LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXIX, Issue 9656, 12 July 1919, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

On inquiring to-day regarding the two town residents who had contracted lethargic encephalitis, it was learned that one was making fair and the other slow progress towards recovery.

The annual conference of the Council of Agriculture, which was to have been held in Wellington on July 16 and 17, has been postponed indefinitely on account oi' the restricted railway service.

A Press Association telegram from Auckland states that the Auckland liugby Union decided to again ask the New Zealand Union to consider Auckland's request to bo permitted to play all five amendments to the game as played here in the 1918 season.

The Mt. Somere Road Board has notified the Ashburton Peace Celebration Comnn'ttee that owing to the restricted train service, the Board has been reluctantly compelled to withdraw the grant of £30 towards tho celebrations in Ashburton.

A Press Association, message from Dargaville states that an employee of the "Wairoa Bell" newspaper . was fined £5, with : costs (7s 6d), by Mr Hunt, S.M., for issuing without an imprint; a leaflet reflecting on. a prohibitionist • business firm during the recent liquor poll, campaign.

A Press Association message from Dunedin stated that u record was established in shipping lit the Port-to-day, when 30 vessels, including several oversea liners, berthed at Dunedin and Port Chalmers, the gross tonnage being 90,747.

While the Itakain. hockey ladies were entertaining the Ashburton players at a dance on Thursday night the lights in the hall unceremoniously went out.. The musician stuck to her post, however, and the darkness did not at all militate against tho pleasure of the waltzers.

A witness stated during the hearing of a civil" case at the Wellington Magistrate's, Court to-day _ that a good stockman was able to single out any, beast he had handled previously from a mob of mixed or strange cattle, and in exceptional cases sheep could be so singled out.

The Dominion Meteorologist's forecast to-day was as follows:—The indications are for northerly winds, strong to gale, and backing by north to west. The weather will probably become very boisterous. Weather clouding over, rain later, and heavyrain is to bo expected in high coxmtry. Barometer falling.

Presiding at a meeting in connection with the candidature oi Miss Christabel Pankhurst for the Abbey Division of Westminster, Dr. Flora Murray said that visitors to the House of Commons were struck by the stagnation of the* atmosphere. "There is a peculiar smell in the House of Commons," shr added. "Men say.it has a smell of its own, a funny sort of smell. Every woman will tell you what that smell is. It is dust. In this atmosphere our legislators try to legislate."

. A .conscientious coal-saver is the Acting-Prime Minister, Sir-"' James Allen (says the "Dominion"); He sat at work in his office on Tuesday afternoon wrapped in a thick overcoat, neither his electric radiator nor his gas stove being in use. It happens that his room does not contain a coal fireplace. . The Minister's example might well be followed in some other Government offices, where the coal fires are always going full blast, liberally and frequently supplied with coal; better; coal than most householders can ever obtain, and burned at a rate that no ordinary private supply could sustain for many days.

In the Divorce Court at Sydney, Mr Justice, Gordon granted a decree nisi, returnable in six months, in the suit in which Kathleen Agatha Lindsay, formerly Parkinson, petitioned for a dissolution of marriage with Norman Lindsay, the well-known artist, on the ground of his misconduct with Roso Soadey. The evidence showed that petitioner and respondent were married'' in Melbourne in May;'l9oo, and lived in Victoria for 12 months, when they came to New South Wales. Ir. consequence of disagreements they lived apart, and at the beginning of this year petitioner; heard something and consulted her solicitors. 'Further, evidence'revealed that respondent was living with Miss Soadey'""at Spring-. wood. ''■■;■ .

A complaint that the Feilding racecourse was pestered by "thieves and spielers" was ventilated by Mr J. H. Perrett at the Racing Conference at Wellington. "We cannot find any policemen to assist us," remarked Mr Perrett. "I counted 43 sitting on the iron fence at the # last' meeting. We cannot do anything and the police won't shift them," The president, Sir George Clifford, stated that similar trouble Had been experienced in England. He thought the conference should appeal to the Minister of Justice for protection against undesirables attending race meetings. Upon Sir George Clifford's suggestion, it was decided to ask the Minister of Justice for assistance in the direction desired.

Another New Zealand Victoria. Cross winner, 2nd Lieutenant R. S. Judson, of Auckland, is among the draft of soldiers returning on the Alarama. Lieuj tenant Judson, originally a. member of the Rifle Brigade, was attached to the First Auckland Infantry Battalion when he secured his commissioned is spoken of as a man absolutely without fear. The story of how he won the Victoria Cross makes wonderful reading. His company was unable to advance on account of the fire from a German machine-gun nest. Leaving a couple of men to engage the Germans' attention with bombs, he boldly went forward alone, and, standing on the parapet, demanded the surrender of the enemy. There were two officers and twenty men, with'a couple of ma-chine-guns, , but he completely disregarded the danger. One of the Germans fired at him with a revolver and missed, whereupon he threw a bomb among the enemy, killing several. The survivors fled, leaving their guns, and as a reward Judson-got the Victoria Cross. Within about three months he won the D.C/M., the M.M., and finally the V.C. '