LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXX, Issue 42, 24 May 1916, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A. social and dance will be held in the Tuna School on Friday evening t\>' farewell Messrs E. H. Hamhlyn and R. Karalus, who are leaving for the Front. The following farmers in!the Stratford district who have > 00-op'hrative Experiment Plots in connection with i the Department of Agriculture are ex-' hibiting at tlie Hamilton and Dunedin Winter Shows :—Mangolds- 7 S. Tarrant (Xgaere), H. Gray (JJiclhirst), J. Gray (Stratford), H. Bowling (Bird, Road). Swedes—K. Tarrant (Ngaere),j T. Long (Tariki), R. Mouusey (Strat-| ford), E. Fulshaw (Stratford), H. N.. Silk (Stratford), J. Jamison (Tariki).j Soft turnips—R. Mounsey (Stratford).j Carrots—T. Long (Tariki), H. Bowling . (Bird Road),

Commissioner Hodder, who is visiting Stratford on Tuesday next, is one of the early-day officers of the Salva* tioii Army, who by dint of hard work and constant application to the work ho lias had entrusted to him, : lias

risen step by step to his present exalted position of responsibility as the leader of the Salvation Army in New Zealand. Having been in command of the Salvation Army in Holland, he has a good knowledge of Continental j life and conditions, and is able to speak in a broad-minded manner of i the social conditions in both old and | new countries. His address on Tues- 1 day next at the Presbyterian Church: will deal almost entirely with tlip' Rescue and Social Work of the Sal-’ ration Army in New Zealand. A united tea meeting in the Army Hall precedes the meeting in the Presbyterian Church at 8 p.m.

The New Zealand official war correspondent writes from Cairo; A hospital in war-time is not generally ( supposed to be a cheery place; but; there was certainly no air of gloom about the Now Zealand Hospital at Pont de Koubbeh. Stricken down with disease and bombs and bullets, and high explosives men found their way thither and found it a haven ol j healing and rest—a calm and peaceful, oasis far removed from the noise and j stress of war.' But as you wore carried down the valleys and the long! sap with the “red ticket” on you, and the genus of disease or a pointed Turkish bullet in you—or through you —there was no certainty where you would pull up for final treatment.: Helped out of trench or bivouac, men would find themselves in some dressing

station —often noiio too safe ironi shot and shell. Down from the deadly .slopes of Clnimik Bair, along the sunken roads from Mi 11,60, through the saps from Quinn’s and all the other well-remembered places, men were sent via the dressing stations to the casualty clearing stations, where they were' liable to be hit again by bullet or blown to bits by high explosive. Thence they limped or were carried to the ‘‘bottles” or barge;-;—on days when it was ca ! m enough—and so on to the white-pa nted ships at anchor a mile off- shore. The Peum-aila had now got rid of you, ami \ou were at the mercy of the hues of communication. England, Malta, Alexandria, Cairo, might claim you acordiug 1o the exigencies of the occasion, in the beginning it was not all plain sadi’.'g, ami there wore not enough doetev and rmrres. The toll of human life and limb fn modern i-a-r-iro ] i; vi bpe-i greatly nn-clo,,-<,st:mat.'d. Rut gradually- all the defi-ii ur ’i'c were » -n 1 -. good, and oven-tu-'ilv IW.He was lacking •” the interests of the sick and wounded.

At the annual meeting of the Marton Jockey Club (reports the Press Association;, it was decided to devote all the profits of next season to the War Funds,

When a vote of thanks to the press was being moved at Monday evening’s •sitting of the Synod in Christchurch, for the assistance it had given during the session, and for its many kindly notices, a member interjected “not forgetting in the vote; the North Island newspapers which reported the opening of the session a day before it happened.” “The days of the prophets are not yet over,” remarked the Primate.

Interest in the movement for the formation of a Boer War “Battalion” is spreading, and it is expected that there will be a fair attendance at the meeting in Stratford on Saturday next. The idea''is to raise 1000 exSonth African soldiers, either married or single, up to the age of 45, whose services will he offered to the Defence Department for disposal. The meeting will be held in the Stratford Hotel at- 2.80 p.m.

A large case of clothing for Die Belgians in Belgium, donated by tae people of Stratford and surrounding districts j was forwarded to Wellington today. Practically half of the contents of the case are new, and the value of the full case is estimated to be about £SO. Large parcels were received from the pupils of the Pohokura school, the Ngaere ladies, and other donors, and the chairman of the Belgian. Relief Committee (Mr G. N. Curtis), stated that if app '.red to him the clothes had been f-pc icily made for the Belgians. The case, which is the fourteenth forwarded from the Stratford district, will be despatched to Belgium by an early steamer.

Although it is stated that some 80 trains pass through Palmerston every day, yet accidents at the main crossings have been remarkably rare. To make “assurance doubly sure,” however, a new electrical warning system is being installed (states the Manawatu Times). This is in the form of loud-tongued bells, which are automatically started ringing when a train is some 300 yards from the crossing. The bells can be heard all over the Square, and should prove a most efficient safeguard against misadventure. The installation is not yet quite cone plcte, but a preliminary test by a Government electrical engineer from Wellington was Very much to his satisfaction.

The F.-S. liner Middlesex, at' present in Australia, on her way to Xew Zealand, had a narrow escape front' disaster soon after cohimencmg her voyage. Leaving Liverpool on March 2oth, she was proceeding off the Irish coast, when a mine was sighted ahead. Word was immediately passed to the helmsman, and the steamer steered clear of the dangerous obstacle. Weather conditions were' comparatively* fine during the passage to Capetown, but after resuming the voyage on April 20th, the Middlesex encountered a violent storm. The wind blew until the force of a gale, and was accompanied by heavy seas. As a result of the unfavourable weather, the passage from South Africa to Melbourne occupied nearly 26 days. r ’ ;; 5

I While on her final trip with a Tull passenger list on Saturday evening ; (states the Manaia Witness), The’ ; Hawera-Manaia ’bus came to grief I through the snapping of the front axle as she approached the foot of the hill about half a mile on the Hawera side of the toll-gate. With a freight of 19 passengers it might reasonably he expected that ..something in the form of a violent shake-up would at least follow from an accident of such a nature, but so promptly were the brakes applied by Driver McCallum and so readily did the machine respond to the presure that the ’bus was brought to a stand before it had gone its own length, and the passengers were unaware that anything unusual had occurred. With the assistance of the jiassengers, the ’bus was removed out of the traffic-way and motor cars brought out by telephone quickly conveyed the passengers and mails into Manaia. .