LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIV, Issue 35, 17 January 1916, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The monthly meeting of the Stmtford School Committee will he held tomorrow night.

The total amount to be paid to suppliers by the Stratford Dairy Company this month is £12.(196, while £-91-5 will he paid by the Lowgarth Company.

The hospital ship Maheno is being repainted in dock at Port Chalmers. The gill lettering on her stern shows she is now the Maheno oi .Loudon, instead of Dunedin, as heretofore.

The rainfall recorded at Lincoln Collegel (Canterbury) in 191 o 'LI) inches) was the lowest since 18811. The previous lowest rainfall was in 1897, when 1 U inches fell.

A director oi a North Island dairy company, writing to an Ashburton resident, states that there is eveiy probability that butter will reach 2s per lb. during the coming winter. The Dunedin wool sales, wnicli were fixed for Wednesday next, have been postponed indefinitely, owing to the transport difficulties. The Press Association states that the northern wool sales also have been postponed for a similar reason.

A monster eel was caught in the Kahouri stream yesterday by Master George Hunter, who had an exciting time after gaffing the fish. It was as black as coal, weighed -M lbs., and was over lit. din. in length, with a circumference of lot inches at the thickest part, it was an ngiy-look-iug specimen, which must have had a voracious appetite tor young trout, and a post-mortem examination would be interesting. The cel is on view at Messrs Cannon and Co.’s, butchers, Broadway South. According to Hie Hon. A. H AV hittingbam, a member of the Queensland Legislature at present. in Napier, the returned soldiers in Australia wore particularly well treated. Hr Whii tingham told a NepCr Daily Telegraph reporter that soldiers' clubs had sprung up all over the Commonwealth, and ;il| possible means were adopted to ■ give the returned heroes a particularly good time. in Brisbane, there was a soldiers’ club widen numbered lOOtl members. Ji is entirely supported by voluntary subscriptions. The nominal sum of Is a month was charged, and the men got everything they wanted. The object nf t,taking the small charge wa ■ 1.1 the men ilee I or- t bat I they belong to ,t dub and nor a chart table orgauisat ion.

Weather Forecast.—The im 1 ieations are for westerly moderate to strong v. inds, veering by west to north. There is a prospect of fair to cloudy weather, but, with increasing haze and cloudiness. Barometer falling shortly.—Pembei ton. Wellington. A permanent record of the part on by journalists of New Zealand in the war lias been issued in the form of a souvenir programme of a send-off recently tendered in Wellington to sol-dier-pressmen. A roll of honor shows that of some 600 journalists in the Dominion, over 100 had. at the time, enlisted for active service. The souvenir bears on the front page a cartoon in colors connecting the men of the press with the Empire. As a graceful tribute to the men who have dropped their pens to take up the sword, .Messrs Blundell Bros, produced the souvenir free ol cost. .Members of Parliament are (says the London Daily Telegraph) to be affected by the introduction of economies in the House by the Office of Works. The quill pens which have hitherto been provided in the writingrooms have (Disappeared, and their place has been taken by ordinary wooden penholders. The notepaper is now limited in supply, and it is understood that before long paper of an inferior quality will be provided. Another economy is the substitution of wooden spills in the smoking-room for the boxes of matches which have until now been supplied for the use of members.

A good sized Maori looked important with a. fat cigar and a flash suit of clothes and no one recognised it more than the Maori himself (remarks the Opimako Times). He comes into IMiOO in a few days. It happened this way. Many years ago his ancestors swallowed up a weaker hapu—and kept them down, and the pakeha government recognised their digest uiid inwarrleness to the lands made valuable by the pakeha, and the present day owners are well rewarded cm account of their ancestors having good digestive organs. A Palmerston North Press Association telegram to-day states ♦ A sequel to the running of a “spinning jinny’ in connection with the McHardy Art Union for Patriotic Funds was heard in the Magistrate’s Court this morning. when Percy McHardy and Arthur Bennett were charged with playing by way of gaming at the Awapuni racecurse with an instrument of gaming • ailed a ‘.-mi nixing jinny” contrary to Statute. A plea of guilty was entered. The Magistrate, Mr Poynton, Said permission to conduct an art union did not imply that a spinning jinny could he used, it was not a case for a penalty, as the art union, was held for a good .purpose. Defendants were convicted and discharged. A Bargain.- For quick sale, one 2seater Motor Car fitted with electric light; and self-starter, fully equipped. Apply “Motor,” Stratford Evening Post.”