Stratford News.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 189, 30 December 1912, Page 4

Stratford News.

(From Our Resident Reporter). STRAY PARAGRAPHS A local wag asks wliat has become of the weather chronicle? Well, one wet tlay spoiled the look of the thing, so it was discontinued. Oil Saturday the record was—thirty days, and only one wet in the bunch. The weather for the holidays was superb. A visitor from Canterbury told me that in the very early days of Banks Peninsula the settlers looked always for a wet Xmas season, and generally got it, fio that the festive season of his voung days is associated with big fires and indoor games. The Hospital collections 011 Xmas Eve were not as productive as they should have been. There was something wrong with the management somewhere. Collectors were scarce, due to some overlapping of duties. And most of them were tiny, too. In most centres the young ladies take up this work with zest, but in Stratford the boxes were carried mostly by young girls. It is questionable now whether Xmas Eve is j a good day for a Hospital collection. Really, it is time that "Hospital Saturday" committees adopted the Christchurch practice of issuing badges to contributors to tlie fund. One hates to nay "no" to the collectors, but there are limits even to small change. Many a man escaped on Tuesday by saying he had already given. The youngsters had to accept hie assurance. Had shilling badges been sold it would have been good for [ the Board and pleasant to many people. Whangamomona Sports are going to be well attended. AVhat a pity there is , not a one-day excursion by rail. 1 Haymaking is becoming general throughout the district- The crops are, : on the whole, good, but in some places cutting has to be delayed to give the time to thicken. The past month lias seen a tremendous amount of turnip sowing. Xmas business in Stratford was gooci. The crowds were quiet, and the police had an easy time.

Stratford is expecting record crowds at the races on New Year's Day, and the next day. The Stratford Racing Club is a progressive institution, and numerous improvements have been made this year for the comfort of the race-going public.

j BERNARD S PICTURES The new programme, which commences a three night's season at His Majesty's Theatre to-night, includes several films of rare merit. The Eclair Gazette is full of interesting items, including a laughable sketch of the meeting of the Prince of Wales and President Faliieres of France, when the former was invested with the Order of the Legion of Honor. "Their Hero" is a first-class. Edison drama, showing the love two lads bore for the school hero, and the way in which their worship continued in after life. In the Ambrosia drama "Arabian iTreachery" hungry lions are sjiown tryj ing to batter down the frail door of the hut in which the mother and child have isought refuge. This is described as a most realistic scene. A Lubin drama. "The Stolen King." is beautifully staged, and the moral is obvious. The great picture favourite, Maurice C'ostello, Imakes -a very good costermonger for a story of the. lower class C'ocknevs, and the drama also shows the rise and fall of the fortunes of the parents of the young coster's sweetheart. A scene picturing the Solnliofer marble quarries is very interesting, giving one some idea of the enormous amount 'of work put into a slab of marble before it is fit to decorate. A quartet of very comic films include "Tontolini's £1 Outfit."