LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Clutha Leader, Volume XXXVI, Issue 51, 7 December 1909, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

' " A. chicken with fo«r legs is not an everyday novelty. One was hatched at Miramar (says the 'Dominion') on Sunday among a white Leghorn clutch be- " longing to Mr Wood. The legs are placed just in front "of the usual limbs and hang down in a ,peculiar way without' touching the ground. The ' freak, which 'is alive and doing well, I- apparently has no" muscular control over its "fore-legs." A monster locomotive, which was built for the Canadian Pacific Railway - v a post of £SOOO, -has juSt been given a trial run, but, to the consternation of the mtuiy officials who had gathered to witness the performance of this most wonderful of all locomotives, it absolutely refused to haul. After many '" -fruitless attempts it was sent back to the shops, where, it is said, its weight will bo reduced. The locomotive was intended to be the most powerful ever built.

As soon as the man in Germany employs in his business one person outside the members of his own family his business becomes an industrial concern ana is subject to Government regulation. The census of 1007 shows that there were then employed in the 4,025,591 industrial concerns in Germany a total of 14,348,389 persons, of whom 3,510,566 were women. Of these concerns 3,42;},645 were independent or main concerns and 001,946 were branch shops or factories. . - A Christcliurch daily journal narrates t'v following story, wliich shows how much reason the Cathedral City has to congratulate itself on tho valor oi its young constables. It happened Cashel street the other afternoon that two ladies, each with a perambulator,

were engaged in earnest conversation on the footpath, quite oblivious of the fact that they were blocking the fairway. A young constable approached and suggested uiat the voluble mothers might move on, but they laughed in his face, and, says the record simply, "he retired blushing from the scene." Klamath Falls, in Oregon, is reputed to be the "snakiest" spot in the whole world. For some reason the birds which prey upon snakes are scarce there, and in consequence the banks ol the river fairly swarm with snakes o] ali ages, which hibernate in holes during the winter and bask in the summer sun. In some spots they are to be seen lying in masses. Being quite inoffensive, they are not molested by the inhabitants of the district.

When Mark Twain was a young and struggling newspaper writer in San Francisco a lad- of his acquaintance saw him one day with a- cigar-box under his arm, looking in a shop window. "Mr Clemens," she said, "1 always see you with a cigar-box under your arm. lam afraid you are smoking too much." "It isn't that," said Mark. "I'm moving again."

"No wonder I take too much beer," remarked a seafaring man to Mr V. G. Day, S.M., at Christchurch last week, at the Magistrate's Court, "for my wife is always grumbling—grumbling—week; and weeks the grumbles." He explained that he had spent five years on sailing ships, and had experienced some very hard voyages, "but," lie added, "that was a heaven to my home."

"If any of you people think that th< Old Country is played out, let me saj straight out that she is not," remarket Mr Will Crooks in his speech in response to the Mayoral welcome at Wei lington.. "She still has as brave mer and women, with as much genius and a> much inventive capacity as ever in the past." "More," said a voice hi th( audience. "Yes, more," responded tlx visitor, and applause followed. In connection with the usage Oi Bible-kissing in Court, soon to In reckoned among the curious custom; of the past, there is a cherished tradition in the Magistrate's Court at Na pier which has the advantage of resting on better authority than niosi stories of its class, says a Hawke's Ba;, journal. A good many years ago ii was suggested that certain witnesses would consider tho oath more binding if there were a cross on the cover oi the Bible, and an officer of the Court determined that the sacred emblem should be a fixture, hunted up the olt brown leather volume and bound it uj parcel-fashion with new red tape, completing his work by sealing the knot Some time afterwards the Court dictionary was missing from the table and failed to turn up. A few yeai> passed, and the condition of the wit ness lwx Bible became so deplorabh that it had to be discarded for a ne\*. one. When the red tape was rippec off the battered hook was opened ane revealed to view the long-lost Johnson's Dictionary.

A patent method of road construction invented by Mr Basham is described ir the Stratford 'Post.' It consists of r series of concrete blocks provided witl interlacing flanges, the dimensions which are: 'length Ift. 9in., breadth 16in., depth 7in. Two sets of these arc laid in narallel, the intervening spacf being filled in with ordinary roa(' metal. Thus the wheels of drags, waggons, etc., will run on the concrete formation while the horse or horses drawing them will travel on an ordinary metal surface. At a recent inspection bv county councillors it was explained that the new surface would considerably lessen the draught of vehicles and its total cost would be £I2OO per mile as agai&st £2OOO per mile, which was the lowest tender received in connection with Inetalling the El tham read to a width of 16ft. A savinr of £BOO per mile would thus be effected in constructional cost, and it war estimated that the saving in maintenance exnenditure would amount to 7? per cent. Under the present system Toads were becoming worn out long be fore the twentv-six-year loans were <W and a situation was arising that would be a difficult one to face. For about five minutes on Monday evening pandemonium reigned in a small house in Christchurch (savs the 'Lvttelton Times'), the cause of it lining a nan with a frving-pan. With this ordinarily peaceable implement he industriously smashed everv window in the house, and accomranied the fastwith a kud use of invective. No arrest jvas made, as ar>r>arentlv was connected in some wav with the house and a charge in the Mapristra+e's Court mif'ht not. Vtvr been successful. A new dross-cost model on view at the Tailor and Cutter Exhibition of tailor-made garments sterns lik<% (sr.ys a London' pap?r) to remove th n comnlaint thct a man's evening dress is identical with that of a Th" Hest dress-eont is no move th"n an Eton jacket, attrr-herl, ihai portiw of the < known as the to roiao ronnrl to the coat, being now