LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIII, Issue 53, 1 November 1915, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The vital statistics For Stratford for the month of October were:—lp'rths 23, deaths 1, marriages 9. ■ A Sydney cablegram states that Charlie Towns has decided not to rowWebb for the championship of New Zealand. At a sitting of the Stratford .Magistrate's Court this morning, before Mitt'. J, McDonald, J.P., a man. who was last week remanded for medical treat* ment, was lined £1 and ordered to pay £2 17s (id, medical and other expenses. A man named B. McDonald, alias C. Holmes, who appealed at Ha vera today on a forgery charge,' will appear at Stratford on Wednesday in answer to a charge of forging a cheque for £lO on Newton King. For the parade of the Stratford Home Defencers this evening, a specially big muster is requested in view of the importance of matters affecting the organisation in the Dominion, and the need for serious consideration of same by the members.

His Worship ,th,e Mayor (Mr J, W. Boon) received jvord from the Defence Department th\s morning that .one invalid h hound for Stratford from the transport. Willocfhra. which arrived in Dunedin qn Saturday.; The New ' Plymouth men are due on Tues- , day evening, and probably, the Strat- )) ford man will arrive ion the samfe cl(iv._, The opening ,of the Stratford Croquet and Tennis CJuh for the present season will take place on Thursday next, at 11 p.m. An invitation is extended to members and their friends, and a large attendance is looked for. The. Patriotic Funds will benefit by a small charge to he .made for admisi sion. ; j ,•/ ■■ , ■ 11.; i i -i,;, ~,|i Tile old. Gorge Hotel, .which has been a landmark for, forty years, near Ashhurst, was completely destroyed by fire on Saturday reports the Press Association, qt Palmerston North. The hotel was occupied by .1. Blair. Most of the furniture was destroyed. The insurances: £OOO in fcheState on the building. A Press Association telegram from Wellington states:— William Hancock, 31 years of age. a native of Cornwall, England, fatally shot himself in the month with a revolver in the public gardens this morning. Hancock was a non-com. in Eleventh Reinforcements. He was a member of the main expeditionary Force and had returned invalided and rejoined the Eleventh Reinforcements. It is uni derstood he left a letter explaining his reason for the deed. Word was received in Stratford this morning that Dick Watkin, Stratford, a man named Wilson and another railwayman, all of Poboknra, who went out pig-hunting yesterday morning did not retnm last evening. Early this morning a large search party consisting of millhands set out, but to midday no news had been received of the missing men. The hush in which the men are supposed tc, he lost consists of about 10.000 acres, and the weather conditions may likely have caused a halt to be made till it cleared. On the other hand there is the possibility of one of the number having met with an accident. The men are all young. hut Watkin is said to he an experienced hushman. At 2 o'clock this

afternoon Mr J. McCluggage received won! thai the three men had returned niter spending the night in the hush. The men stated thai the cause of their being "bushed"' was due to the heavy rain, in which they lost their bearings. "Your name:-"' asked the teacher. registering a new pupil. "Arthur. "And what's your first name?" "Brown." "Oh, haven't you got them wrong? I think Arthur must be your first name, and Brown your family name. Isn't that right?" But the small pupil was not persuaded. A day or two later he announced: "Teacher, mother says Brown is my first name. She .says T got that name when 1 was born and she did not name me Arthur until three months after." Patriotic Committees and Dairy Factory Companies not represented ( on the Strafford Patriotic Committee' are kindly asked to nominate a member and forward name to the hon. sec.. J. W. McMillan. The Patriotic Gift Stock Snip has been postponed till date to b 0 advertised. x

Weather Forecast.—The indications are for westerly winds strong to gale and backing by west to south. The weather will probably be squally, with heavy showers. There are indications of electrical disturbances. Barometer unsteady.—Bates. Wellington. An Auckland P.A. telegram to-day states: —Egerton Gill, secretary of the New Zealand Freedom League, was fined £SO on a charge of publishing matter likely to interfere with recruiting. Defendant circularised members of aiul sympathisers with the League enclosing a form of protest which suggested conscientious objections to military service. The Magistrate stated that the form of protest really suggested an answer to the question in the National Register as to why the signatory bad not volunteered; consequently, it was likely to interfere with recruiting.