LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVII, Issue 26, 31 May 1915, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

On Thursday next, dune 3rd, the Birtliday of King George, md tlnoe fore a public holiday, the “Stvatio.d Evening Post” will not he published.

A further hatch of recruits for the 7th Reinforcements will leave Stratford on 11th Juno. The names are not yet available, hut will he published as soon as possible.

A curious freak of Nature was discovered by a local resident, .Mis Ft* Constable, while dressing a duck the other dav (says the Nelson Colonist), it being found that the bird had two hearts. Guo organ was of normal size, while the other, which was close alongside, was a little smaller. Both organs, apparently, had been performing their natural functions, as the duck was the same as others in the brood.

In all there wore G 416 New Zealand's engaged in tiie Boer war in ten contingents, the total casualties being 421, and the number of lives lost 170. Tliese losses were spread over the two and a-half years of the campaign, the heaviest occurring in the engagement fought by the Seventh Contingent at Bothasberg. '1 he Australian casualties in South Africa were 120 officers ami 1280 men.

It does not appear to be generally known, at any rate among high offi-, eials in the Government service, that an order for imprisonment cannot be made against a married woman on a judgment summons. At the Magis-| trate’s Court, Hastings, on Friday (says the Hawke’s Bay Herald), the Minister oi Railways was nominally the judgment creditor in an application against a married woman for an order of commitment under the Imprisonment for Debt Abolition Act. Mr M‘Cartby said he had no jurisdiction to commit a married woman to prison tor not paying a debt, and no order was made.

During a disputation on a local train, .says the Foxton Herald, between a Maori woman and a pakeha’ of the same sex on the subject of Mbrnmnism, the native woman insist-, ed that every man should have sevenj wives. “You look up the fourthj chapter of Isaiah, and the first verse,! and you see what I say is true,” said the Maori in triumphant tones. The verse referred to reads;—“And in that day seven women will take hold of one man, saying: We will eat ourj own bread, and wear our own apparel ; only let us be calle'd by thy name, to take away our reproach.” In reference to the reported naval engagement between the Italian and Austrian beets, it is interesting to note that since the beginning of the war Austria lias lost several ships. Among her losses are the Zenta (sunk in the Adriatic on August 16, last year) the Kaiseriu Elizabeth .(sunk at Kiaochau on November 4th), and also several destroyers and other small craft. The Zenta was a light cruiser of 2..‘500 tons, 20 knots, 8 4.7 in guns, 12 smaller, 2 torpedo tubes. The Kaiseriu Elizabeth was a larger cruiser of 3,966 tons, 19 knots, 8 Gin. guns, *2O smaller, and 4 torpedo tubes.

A correspondent writes : —Those mothers who went to hear Mr Bligh’s address on Sunday afternoon were well repaid. It was full of sound common sense and very useful to any earnestj mother. He. spoke of the foolishness of threatening and bribing children. If a child had done wrong it was best to show where the wrong was and the evil that must follow. Threatening and not punishing was a very great hindrance to the respect a child should feel for its mother. Bribing was another evil that every parent should guard against. Let a child run messages and do little things for the joy of service and not the pleasure of payment. He urged upon the mothers the great necessity for sympathy between herself and the hoy and girl passing into manhood and womanhood, and the encouragement in the hoy of chivalry, taking care never to slight his growing manhood.” Call a hoy a man, hut never a man a hoy. r J he one will call out all the manliness—the other the clownishness in his nature,” was the opinion expressed.

A three-minute collection in aid of the Hospital : Ship at His Majesty’s picture show on Saturday night produced £4 8s 9d. which amount has been handed to the secretary of the Patriotic Fund bv Madame Bernard.

The Toll Gate Commission will sit at the Courthouse on 10th June. Evidence from representatives of the entire district will be heard. It is understood the proceedings will be interesting, there being reports of considerable opposition forthcoming.

The A. W. Reid Milking Machine and Co. are erecting premises at

Broadway North, opposite the Fire Brigade Station. Air R. B. Anderson, formerly Secretary, will be in charge of the office, which will be open sbort-

A woman named Winifred Carrick, who was arrested at Palmerston on a charge of abandoning a child in a hollow tree on the bank oi the Avon, Christchurch, in February last, was remanded to Christchurch, bail in two sureties of £2OO each being allowed.— P.A.

A fire occurred at Ngaere yesterday afternoon. Mr H. C_ Taylor’s baconcuring shed by some means caught fire and was destroyed. An adjoining shed caught lire, and several' implements including a new plough were lost. Some sacks of potatoes were also roasted. A bucket brigade extinguished the flames.

Weather Forecast. —Southerly moderate to strong winds prevailing and veering by east to north. Weather probably cold and changeable with scattered showers. The night will probably be very cold with frosts inland, The barometer has a rising tendency temporarily.—-Bates, Wellington.

An unusual visitor to the bar of the Commercial Hotel to-day was a cow, which escaped from the drovers’ care while en route to the railway yards. Possibly, the fear that its days were numbered, made the bovine reluctant to depart without stimulant of some kind, and it was a very depressed looking animal that eventually joined- its companions in the herd at the trucking pen.

A Press Association telegram from Palmerston North states; Since the beginning of the war, the Wellington Military District furnished all the quotas asked for the expeditionary forces; also for two new service battalions; and now has 7,00 men in excess of requirements for the Seventh Reinforcements. Hawera group is the best recruiting centre in Wellington, and Palmerston is the next in that order. The Seventh reinforcements go into camp at Trentlram not earlier than June 14th or later than June loth.

A resident “over the bridge” duly salted down a pig last week, conducting operations in the washhouse at the hack door of the residence, and covering up his work with a sack, but this morning the discovery was made that one of the hams had disappeared under cover of darkness—and the sack ! The sneak thief is always a mean joker!