LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIV, Issue 47, 31 January 1916, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Thursday next (February 3) being Stratford's great seaside annual holiday, the "Stratford Evening Post" will nofc be published. The Stratford shops will be closed all day on Thursday next on the occasion of the .School picnic. Tfie Boys' and Girls' High Schools at New Plymouth, will re-open for the hist term on February 4 and 3 respectively. All information may bo obtained from the secretary, Mr Walter Bewley. An Auckland Press Association telegram states that Hugh Sherson, 39. grocer, Burnley Terrace, Mount Eden, went to his workroom to clean a gun on Sunday afternoon. Later a shot wa s heard, and Sherson was found dead, having been shot through the heart. He was a married man, with two children. A large number of soldiers who have been on final leave, returned to camp by special train yesterday morning. Starting from New Plymouth, the train passed through Stratford about 10 o'clock. The men crowded on the carriage platforms as the train drew out from the station, and they were given many rousing cheers by thi' crowd that hftd assembled. The shortage of labor is everywhere apparent in Taranaki. During the last few days the farmers have been busy making hay. and it has been no uncommon occurrence to see a number of young ladies assisting the elder people in the fields. Not only have young ladies been employed, but also school boys and men from the towns. From appearance the year's crop is in everyway as good as those of previous years.

'0 The second day of the Takapuna e race meeting has been postponed until d Wednesday next. 1, y The Borough workmen found two n leaks in the water main in Broadway d this morning. One proved to be a li slight leakage at the stop cock at the e corner of Fenton Street and the other - was located in front of the Def%C6 j office. -' It is pointed out by gardeners in the . Waitara district (says the Mail) that 3 the weather of the past few days has . been favorable to the development of blight in potatoes and tomatoes and - crops hitherto free have been attackf ed. A man who was arrested at Croydon r Road yesterday afternoon and appear- \ ed before Messrs C. J"). Sole and J. . Masters, J.P's.. at the Court last , evening, was.< on the certificates of . Drs. Paget and Steven, committed to . the Porirua Mental Hospital, i Intending recruits are particularly , desired to bear in mind the fact that, . until further notice, the only three ' branches of the service open to recruits are the infantry, the mountt eds, and the engineers. Only qualified tradesmen such as carpenters, masons, bricklayers, etc., are accepted for ( the last named corps. A P.A. message from Palmerston North states that the McHardy art union was drawn on Saturday night, and that Hamilton R. Strahan, ; Apiti, was the winner. Seventy-nme thousand three hundred and seventysix half-crown tickets were sold, and | the nett receipts will be above £9,200 j which will be devoted to the Sick and ~ and Wounded Fund. .1 A cattle-man was heard last week complaining that several head of cattle had disappeared from the yards in ' Stratford. It appears that similar occurrences have taken place in the dis- | tric-t. Whether some practical joker (?) has a mania for leaving the gates open and releasing the beasts or whether a practical rustler is at ! work is not disclosed, but whichever it is, steps should be taken to stop the little game. "Ka Nui te trouble." It might have been noticed that within the past week or so there have been a great many Maoris in the town (states the Eltham Argus). It is learned that a f certain amount of trouble has been caused in Hawera through the ongoings of certain Maoris. Their actions have not been serious, but the police in that town have been keeping them more or less "on the move." They have, therefore, to some extent transferred their affections to Eltham. I A fatality is reported from Eketahuna by the Press Association. Leonard Victor Mitchell, nine years of age, whose parents reside at WoodvilTe, was drowned while bathing in the Makakahi river, at Hamua, yesj terday. He went in with other boys, one of whom made repeated plucky attempts at rescue. A man who was unable to swim then arrived and also j tried. The body was recovered an hour later. The police and doctor tried artificial respiration, but it was , resultless. j At last week's sitting of the Magistrate's Court the Magistrate (Mr W. Pt. Haselden) expressed the wish that Stratford would not be unpunctual in attendance in the Court. He also urged counsel in the Court to get on with . the proceedings as quickly as possible and to come to Court with everything prepared. "I am not paid by the hour, if you are," he remarked. The case being heard was indeed weari- , some and lasted from ten in the morn- . ing till close on two o'clock in the afternoon. His Worship remarked before giving judgment that he had been prepared to give judgment for a long time! Three soldiers who have been spending their final leave in Stratford and should have left for camp by the special train yesterday morning, were laboring under a misapprehension that the time of departure had been fixed at 10 o'clock, and as it left at a few minutes to ten they arrived on the platform only to see the train nearing Warwick Boad. It appears that the men missed the train through practically no fault of their own, but they will in consequence have to forego a certain amount of pay and may be confined to barracks for a period. The men left for Camp by the mail train this morning. i A sheep race of nove] and ingenious pattern, the conception of Mr Duncan Sutherland, has been successfuUv installed at Omarama (says the Oamaru Mail). One side of the race carries vertical 3in. rollers at short intervals, and the other is adjustable, so that the width of the race may be altered to suit circumstances. The race narrows gradually from the entrance to the exit, where are the familiar three-way gates, and the advantage of the whole arrangement is that two sheep cannot jam at the wide end, because the sheep on the roller side always has the advantage of the other. The more the sheep on the plain side pushes the more the rollers help Ins competitor to keep ahead, and eventually to show him hi* tad. Sheep cannot damage tacts 'her in the race by crushing. The adjint-imV width permits of the advantages of the race being utilised whatever sta or sheep is being handled. COMPLETE RELIEF FROM RHEUMATISM. If rheumatism—uric acid poisoning —has a grip on you. you may place implicit reliance on RHEUMO. It cures driving out the cause of the dis- ( ea se—the excess uric acid. Try RHEUMO. it seldom fails. 2s 6d and 4s 6d bottle. ....

Weather Forecast.—Northerly moderate to strong prevailing and freshening. Expect warm and humid con--5; ditions with dull weather and much mist and fog in parts,. Rain probable. Barometer falling.—Bates, Wellington. Reports by the Talune from the Islands show that in consequence of the prolonged drought at Tongo following on thWnm'icane, there will be a serious shortage of food in the Group. In the northern part of Vavau the •Natives are living on roots, on other islands they are living on cocoanuts, resulting in serious sickness. The conditions at Vavau and Nukulofa are not much better. The Tongan Government has instituted relief works. The prospects were improving when the Talune left, as the result of rainfall, and it is hoped plenty of food will shortly be available. The fallacy of driving a motor too fast over a crossing was exemplified on Saturday afternoon when a collision occured at the intersection of Broadway and Fenton Street between a motor car, driven by a young lady, and a motor cyclist. It appears that " the car, driven about 20 miles an hour, was on its correct side going south down Broadway and when the motor cyclist, who mounted his machine only a few yards from the corner, came down Fenton Street attending to the mechanism he collided with the car. The cycle was badly damaged, but the rider escaped unscathed. In the report published of the proceedings at the meeeting in the Town Hall on Friday evening a slight error occurred. Mr J. Masters said the' National Government were the biggest shirkers in New Zealand, and the reason given was because they were afraid of losing at the next • election. He went on to say that the Pensions Board was trying to make t its pensions supplementary to those j of the Patriotic Association, instead of visa versa and it was jealously watching the amounts collected by the Patriotic Committees so as to enable , it to allocate the funds accordingly. Mr R. Mck. Morison spoke and voted in favor of the Rev. Mr Howard's motion. He said that he could not support the "Battle of the Bullion" scheme, but instead he thought the Government should be urged to make ' more adequate provisions for our . wounded soldiers. The speaker com- , plimented the Rev. Mr Howard on his excellent speech.