LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIII, Issue 3, 1 September 1915, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

During the twenty-four hours pre* ceding 9 a.m. to-day, I.l'm. of rain fell in Stratford.

The final game for the championship of the' Eastern Sub-Districts Union will be played at Toko on Satur-' day between Toko and Whangamomona. Keen interest is being shown by Rugbyites all over the district, and "oven money" is said to be the position for the man who likes to back his fancy! I

At Danuevirke yesterday a young man named George Amo s Curran was fined £lO. in default two months' imprisonment, for stealing an art union book in connection with the Pahiatua Patriotic Carnival. The evidence showed that lie had sold'ieA'eral tickets. The Justices considered that the public should be protected-against the exploitation of patriotic funds.

The Premier (Hon, Ml F. Massey), states that he js thinking of arranging for some of the New Zealand war correspondent's matter "To be "sent by cable. Events were moving so rapidly in the Dardanelles, that the Dominion could not wait'for letters without impatience. It may be mentioned that large batches of letters from Mr Malcolm Ross arrived this week, covering nearly a month, and tearing internal evidence of delay by the censors and in the mails. Some of the letters considerably ante-date his letter published last week.

The huge demand fioj frozen meat and the incidental increase in crossbred flocks in Australia has increased the output of crossbred wool. Experience has proved that the merino cannot compete with the cross-bred for all-round returns on country suited to the crossbred. Therefore the merino output must decrease, hi' Australia, the crossbred.s are into the country which \v%i &sef oral years ago considered unsuitable to them. Even Queensland, whose merino flocks were expected to beat everything else, 'is '•Bow; increasing; the W4tit e 4 fl° <l k s in 1 arjie numbers'.

The Xiitiotf/il Resistor, it mky be -ii v ot}ed. i» :i;oall_v, ih& . $W\ measure of it's'k'iiid for gauging 'tVe'rM'mrces of tile nation instituted in the course of a millennium., says the "Westminster (jljifjofcte.' &J&jP'fysks ': i :mi(ms I )oom sday,) JJpojk ,7 compi led I>y order of William the. Conqueror in 1085, which,,despite;.tin? general closeness of its -inquisitions, omitted particulars of lour whole'counties. A seeoiuliand much more accurate survey, called by the people the "New doomsday Book,'' was completed in 1,322. Thus our «ia- . tional stocktakings seem to come about every four or live hundred years. The goodsg4olen from, WilkiiisWs 'Vifemlsel' # 7 hft?| Residence (reports the Argus) contained large..qu&ntitjes.of; ladies' underlinen and ere"*™' drapery, silks, a wringer,awl iiiUTierous.othevifU'ticles., y Mr -Flyger, the states that as far hack as five/ months ago the firm;had missed goods,, and .had accordingly taken precaution's. E ! xtra : strong locks were attached ft? all the doors [and 1 care was taken in other directions. (Goods to the value of £lO have been , recovered. The general opinion in Eltham on Monday was that there was a third person concerned in the work, and he had "blown the gaff." Such, however, according to the police, is not the case. The man William Keith was formerly a resident of Greymouth. He is about 26 years of age. At Hawera Magistrate's Court on Tuesday the Inspector of, Awards 'Mr J, F. Arnold) proceeded against Catherine Matson for the recovery, of £1 as a penalty for an alleged breach of the Taranaki Hotel Employees' award. Mr P. O'Dea represented the defendant. The award in question contained a preference clause, providing that an employee who was not a -member of the union could be pressed to join on receiving notice, and failure to do so was a breach of the award. The inspector stated that this was the first case of the kind heard in Taranaki. though a similar case had just been heard in Wanganui. fn the latter case, there was .a possibility of appeal to the Arbitration Court. The Magistrate reserved bis decision, and a similar charge against Alice Harrop was likewise treated.

That a country hotelkeeper's, life is not altogether one of peace .qnd ..profit can he judged from an incident related by a recent visitor to Motu (says the Gishorne Times).. A proprietor must of necessity he a man of quick decision ami firmness of character, especially in dealing with the wild clement found near the hush-felling industry. While having a glass of heer with mine host they noticed a quarrelsome individual gazing fixedly at a placid, well-dress-ed -Maori. "Why you look so hard mate!-'" said the Native. "I'm thinking your coat is very like one I lost,'' came the insinuating reply. A lightning upper-cut by the indignant Maori and the two clinched. Without a moment's hesitation mine host shot into the fray. A solid butt of his shoulder sent the native in one direction, and clutching the other by the neck with one hand and with the other grabbing the man's pants at the part that's tightest when one gathers i 'lips, he. how led the astonished hushman out into the night. The proprietor afterwards explained that if not taken in hand right at the start such scenes invariably ended in a free fight! all round. The traveller, who had thoroughly enjoyed the diversion, remarked that his pleasure was tinged with sadness when he found that someone had drunk his beer while the excitement was on.

Soy:, the Eltham Argus: The two experts who did the tunnelling under the Bank of New South "Wales', and Wilkinson's shop did their work so well that general regret is felt that they did not go to Gallipoli. . and there exercise against the Turks their evident skill in trenching and tunnelling-

It takes Uilbs of scoured wool to equip one European soldier, including blanket, etc.. so that to equip the 29.000,000 soldiers in Europe with one uniform, etc.. 928,()00,0001bs of greasy wool are required. Men in the firing line require fresh clothing every three months, which means that, estimating the men at 10,000,000, one ,; extra equipment during the year nieans a further 320,000,0001b s of greasy wool or 100,000,0001 lis of scoured wool. This makes the total consumption of wool for the armies of the world for one year 1.248.000,0001bs of greasy wool. The world's annual clip is only 2,500,0001 bs.. and of this only 50 per cent. is suitable for tiie world's ordinary requirements. This means that the world will have only about one half of the usual supply after the army requirements have been filled. Tbi* will call for economy in dress, but even that will not reduce the annual requirement sufficiently, an<| those who cannot afford to pay high prices for woollen goods will of need have to bear the brunt of tlje winter without sufficient clothing.