LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXX, Issue 3, 6 April 1916, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Parliament will meet for dispatch of business on .May 9. Five additional cases of infantile paralysis in the Wellington Health District were reported yesterday. A serious outbreak of diphtheria is reported from some outlying districts from Napier. As a sample of maize, which would bi? hard to beat anywhere Mr James Shaw, Wharehuia, has on view at Mr Newton King’s office, Broadway, Stratv ford, a sample of the White Horse Tooth variety. It is thirteen feet in height, the seed of which was sown on December 3, 1915, and cut on the 20th March, 1916, three cwt. of manure to the acre being used (1-Jcwt. super and 1 Icwt. bonedust).

A local authority on agricultural matters states that farmers would be well advised to cultivate a. greater, variety of crops, next season, suggesting, for instance, carrots, mangolds, kale, maize, etc., for Autumn feed. He recognises that these crops entail a good deal more attention than turnips, but, as has been proved this season, a considerable proportion of the turnip crops throughout the district has failed owing to the blight.

The Toko district is distinctly loyal,, and already close on forty enlistments have been placed to its but still the call for men for the front brings forth a strong echo. Last week a function was held to farewell another batch, and next month will see the departure of several more. Regarding the latest social gathering in connection with the recruiting moveinent, a farewell social was tendered in the Coronation Hall, Toko, on Friday evening last to 'Privates A. Divehall, J. Caskey, T. Morris, S. Beare and H. Carter. One hundred and fifty people were present from all parts of the district, Douglas being in strong force. Mr W. H. Were, on behalf of the district, presented each' of the men with a wristlet watch, for which the men renrned thanks. During the evening, songs were rendered by Mrs Thomas (2), Mr H. Beare (2), Mr Knoff, Mr T. Morris and Mr S. Beare. ilr C. Fox supplied excellent dance music, and played an amusing practical joke on dancers in the small hours of Aprij Fool’s Day!

Here is an interesting sequel to the publication in the Stratford Evening Post some weeks ago of a paragraph re the finding of a sum of money in the Gentle Annie river, Air H. Feakins, of Cambridge,, Waikato, writes to his brother-in-law, Mr R. lingers, of Pembroke Road, under date March 30 last, stating that he had noticed the paragraph in one of the papers, and proceeds: “No doubt you have heard me speak of my brother Will having lost some money in the Gentle Annie or on the bank of the river. About the year 1876 or 1877, we were working on Mr Joseph Bird’s survey party, and after we were finished work at night wc used to go fishing in the river. Will used to carry his money in a pouch on his holt in those days. Inglewood was our nearest town, and we didn’t go in very often, perhaps once in 4 or 5 months, and as we got paid 'every month we would have a considerable ‘sum on us at times. Will had about £l6 in Ids pouch at the time I am referring to, the money being mostly, in notes, though he had some silver

end, I think, some gold. , At any rate, he lost the lot, owing, we thought, to it being pulled off his belt in going through the scrub. He missed the money one morning when dressing, and we limited up and down the river bank for three or four days, but without success. We wore camped at the time west of where the Gentle Annie bridge now is, and on that piece of ground in Patterson’s paddock between the road and the river. On reading the paragraph in the'paper I was struck with the date CIS] 7) on some of the coins, and by the fact that there was a five-shilling piece among them. 1 thought it might, he some of the lost and that this would explain the mystery of the money being found in the river. If it was any of Will’s money, it would very likely lie between the School and Mr doc Hobson’s place.” fEd. S.E.P. —ln the minds of those who know the circumstances and the locality of the find, I here is no doubt that the coins were a portion of the sum lost by Mr Feakins’ brother.)

The case against David Maxwell, of Toko, was dismissed without prejudice by the Justices of the Peace at the Stratford Court to-day. A cablegram from Suva stales that Alfred Krenzlo, a German, residing in Levuka, was fined £75 for having firearms in his possession. The executive of the art union organised by the New Plymouth Railway Patriotic Committee are well satisfied with the number of tickets that have *o far been sold in .this district, but the wish to draw the attention of the public to the fact that tickets may be obtained from all railway stations and also that those who send for same through the post must enclose postage. The drawing will take place in the Theatre Royal. Now Plymouth, on May 4. A suggestion has been made that New Zealand should supply some of the jam required by the War Office for the supply of the troops. The matter has received some attention from the Government and the jam factories already, says the “Nc.v Zealand Times,” hut it does net appear that there is any great probabil ly of War Office orders being placed in this country. The Army authorities in the first place, stipulate for a tin of a size that is not produced in Now Zealand. Then tin plates, which (an no longer be procured from Britain, atv scarce and expensive, and there is some element of uncertainty about the supply of sugar. The soft fruit season lias passed, moreover, and In ' factories have not very large stocks <.u hand.

“Many epic have the idea that once a man has been in gaol he is for ever after hounded down by the police,” remarked Mr J. W, Ellison, ex-Superintenclent of Police, at a function given in his honor at Wellington on Friday evening. “That is one of the fallacies of a great many people; if a criminal has that notion it is the trouble of his own brain that is haunting him.” Mr Ellison added that when a man came out of gaol the police never worried any more about him, unless, of course, he attracted attention by his own misdeeds. They could not please everybody, and he doubted if the worst criminal had any real grudge against the police. “Of course,” • added Mr Ellison, jocularly, “there are, no doubt, some who would like to see a few policemen drowned or. otherwise got rid of.” i: