LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 54, 6 March 1915, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A meeting of the executive committee of the A. and P. Association was held last night. Reports concerning the coming Gymkhana are very favorable, and the inquiries for programmes seem to indicate that the meeting will be a record one. The privileges are to be sold on the 20th hist.

The following programme will (weather permitting) be given by the Municipal Brass Band in King Edward Park to-morrow afternoon; —March, “imperious”; intermezzo, “In the Twilight”; selection, “Old Memories”; cornet solo, “Distant Voices”; march, “Forward”; selection, “Songs Without Words”; National Airs; march, “The Old Brigade.”

1 The Otago Daily Times says the penny-iu-fche.sliot telephones appear to attract the attention of an undesirable class, w hose idea of humour seems to embrace many ways of causing annoyance to busy people by ringing them up for the purpose of sending them a bogus message, resulting in many’instances in a good deal of annoyance.

A great part of the time of the Stratford Magistrate’s Court was taken up yesterday with the- case ol} Newton King (for whom Mr R. Spence appeared), v. Jesse James Hills (Mr Sellars), which was a claim for commission and interest amounting to £OB Os Sd. The amount was alleged to he duo to the plaintiff on account' of a sale of land at Tarata. Voluminous evidence was taken, and the case was adjourned till next Court day. An extended report will be published on Monday.

A hot spring has been struck on Mr Alley’s farm at Hikutara, in the Thames Valley. Boring for fresh water was begun. At 18ft sand and mud was' intersected by the bore until a depth of 100 ft was reached, when what was evidently a large log was passed through. At 170 ft it was decided to relinquish boring; hut no sooner-had the rods been lifted than there was a rush of water, and, to the surprise of all, it proved to be hot, and with a similar taste to the Te Arohq waters. The flow is at the rate of about 1000 gallons per hour.

The protection of New Zealand scenic reserves was discussed by Mr H. G. Ell, M.P., with the Hon. A. L. Herdman, Minister of Justice, during his recent visit to Wellington (says the Christchurch Sun). Mr Ell has now received from the Minister a letter Mating that instructions have,now been issued to the police to pay particular attention to the scenic reserves in their respective districts, with a .view to preventing people from lighting fires or damaging trees, shrubs, nr plants in the reserves. “The Minister’s action,” said Mr Ell, “deserves the appreciation •of every lover of native forest in New Zealand.”

It occasionally happens (says the Wellington Post) that in considering leases of Crown land granted in the early days the Land Board discovers tenants holding more land than the stated area from the Crown, the result of inaccuracies, perhaps, of the rough-and-ready surveys of pioneer settlement. A peculiar instance of this occurred recently in the Rangitikei, where a tenant was found to he in occupation of 163 acres .more than the 300 acres set out in the original grant of the lease. The Wellington Land Board decided on Saturday, under section 132 of the Act, dealing with surplus land of special value, to offer the “extra” piece of 163 acres, of which the tenant had enjoyed many years usufruct, for sale at £l2 10s an acre.

Seventeen hundred and seventy-three bags of European, American, and Island mails will arrive at Auckland on Sunday afternoon by the Niagara from Vancouver (reports the Press Association). These include mails that should have been sent on by the Manama, which met with an accident at San Francisco recently and was unable to keep to timetable. Mails for the south number over 1200 bags, and these, together with the southern portion. of 585 European and Australian mails arriving by the Maheno from Sydney on Sunday morning, go south by the Main Trunjc express on Sunday evening.

Tlie Rev. Father Lane, of Gisborne, who has just returned from a trip to Ireland, informed a reporter that the principal feature of improvements in Ireland was the erection of labourers’ cottages by the country councils. The rent was purely nominal (Is a week), and each cottage had an acre or half an acre of land surrounding it. There were over 50,000 of those cottages in Ireland already, and they .wore a picture of neatness and cleanliness., Prizes were awarded for the bestrkept garden plots, and the result could he imagined. ‘Another great improvement,” said Father Lane, “is the old age pension. Each person of 70 years or over is paid ,5s a week. The provisions of the Pensions Act are precisely similar to the New Zealand law, )but the pensions are not on such a good scale. This 5s q week relieves the old. people of anxiety far as the liecessarios of life are concerned. “J found all round,” said the returned prie.-.t, happily, “that brighter days have dawned for Ireland. The people are still ’ waiting for Home Rule to •come, into operation, but the war overshadows everything else.”