LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 84, 6 November 1916, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Patriotic Rooms did well on Saturday, the sum of £ll 8s being taken in the mart, and £-1 4s in the tea-rooms. Two schoolboys, George Cuff and Jim Foster, as the result of a "Guy Fawke's" collection, gave their money 2s to the fiinds. A very pretty Ottoman which is being exhibited in the mart window, is the gift of Mr G. Walters, of Stratford, as a prize for the guessing competition.

To the cast of Itlataura, amongst the Tuturau hills, whore the last battle between the Maoris occurred, when Topi, of Ruapuke, defeated To Rauparaha's chief, Te Puoho, lies the valley of Waikana. On the flank of the hills, in a swampy paddock, there has recently been brought to light the remains of a large number of mqas. This swampy flat is on the property of Mr T. McKinnell, and was being drained. In the trench along its margin the owner observed some bones, which in years gone by were regarded by certain earlier ditchers as those of oxen. But Mr McKinnell

thought otherwise immediately he came across them, and, fortunately, sent a sample of them to the Otago University Museum. Recently Lt. Benham paid a pisit to the locality. An afternoon was spent in excavating a small area, with the result that numbers of bones were secured. The bones were found at about lour feet below the surface, lying in a bed of peat about two feet thick. An area of some five square yards was (lug over, and the bones of three species were recognised. So densely packed were they that leg bones of some 15 individuals were found in this limited space, as well as many other parts of the skeletons. -Most of the bones were lying intermingled with one another, but a few were so placed as to suggest that a bird bad met its death at the spot—had been, perhaps, bogged here. No doubt this

accumulation was that of centuries, as tiie bones present different degrees of discolouration bj 'he peat. Some are but little darker than bone colour, others are almost blank, and most are dark brown. All are well preserved.

The Defence authorities in Taranaki arc busy enrolling every eligible man " , tliev ran meet, so as to ensure that

the Province, which has never been short in its quota for all the previous reinforcement drafts, will uphold its reputation for the November fm and December lots. "Keep up the good record for Patriotism" is the dominant note of an advertisement Ui appearing on page five of this issue of the "Post," and pointing out the urgent need of more men. There can b t > no excuse for anyone who has an idea of doing his duty, and who can see his way to make the sacrifice, not enlisting at any of the Defence Offices in the country. He will be sent straight away to camp. Let there be no delay. The footprints of babies are now being taken in many countries, says the Daily Express, as a sure means of identification. Footprints are as good as thumb prints, which have enabled the police to bring many a criminal to justice. The system is so simple that any mother can adopt it for herself. All that is necessary is to cover the sole of the child's foot with printer's ink by means of a roller, and then transfer the in pressiori to a sheet of paper. The ink can be cleaned off the foot with alcohol. Care must be taken not to disturb the impressions before they are dry. There will then exist for all time a record' of the baby's id« nti'.y which would carry weight in any ' ourt of Law in after years. No matter how much the feet grow, the lines will hive grown with them, and their pat ern will not be changed. If : >ich records of the Tichborne and other c ui uants had existed, judges would have been saved much anxious thought.

San Francisco and Oakland are talking of a five-mile bridge to connect the two cities; plans, indeed, have been simibitted to the United States Secretary of War, and a board of army engineers has been appointed, which has just held hearings in the two cities preparatoory to a report upon the feasibility of the undertaking. Over 40,000,000 people are annually carried across the- bay, and during rush hours the ferry steamers are uncomfortably crowded. Traffic is increasing at such a rate that before the bridge could be completed, five years hence, it will have doubled. The proposed bridge will have two decks, one for steam and electric trains, the other for vehicular traffic. Four trans-continental railway syj- g; H terns now terminate in Oakland, and these will be carried across the heart of the larger city. The estimated ■ , cost is 22,000,000 dollars. Two hi'gW' v spans over the San Francisco shore, each 600 ft. long,' will' allow for the passage of shipping.

"In my travels throughout the Stratford district in connection with the more men canvass and the distribution of defence circular's," states Sergeant-Major Mahoney, of the local Defence Office, "I met only i one man who demurred about posting up a circular in his shop. The burden of his story was that there was no room on the walls; and it was only when he saw that I was not going to take a negative answer and that I was with* in my right in demanding such a re-;. [ , quest, that the tradesman coi)desf, M . !nri cended to allow the printed matter tO'cn 1 bo deposited in a glass case on,the, f! i i;!i counter. In justice to the Broadway ,: r;7 businessmen of whom the offending: party is a member, it should be stated that he lias an undeniable foreign accent. It is well that residents should know there is in our midst a person who has so little sympathy for the cause of the Allies." Sergt.-Major Mahoney said he considered the matter was'one for the authorities to en-quire-into under the powers conferred by the War Regulations. Since the foregoing was in type, it has been further reported that the circulaf has disappeared from the glass case, allegedly because it had been given to "a man from Whanga," While giving the tradesman the benefit of his statement, Sergt.-Major Mahoney still thinks it is most strange that in this crisis in our history there should be one resident who could find so paltry an excuse for refusing to support the call to arms as insufficient window space for a circular with dimensions 12in. x Tin.