LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVII, Issue 53, 2 July 1915, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Representative Football match Taranaki v. Wanganui will bo played at Hawera to-morrow.

Twelve miners were killed and seven injured in a falling cage at the Bentwick colliery., Kirkby-in-Ashhiekl (Notts, England).

The vital statistics for Eltham for the quarter just ended are:—Births 32, deaths t. marriages .8. For the previous quarter the figures were:— Births 30, deaths 2. marriages 4.

The effects of the war ore shown in the J building trade, states a Sydney cablegram. For the year ending June 30, 8038 buildings were erected in the metropolitan area, compared to 9928 during the previous year, the decrease in outlay being £1,205,000.

Very little interest was evinced by the ratepayers of Eltham County in the proposal to borrow £SOO towards the cost of erecting a bridge over the Pa tea River, on the Rawhittiroa road. The proposal was carried, the voting being:—Eltham riding: for 21, against 2; Omoana tiding: for 6, against nil.

I A fire broke out in the jobbing de- [ partment of the Otago Daily Times ' premises last night, but the outbreak was speedily extinguished before much damage was done to the building. A considerable amount of damage, however, resulted from water used in putting out the fire. The Wellington Millitary Hospital Guild has formed a sub-committee to receive and distribute comforts for the! sick in the various military hospitals, in the Wellington district. The Mayoress and Mesdames M. Myers and A. K. Pearce will be grateful for money donations earmarked for soldiers' comforts. An Auckland telegram says merriment reigned at His Majesty's Theatre yesterday when the members of the Williamson Pantomime Company held a mock court in aid of the hospital ship and war J'unds. Many wellknown citizens were lined for various "offences," the total amount realised being in the vicinity of .I'tiOO. I A (ire broke out just after two o'clock yesterday afternoon on the Huddart-Parker steamer Victoria, which arrived at Wellington from the south in the morning, en route to Auckland. Smoke was seen coming from \o. IS hold, and the lire brigade was quickly summoned. One lead of hose was employed, and in less than an hour the tire was completely under control. The seat of the blaze was amongst some chad' ami flour stacked next to the bulkhead between No. :* and No. I holds. This and a quantity of general cargo, all from l)nnedin. made up the contents of No. '■'• hold. The damage by lire is believed to lie slight, but a good deal of water found its way through the cargo. The hold is being unloaded, so that an examination of the ship may be made. It is not thought she has suffered any structural injury. Three or four men wer i overcome by fumes in the hold, and were removed to the hospital. but their condition is not serious.

Weather Forecast.—The indication", are for westerly moderate to strong winds with a southerly tendency. The weather will probably be cold and changeable, but improving. The night will probably lie very cold with frosts inland. Barometer little movement. --Hates. Wellington.

Eat stock is unpreeedentedly scaren in Sydney, and record prices are being paid. A cablegram this morning stated that prime bullocks which in a normal season would be worth £l3 to £ls, are bringing £27, £3O, and up to £34 10s. Similarly, sheep nominally worth 15s to 18s. are being sold at 80s to 50s.

"No casualties to report!" To all but the participants in a capsize in Juliet Street South to-day. the proceedings were highly amusing. A grocer's cart jogging on its rounds struck a deep rut. and the driver performed an aerial feat which lauded him in some bushes at the side of the road, while groceries volplaned in various styles to Mother Earth. Meanwhile the vehicle, did the up-side-down act, but it was not a success, as the motive power was unequal to the task in the soft ground. However, the horse was soon caught and the even tenor of the grocer's way was then resumed. ?

"The Prince of Wales is immensely popular, not because he is the Prince, but because he is a good .soldier," said Dr. A. A. Martin, while describing his experiences with a British field ambulance in France. "He is a

very slim youth, with narrow shoulders, but is extraordinarily wiry." Dr. Martin said that the Prince talks with the soldiers by the roadside, visits the sick and wounded in the hospitals, and has in many ways earned the respect and admiration of the troops. He drives his own car. and is one of the furious motorists in Flanders, where there are now no speed regulations, and rarely drives at less than 60 miles an hour. "However, the

car has very good brakes, and he can stop it quickly." Dr. Martin added.

Tt appears that an Amazon has been training hard to qualify for enlistment in the New Zealand expeditionary force. A big-boned female the other morning strode into a recruiting office not a hundred miles from Christchurch and, after giving a demonstration of her physical capacities to the bashful recruiting officers, announced that she must go to the front and light the Germans. The desire to protect herself with tiie aid of the rifle and the bayonet came over her at times, she stated, with irresistible force, and no power on earth would stop her from going to the front. She wa s not quite sure whether she would grace the New Zealand forces with her presence, or go Home and help her native land, which happened to be Ireland. She was born at Cork, she said. and. what was more, in military barracks, her father being the regimental tailor She was the equal of any man. she claimed, and considered herself better than the great majority. Her list of attainments wast long. She was advised to interview the secretary of a ladies' rifle club.