LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 96, 26 April 1915, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A man named Reginald Tasker was today lined .CIO, which is the maximum, for .supplying liquor to a prohibited person at Wanganui.—-I*.A. Margarine is staff'd to be finding a ready sale in the Eketahuna district, several hundredweight of this substitute for butter having been received for distribution recently. The witness didn’t smoke, he didn’t drink, he didn’t back his fancy if he! had one at the races. “The man seems to have not a .single redeeming vice,”, remarked his Honor, Mr Justice Stria-, ger. at Christchurch, on Wednesday. Weather Forecast.—The indications art' for variable and moderate breezes, but westerly moderate to strong winds prevailing. Weather cloudy to overeast at times. Barometer unsteady. “What do you consider is a living wage for the average working man?”, Mr A. W. Heaven was .asked by Mr Hiram Hunter at the Court of Arbi-) tratiou in Christchurch on Friday, and gave the unexpected reply : “Just as much as he can got.” A Wellington Press Association. message to-day says: Ihe Premier i ’(Mr. Massey) stated that from .March] 3, when the Government took over, the meat export business, to last Sat-j urday, the Government had spent on' behalf of the Imperial Government' the sum of £1,001,619. Mr. Massey. added that the Government could have exported a groat deal more meat if the ships had been available. To-night’s meeting of householders in the Stratford School district promises to bo additionally interesting in view of the fact that the question of the establishment of a high school and its site will be brought up for discussion. This matter will, it is understood, be dealt with immediately on the opening of the meeting at 7.J0. and the election of the new committee will be taken later.

An Australian, who is now a motordriver at the front, status:—“Compared with the Britisher, the French are economical, not to say parsimonious. This is reflected in their army—both men and equipment. The piou-. piou of the line gets for pay one son a day—3ld a week! No wonder they look with envy on our mechanical transport men, who draw two guineas for the same period, and even our Tommy at Is 2d per day is a millionaire by comparison.”

A fatal accident occurred at Kimboitou to-day (reports the Press Association at Feilding). A. d. Pettigrew, a very old settler and contractor, was working in a gravel pit on Ids own farm when a fall of gravel buried him. No one was present at the time. His son had gone with a load ol gravel, and on returning found Ids father beneath the fall. Life was already extinct when the hodv was secured.

According to the County Engineer (Mr \V. J. Lopdell) an ideal piece of road is notieeahle on the Inaha-Man-aia road. This portion had been put down-under ids instructions, and ho considered it was a piece of ideal road construction ; at any rate, he had seen nothing better anywhere. The cost was light, viz. 19s Gd per chain, and a subsequent coat of tar and sand added Ids 3d per chain.

It did not occur to any one at the time when it first became known in Stratford that Pearce was lost on Alt. Kgmont. that at His Majesty's Theatre there is a powerful electric light which is so placed that it could ho used as a searchlight on the Mountain and might possibly have been of assistance. The proprietary would most willingly have allowed its use, and now propose - experimenting to ascertain the light’s value in case a similar case should arise. Together with members of all other local bodies, the Stratiord County Councillors are much concerned about road formation and maintenance, and in connection with the position which has arisen between the Minister of Public Works and the Council over the question of the election of a toll gate on the main road at Waipuku, there was some plain talk at the meeting in Stratford on Saturday. “We have been sold all along,” said Cr. Christolfel, “we should have got some of the cheap money and reduced our overdralt and rc-constructed all mama in roads.” Comparisons are always odious—when they are wrong! At the last meeting of the New Plymouth Hospital Hoard, the Chairman stated I ihat the proportion of receipts from; the patients compared more than favorably with any other hospital in the Dominion. Now, from figures supplied by tlie secretary (Mr. T. Harry Pehn* of ‘the Stratford Hospital, it seems Unit the sun shines more brightly on Stratford than New Plymouth! Always remembering the dill'erence in the scale of the l institutions, the following yearly figures do not hear out Mr. Bellringer's remarks: New Plymouth Hospital average days’ stay 27.57, Stratford 22.7)3. Average number of patients in New Plymouth 7)3.19, compared to 11.4. Average cost per day Gs sjd. as opposed to Ss 3d. Patients’ payments 2s IU-Jd i total L‘2S77H, compared to Stratford’s 3s 9jd (total £9921. Number of patients under treatment in New Plymouth 70S (21 Is 3d per patient), iu comparison with 233 patients and JjJ os 2,1 per patient in lord.

Entries for the championship medal I competition on the miniature rifle 1 range close on T’ridav. I i At the Wellington Magistrate’s Court to-day. George and Bayliss, dairymen, were convicted on two charges of supplying to the hospital milk | deficient in fats, and they were fined 1 £0 and costs £J 17s. I -it the Auckland Supreme Court, John Patrick Sheridan, who was charged with having forged a cheque for £lO on the Registrar. of the Native Land Department, Auckland, was sentenced to three years’ probationary treatment, and was ordered to submit to a prohibition order being taken out against him for a similar term. At Taumaiunui to-day (states the Press Association) the Hon. W. Fraser (Minister of Public Works) opened a bridge over the Ongarue river at Taringamotu. In his speech, he said that though the Government resources had been largely drawn upon, they wero not exhausted and sufficient was available to provide employment during the .winter for all who might be in need of it owing to the effects of the war. “Motor locomotion is here, and is increasing, and lias come to stay.” said Cr Christoffol at a meeting on Saturday of a committee which was dealing with the question of a toll on the main road at Waipnku,” and we must make every provision for this class of locomotion. I do not think that any man who drives through our county would have any objection to pay a small fee, say 2s (id. for travelling over from 10 to 12 miles of road provided it was a good road. The extra revenue we would derive from the toll would enable us to treat our roads so as to cope with the traffic. It would be a saving to us and a saving to them.”