy, Chadwick and Corkill, ascended the mountain in doubtful weather. When about half way up, a blizzard, which would do credit to the South Pole, came on, and the climber;, had a somewhat trying ordeal. On getting near the summit, the temperature must have fallen several degrees below zero. There was a howling wind blowing and the party had frequently to lie down and hang on to -the rocks to prevent being blown over the cliffs. Icicles formed everywhere. A black dog accompanied the party, and before the summit was reached the dog was a mass of perfectly white icicles. Of course, hats had to be carried in our pockets, and the icy atmosphere got to work onour hair, forming numerous icicles, which rustled in the wind like a box of beads. The alpenstocks had a coat of ice a (iuarter of an inch thick, and oUr, clothes were as stiff as boards. You could see your hands gripping . the rocks, but feel them you could not. On the crater, it was an awesome sight. The elements had full play, .and the wind, blowing the ice and snow, about, created an unearthly noise—and the effect was heightened because you could only see about twenty feet ahead. The feelings of the party could not be described when they got into the middle of the crater out of the sight of land. About ten minutes were spent on the top, and the party started to retrace their steps. Owing' to the gale coming from the south-west, the party gradually veered* away from the force o the wind, and after about an hour’s perilous descent, discovered they were lost! After about an hour’s zig-zagging down the cliffs the atmosphere lifted for a few minutes, and the party were enabled to find their way out, arriving back at the house sopping wet, where the caretaker, with an eye to business had a roaring fire at which to dry our clothes. The time occupied on the climb was from 9.30 a.m. to 3.45 p.m.—6 honrsw 15 minutes. Considering the weather, we claim it must be admitted as a record.