LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 67, 22 March 1915, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Four Spanish emigrant ships foundered in a gale near Algeciras (Gibraltar Bay), and three hundred were drowned, reports a Louden cablegram.

A London cablegram states that the Peninsular and Orient Company's mailboats will in future not call at Plymouth.

A cablegram from Suva stales'that tlie steamer Atua lad sent a wireless message reporting a hiirriceit'e at A' a van.

A portion of the Samoan Ca'Tiscn arrived in Wellington to-day, states' the Press Association.,

Special harvest thanksgiving services were held in the Stratford Methodist Church yesterday. The church was appropriately decorated, and in the evening a special musical programme was performed by the choir. The sale of work to be held on Thursday evening promises to be very successful.

An imposing scene was witnessed by those who attended 11 o'clock Mass yesterday at the local Catholic Church, when the Hibernian Society attended in regalia, and twenty-five members went in a body to Holy Communion. This Society has only been started in the district three months, and members deserve great credit for attending so well to their duties.

On Wednesday, at the miniature rifle range, a team from Cardiff are holding a shooting match with the Home Defence Corps, and on Thursday a match will be fired between the Egmont Club and the Home Defence Corps. The range has become very popular, and at a committee meeting held last Thursday, it was decided that the range be open on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday evenings from 7 to 10. The charges for ammunition are very small, as will be seen by the particulars in the advertisement.

Begarding the Opunake-Te Roti railway, the Hawera Star says:— "Work is being .steadily pushed pushed on, and anyone passing along the Te Roti to Matapu road will notice cuttings and fillings at various .points. Altogether between forty and fifty men are now engaged, spread out in gangs of five or six at several points. Most of the work just at present is being focussed on one or two deep concrete culverts near the Te Roti end, and as soon as the concrete has sufficiently settled the steam shovel will expedite the earth Idling work. (Jangs of men are also at work on the Matapu section, where the construction is very easy and simple, the country being almost dead level for a number of miles. The line is at present authorised as far as Kapuni. and the construction of this length should be a very easy matter, provided sufficient votes arc put on the Estimates to enable the work to be carried on efficiently."

! The Secretary of the Stratford Patriotic Fund withes to acknowledge a ' further subscription of £2 10s from Mr S. H. Wickstead. About thirty applications were received for the position of war corres- . pendent (states the Press Association i at Wellington), but as to-day is the . last for receiving same, there may be few more to come. A cablegram from Madr ; .d states j that a furious gale has been raging in the Mediterranean 'Sea for tno days, and 200 ships lu'o'.c refuge at Gibratlar. Weather forecast.—Southerly moderate to strong winds prevailing. The weather will probably prove cold and showery. The night will probably he very cold. Barometer rising. -Bates, Wellington. Under the War Regulations Act. William Stephens was lined £5 at Wellington to-day for supplying a member of the Expeditionary force v>th a bottle of beer for consumption «ff licensed premises. The Pre<s Asrftriation reports that it ?s the first ca.-e of the kind under the recently-gazet-ted regulation. B ; -~. -r : -is* In connection with tiie East Road Sheep Dogs Meeting which takes place at Te Wera on Thursday and Friday, Mr C. Ardeu lias presented a special prize. There is likely to be a big gathering at this popular fixture, and Whangamomona residents are >eminded that the special train which leaves for the Toko sports w'll al<o serve those desicng to attend the Sheep Dog Trial 'Muh's neetirg.

A Press Association telegram to-day from Dannevirke states: William Ernest Prince Young, farmer, residing at Makatulru, who was a passenger on the train coming from Dannevirke on Saturday evening, got out on the railway crossing while the train was waiting for signals, and was struck by an engine travelling in the opposite direction. His injuries appeared to' be slight, but yesterday he showed signs of collapse, and his conditio] is now critical. It is estimated that between 150 and 200 footballers have been drawn from the Canterbury Pugby Union's various competitions as the result of the call for the expeditionary forces. The Press Association reports that the Chairman, at the annual meeting of delegates in Cliristchureh on Saturday night, mafle reference to the splendid response of footballers to the call of Empire, and said that as the result of the heavy levy on players the Union was faced with the curtailment of its approaching season's competitions, compared with other years. It was suggested that the shield competition shoidd be deleted this season and that the teams play out in the country as often as possible;. The suggestion did not hud much favor, mainly on the score of expense, and the matter was finally left to the incoming committee to decide.