LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIII, Issue 55, 3 November 1915, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Weather Forecast.—The indications : are for northerly winds, strong to • gale. The weather appears likely to be cloudy and unsettled. Rain probable. The barometer has a falling tendency. —Bates, Wellington. The rainfall for the month of October for Stratford was 4.78 m., rain falling on sixteen days of the month. The highest fall was on the 19th, when .83in. fell, the lowest being on the 25th. when .01 in. fell. Other readings were: Ist, .10; sth, .03; 6th, j .12 ;7th,-.4l : Bth, .38; 10th, .12; loth, 1 .57; 16th, .33; 18th, .37; 20th. .06; 24th, .19; 29th, .07; 30th, .49; 31st, .67. It is not generally Tuiown that weekend'excursion fares are now in force from Hawera to Now Plymouth. For instance, one can travel from Stratford to New Plymouth and spend the week-end at the seaside, for O's Rcli fir St-class and Ms 1 I<| second-class, and the fares from the other Taranaki railway towns are in proportion. The Xew Plymouth Tourist League has arranged with local hotels ant'! boarding-houses for a special weekend traffic, with the idea of popularising fhe week-end trips. In an advertisement appearing elsewhere further particulars of the week-end service are given. The annua] meeting of the Ngaere W.T.C.U. n-a.s held on Tuesday. There were thirteen members present, and three new member's initiated, lieports of the year's work were re*ad and considered very satisfactory. .Mrs Kenuington was re-elected president. ! During the year, tweuty-five parcels ofj literature have been sent to camps in' the backblocks. Parcels of clothing' were sent to Victoria Home, fnvorcargill, and Door of Hope. Auckland : two large parcels of clothing to the Belgians, and to Lady Liverpool, has been sent for Red Cross work, twelve/ flannel shirts, five suits pyjamas, two shirts sixty roller bandages, twelve triangular bandages, four dozen opcr-J ation cloths, three dozen diet cloths,' 266 medicine cloths, nine trtiycloths, nine face cloths, twenty-six fomentation cloths fourteen Wringers one. pair bed socks. _ Over 100 sand-bays] were sent, and E 3 has been spent on flannel to be made into shirts. Patriotic Committees and Dairy Factory Companies not represented on the Stratford Patriotic Committee are kindly asked to nominate a member and forward name to the hon. sec., J. W. McMillan. The Patriotic Gift Stock- Sale has been postponed. till date to bo advertised. x .

Out of fourteen Stare industrial undertakings in the Au trrlian Commonwealth, eight showed a proiit and six a In-.-. At the Stratford Magistrate's Court to-day, Charles Toinlin. alias John McDonald, alias Bruce McDonald appeared before Messrs J. Masters and S. Ward...LP's., on 3 charges (1) of forging and uttering a cheque for £lO, (_'! forging and uttering a cheque for £lO and (3) issuing a valueless cheque for Co knowing same to be valueless. Accused was committed to the Supreme Court for sentence on each of the three charges. Preparations are in hand for the ceremony of -'Saluting the Flag" at Victoria Park to-morrow afternoon on the occasion of the parade of School and Senior Cadets at three o'clock. Lieutenant Gray specially requests a full muster of the Cadets from all round the district. The Municipal Hand will be present and enliven the proceedings with selections, and the opportunity will he taken to address the gathering of the public on the importance of supporting the authorities iii aiding recruiting; The following four rink's from the Stratford Bowling Club have been selected to play the West End Club at Now Plymouth on Thursday week, the 11th inst.. for the Banner, viz : Wright. Cottier. J. Masters, McMillan (skip); Rowe, Fookes; Smart. Sharp (skip); R. Masters. Edgeenmhe. Morison, Betts (skip); Bickerton, F. J. McDonald, W. MacDonald, Sangster (skip). This! i s the first Banner match of the season, and it is hoped that the Stratford rinks will .make a good showing. r

The Minister of Education (Hon. J. A. Hanan) met a deputation of citizens of Hawera last night in regard to the education boundaries. The splendid assistance that the Hawera Farmers' Class had been able to receive through the expert's work in the district was brought under the notice of the Minister and the point was stressed that if there was any alteration in the boundaries now all the good that had been done would be lost. One speaker compared the work of the Wanganui and Taranaki Hoards, to the detriment of the latter, stating that the people of South Taranaki realised that it would be a disadvantage to be attached' on to Taranaki. A member of the Chamber of Commerce said that the whole. com 'mercial community felt that, any change would be detrimental. Mr O'Dea. member of the Wanganui Education Board, mentioned that Hawera wanted the disestablishment of their high school in :)rder that an agricultural • high, school could be provided. Geographically, and for every other reason, he said, Taranaki should be included in the Wanganui Education district. The Minister, in reply, referred to the country's finances being limited owing to the war, and slated that he fully recognised the value of technical education for farmers, being, indeed, of the opinion'that much more remained to be done. As to the alteration of the boundaries, he said he would not express any opinion, as 'he was not concerned with local jealousies, but with the general educational efficiency of the Dominion. The Council of Education would meet on November 14 and discuss the position. He was opposed to the suggestion that another Commission should be appointed to deal with the matter. As to the disestablishment of the high school, that would have to stand over until the boundaries were decided.