GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIII, Issue 61, 10 November 1915, Page 2

GENERAL.

The breeding of pigs cannot keep pace witli the demand for pork bacon. This is world wide. Canada is no exception. The stock returns of the Dominion to June 30 last givo a total of 3,111,900 pigs, as compared with 3,448,300 in June, 1914. Meantime there was au increase of 20 per cent, in values. The repulsive-looking, hearse-like van used for the conveyance of prijsoners is universally known as the | "Black Maria." The term originated •in America. When that country was 1 filling with immigrants from England, a ncgress named Maria Lee kept a sailors' boarding-house in Boston. She was a woman of Amazonian strength, and, according to the author of "More Anecdotes of Bench and Bar," helped the authorities to keep the peace. Frequently the constables invoked her aid, and the saying, "Send for BlackMaria," camo to mean "Take him to prison." The sailors, returning to England, frequently used the phrase, and so in course of time the name of Maria Lee, shortened and altered to Black Maria, became the name of tho prison van, and remains so to this day.

From a platform in the cattle pavilion at the Palmerston Show on Wednesday, Mr I). McLaren (of Wellington), on behalf of the Wellington Patriotic Society, addressed an appeal to assembled farmers for recruits. Around him, tethered in their stalls, were some of the finest specimens of cattle in the Dominion, many of them beef aristocrats with pedigrees dating back centuries, progeny of imported sires and dams, which had wandered proudly over the pastures of Great Britain. Warming to his work in an excellent speech, Mr McLaren cried at length to his audience: —"You realise what it means to the British Empire, to the world, if the Germans win. Shall we Britishers let them winP Shall we?" A thunderous roar from a ponderous Shorthorn bull, a magnificent representative of the great famous beef strain of Old England, was the convincing reply to tho challenge, and it shook the rafters of the pavilion.

A party from the Dunedin Magistrate's Court, including the Magistrate, solemnly went out to a place in Kaikorai (states the Otago Daily Times) to dig up a dead dog. The identity of the animal which had been buried there formed an important link in the chain of evidence in a case of alleged sheep-worrying, and thore was no way satisfactory to establish what sort of a dog it was except by disturbing its remains. Accordingly, armed with spades and other implements, the party set out, and went to work systematically in the neighborhood of where the animal was thought to have been laid at rest. They mined and sapped diligently for some time without striking the dog, but finally a pick grated against a jawbone, and the quest was over. They uncovered the remains, which were mostly skeleton, and had a good long look at them. Having noted tho points of the deceased animal, the dog-diggers rein tarred the bones of contention, came back to town, and went on with the taking of evidence.

Now that the National Register has been taken, everyone is wondering what will be the next step. An indication was given by the Hon. G. W. Russell when speaking at the Dunediu Orphan's Club the other evening. He said that when the name*? and details had been thoroughly examined h e intended sending a personal letter to every man whom he considered capable of serving, urging upon him his duty to the Empire. After the compulsory registration had been got going, he intended opening a voluntary registration for women with the object of ascertaining what women in New Zealand were prepared, should necssary arise, to fill the places of men who had gone to the front. Thus, when women were found able and willing to do this, there would be no excuse on that score for certain men. He would say to these men: "Here's a woman who can take on your job. Now, off you go to the front."

i Quite a paradoxical condition of affairs has been apparently created by 'the exigencies of war (states the Lon'don Commercial Record of September |l7), in the nature of extremely high prices having now to be paid by consumers, and this, too, in spite of excessive quantities of various articles of food reaching these shores . from time to time. Inquiries on our part, reveal the fact that it is more the 'question of storage room, which continues to lead to arriving vessels being held up in the river, and that, in spite of large clearances of most goods, fresh arrivals more than keep pace Iwith quantities going into consumption. From liberal supplies of neces'saries of life, one can, of course, reap considerable satisfaction in these strenuous times, though the gilt » naturally taken off the ginger-bread in having to pay comparatively exorbitant prices. Surely, it as more .than the question of dearness of labour which accounts for the extremely I high-price level.