LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 68, 17 October 1916, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Stratford Legal Offices will be closed on Monday next, Labour Day.

Meetings of the Stratford County Council and Wnr Relief Committeo will be held to-morrow.

The Plunkett Society nurse attends Stratford on Wednesdays at 1 o'clock, and messages can be lofL with Mr F. Edwards, Chemist. Broadway.

The Feuding Chandler of Commerce, last night adopted the following re-! rait for the Conference of Chambers:

—"That for the protection of the people of the Dominion against excessive sea freights, and in order to prevent enemy capitalists obtaining Control of ships trading'to New Zea-j land, this Conference urges the Gov-! eminent to establish a national line. of steamers between Britain and the. Dominions."—Press Association. !

After twenty-one years in the butchery business at Toko, during practically the whole of which time ( he has run a delivery cart (or in the

earlier days, a pack-horse service), Mr Anthony Ferguson has, owing! largely to the very great difficulty in obtaining suitable labour, been compelled to cease delivery and to restrict lus business to sales in the shop only.

It is reported from America that three professors have discovered, in the valley of the Susquehanna, the bones of sixty-eight 7ft. men. The most extraordinary characteristic of these super-men is that on some of the skulls, two inches above the perfectly formed forehead, were horn-, shaped protuberances of bone. Such a discovery will cause a considerable flutter in the biological dovecots, and the famous Piltdown skull will 1« hard put to it to hold its own in scientific importance.

A correspondent of the Wellington "Post' '.supplies particulars of a family which can certainly not be accused of a lack of patriotism. A man going to the front as sergeant in the 18tlr Reinforcements has earned three medals for service in previouswars. Ho has lost a son in the present war, and of two stepsons one is a returned soldier- and the other has been twice wounded—once at Gallipoli landing and again recently in Fiance., One, of the sergeant's brothers lias been killel in action, and the three others are on active service, as well as the husbands of his sisters. Such a record will be hard to beat.

Some complaint reaches the office of the "Stratford Evening Post" regarding the despicable conduct of certain individuals who are too mean to subscribe for a newspaper themselves but yet have the effrontery to help themselves to newspapers sent to a creamery or other depot for

honourable settlers who pay for their paper in the proper way. If these persons would sit down and quietly think out the position, they would realise that every time any person takes a newspsfper which is intended for some other person—unless, of course, be is specially granted permission by the owner to open that paper or remove it—he is committing petty larceny, they would surely mend their ways.

Mr G. Girling-Butcher, secretary and organiser of the New Zealand Catholic Federation, who is at present in Stratford and is the guest of the Bev. Father Maples, will address the members of the Tarauaki War Relief Association at their meeting tomorrow, asking for a contribution towards the Catholic Field Service Fund similar .to the contributions recently given to the Y.M.C.A. and the Salvation Army. It is not generally understood that the Catholic Field Service Fund provides for the upkeep of Catholic huts at Featherston and Trentham, and also for supplying the wants of chaplains on transports and the needs of Catholic hospitals at Home or at the front. Mr Girling-Butcher, by virtue of his official capacity, has the facts concerning the Fund at his finger tips, and should be able to place the case for a contribution clearly before the members.

The decline in the purchasing power of the sovereign is shown by the Government Statistician in a series of tables, based upon the figures that have been collected by Government officers regarding the cost of commodities in the various centres. If the average purchasing power of the pound sterling during the period 1909-13 is taken as a basis, and is regarded as 20s, the worth of the sovereign now is, aproximately, as follows, according to the articles purchased: Groceries, 16s lOfdj dairy produce, 15s OJd; meat, 15s (Hd: average oi three groups, 15s 9\<]. In illustrating the position in ai.other way the Doumion. taking thr case of Wellington, points nut: thut the sums

required at various dates to purchase wliat would have cost 29s on th» N average of the four centres (Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland) in 1909-73 wore as follow: 1914, 23s fikl; 1915, 24s lOJdj June quarter, 191(5, 26s I.UI.

The annual meeting of the Fir© Brigade will be held to-night at 8 o'clock.

A London cablegram states that the Kitchener fund now amounts to £341,000.

Labor Day will be observed as a whole holiday by the Stratford Auctioneers.

The business of collecting the Census papers is now proceeding, and it is specially urged by the Census Enumerator that householders will be careful to read the instructions, and not include in their schedules the names of any hut those actually within their own house on the night of October loth.

At a meeting of the Loyal Stratford Lodge of Oddfeddows last evening, the Secretary reported that a number of members of the various lodges in Taranaki had been killed in the recent, battle in France, and votes of sympathy were "passed to the parents of the deceased soldiers. The Secretary was instructed to write to Mrs Williamson, mother of Sydney J. Williamson deploring the loss sustained by the death of her son, who was a member of the Loyal Stratford Lodge.

Vital statistics published in the "Gazette" for September show that the death-rate at Dunodm was the highest, and at Auckland the lowest. The total births in the four chief cities and ther suburban boroughs amounted to "71, as tigainst 697 in August—a decrease of 126. The deaths in September were 311—an increase of 16 a scompared with the previous month. Of the 'total deaths males contributed 168, females 143. Sixty-eight of the deaths were of children under five years of age, being 21.87 per cent, of the whole number ; 49 of these were under one year of age. There were 117 deaths of persons of Go years and upwards in the four chief cities and their suburban boroughs, as against 118 in July.

The manner in which the Christian churches in Victoria had responded

to the call to arms was mentioned by (Ik Rov. Val. Trigge in his address at His Majesty's Theatre, Christchurch, on Sunday (reports the Press). Of the 200,(300 men who had gone from the State, he said, twothirds of the eligible men of the Christian congregations of Victoria, had come from the churches. There was not a parsonage—he might say, also, not a vicarage—in which there was an eligible young man who had not gone. Of the four V.C.'s gained by Victorians in the war, three had been won by Methodists and one by a member of the Church of Christ. This showed how a Christian could fight for the principles of liberty and justice which were at stake. Thus, in Victoria, 10,000 members of the Methodist Church had donned khaki.

A deputation from the Stratford Chamber of Commerce waited on the Hon. Mr Fraser with reference to th© Stratford-Okahukura railway, and urged upon him the desirability of having the railway pushed to a completion as early as possible. The members of the deputation pointed out that the full usefulness- of the line would not be possible until this was done. They combated' tin* expressed idea that the Tangarakau Gorge section should be'left indefinitely, and drew attention to'the coal measures in that district, and the benefit that the opening of the coal measures would afford to Taranaki generally. The Minister replied to the effect that he recognised the importance of this line, and that if money was available he would push on thu work of construction, hut this railway, similar to others, must take second place to the conduct of the

An interesting sidelight upon the tonnage x>osition was shown by the Hon. Mr Balfour's speech at Glasgow last month. According to a Home paper just to hand, Mr Balfour said that while this country owned about half the mercantile tonnage in the world, half of it had been ear-marked either for the purposes of war or to convey supplies to the Allied Powers. He thought about 42 per cent, of the tonnage was now required for military operations, and some 10 per cent, had been handed over to the Allies. He was of the opinion that the mercantile marino was a question of vital necessity. This explains the shortage of tonnage for nearly every trade, notwithstanding the fact that the importation of goods other than necessities lias becu cut down very considerably, and it is obvious that if it had not been for the neutral shipowners there would have been a very serious shortage of ships in most directions. It is true the latter have made immense promts but the old adage about hay and sunshine bolls good ,even in matters .:i iiiis sort.

Any soldiers or soldiers dependents needing assistance should notify the Stratford Patriotic Committee. or branch committees at Toko. Tariki, Te Wera ,Whangamomona, and Tutatawa.—J. W. McMillan, Hon. Sec.

Weather Forecast.—The indications are for. southerly heavy gale veering by west to north. Expect changeable and showery weather with indications for u temporary improvement. Barometer little movement, hut. has a falling- tendency after ;:bout sixteen hours.—Bates,, Wellington. At the parade of the National Heservo at Wanganui on Thursday week Mauser magazine rifles were handed out to the members. These rifles (says the Wanganui Herald) wore captured from the Boers during the , South African war, and are most, serviceable weapons. The company will probably use the rifles for shooting practice during the summer. At Mr Newton King's skin and hide sale to-day, record prices were paid for sheepskins, heavy skins sell- > ing from 16s 8d to 22s each, and dry skins as high as 13d per lb for some pelted butcher lines. Ox hides also sold te 12|d per lb. and cow to llgd. Calf Bkins also brought extreme prices, specials realising 13d to 13§d per lb and first 12d to 13|d. These prices must be very satisfactory to producers, as freights have advanced all round, and shipping facilities are difficult for exporters.

Mr Clement Wragge blames the i sun for the mild deluge which Auckland experienced during last week. "The sun is in an altogether abnormal condition," said Mr Wragge; "in fact, during my long experience I do.not remember it having been so active. Five enormous disturbances are now in operation in the solar photosphere, and they average from • 25,000 miles to 4.5,000 miles in dia- ■ . meter. That the unusual season, * including heavy rains, is due to solar influence there is no doubt. The sun's condition was the main causo > of the heavy rain and floods in Australia, and the storm that has just been experienced in New Zealand is the same one that produced the heavy rainfall in Australia. We wish our Australian friends to know that further heavy rains may be expected, and that the season in Australia, apart from tho damage caused by floods, will be distinctly good." Mr Wragge added that it would take some time before the influence of the disturbance ceased. .

Lord French has given the world a little peep into what took place on the occasion of Lord Roberts's visit to France. 1 "ft"was,'' he tells us, "just two'hight's'beiorio h'is death that he arrived 1 6t. it was late in the evening when 1 urged him to retire to re&'after his long and tiring journey, and'in view of the hard day's work that lay before him on the morrow. We were then in the midst of important and critical operations, and it was my custom to hold a conference with the General Staff and the reporting officers at midnight, when the military situation as it bad develops in the'day was carefully discussed and appreciated.:" conferences,' sometimes lasted two hours. I happened to have "told the Field-Marshal about it, and when I urged him. to rest he said, 'Oh, no; I must wait for the conference, and I wish you to let me be present.' And this he persisted in doing. He followed every word that was uttered and every line on the maps with the cj keenest interest and a rare although he did not die,.downed, the small hours hewasup^jP,khi^ llndianCOmrades FT?*' We know- the; sad sequel, and the terrible loss the. nation was called upon to suffer, but we soldiers of the Expeditionary Force in France will never forget that our great and muchbeloved Commander-in-Chief died in our midst."