GENERAL NEWS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 46, 25 February 1915, Page 2

GENERAL NEWS.

The Oberon.(N V .S.W.) show committee asked the Colonial Secretary to supply them with flags for the forthcoming show, but stipulated that no •American flags are to he sent.

' The Federal Government has decided to have 20 locomotives constructed in the Commonwealth for the purposes of the transcontinental railway. This is an extension of the original proposal, which was to confine the number to 12.

The quantity of fruit available for export from Australia, this season is estimated to be about 600,000 cases, of which 400,000 would be from Tasmania. The first boat' will load at Hobart on .March 4 and the largest consignment to go forward will be on the Clan Macarthur on April 5, consisting of 60,000 cases.

One night last week at the Melbourne Auditorium, a packed house witnessed the first presentation of Shephard's Kinemacolor pictures, entitled, ' With the Fighting Forces in Europe.' ■The films placed before the spectators actual glimpses of .the war, and the reproduction was in natural colors. The sight of the marching troops roused the audience to a high pitch of enthusiasm and excitement. The pictures mark a distinct advance in cinematography, as Australia knows it.

At Bathurst (.N.S.W.), while the jury was being empanelled in a case at the Quarter Sessions. Judge Scholes told one of the counsel for the defence, that the practice of raising one or two lingers to indicate to an accused whom he should and should not challenge was a travesty of justice. He would not allow the use of secret signs. The legal gentlemen in Bathurst could understand that anything done in Court must he done openly.—lt was stated that some judges would not allow counsel to advise at all, and others did not object.—His Honor: I object to the secret sign.

The Premier of New South Wales has cabled instructions to the AgentCieneral to try and secure one of the captured German field-guns now in England for the Sydney Technological Museum. The Imperial authorities have over 100 captured guns in London, and are at present considering how best to dispose of them. At the Sydney Technological Museum there is a court set apart entirely for military and historical subjects. The exhibits already include some very interesting weapons of war, and a captured German field-gun would add considerably to the interest of the collection.

A case in which it was shown that a bullock had a "double" was heard at the Bathurst (X.S.W.) Quarteu Sessions, when Charles Jones, a miner, of Lithgow, was charged with cattle stealing at Bowenfels, on November 21. The Crown case was that a red. and-white bullock was stolen by the accused, who subsequently sold it to the real owner for £7. Accused explained that be also owned a red-and-white bullock similarly branded. Witnesses testified to the great similarity between the beasts, the brands on which had been obliterated. The jury, after examining the animal in dispute, returned a verdict of not guilty, and the accused was discharged.