LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXIX, Issue 143, 9 August 1911, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Lake Rotorua is as low at prefer.'., r:r. it was in t!io height of summer—an almost unprocedcnt - d incident. The claction of Arthur Herbert Halcoa.dv (North ’Ward), William Honors (Kafir Ward), and John i'eArtmur (West Ward) as members of the Taranaki Education Board, is officially announced. Two crabs, each with a brass number plate, which wore liberated at 5.5 Moot (Linos) and Button-on-Sea (Linos) by the Eastern Soa Fisheries Committee wore found at "VVithornsoa (Yorks), whore they wore originally caught, b.aving travelled upwards of forty miles. At the recent Shakespearian ball at the Loyal Albert Hall, in London, American society ladies vied with one another in the brilliance of their drosses, and tlio magnificence of their jewels, and one lady alone is said to have been wearing £-150,UU0 worth of diamonds. There were over 160 detectives in the hall to protect guests from the attention of sneak-thieves and pick-pockets, many of whos were supposed to lie present in evening dross. Several farmers, when discussing the weather in North Canterbury at the end of last week, expressed the opinion that tlio heavy continuous frosts, together with the copious rainfall cf late, 'will have a very beneficial effect on the soil. One farmer remarked that he had noted that after a severe frosty season, the sweetening influence to the soil was so marked that the land invariably produced good crops for several seasons, and the insect pests wore considerably reduced. The following paragraph is from Monday’s “News” :—“Travellers by train greatly admire the magnificent 'holly, hedge which is to lie scon just beyond Inglewood. Tlio masses of red berries with the dark green foliage are reminiscent of the Old Country at Christmas time.” A local gentleman points out that holly is not the slowgrowing plant it is generally supposed to be. It is usually supposed that it takes eight years or more to grow a good fence, but ho states that a holly fence ho planted two years ago is new about three feet high. In his opinion holly is highly useful as a hedge plant, as cattle do not cat it, and will not break through it. The bodge in front of Mr. R. H. Cameron’s residence, East Road, is worth looking at in this connection.

An order which has been issued by the Russian Education Department aims at abrogating the Russian custom for students to remain at the universities until well on in life (reports the “Standard’s” St. Petersburg correspondent). The regulation preventing interminable “studentship” has boon consistently neglected. Mon of 30, oven of 40 years and upwards, continue to wear a student’s uniform, and utilise their position for purposes wholly unconnected with the pursuit of any kind of knowledge. A peremptory circular now orders that all students whose names wore entered previous to 1905, shall be struck off the books. Some 3000 persons will lie effected by the order, and the soft-hearted Russian public is pointing out all kinds of minor injustices that such an order may involve.

. ....c=?/.»**»- . V -a- 'aca-ursrm— A great surprise awaited the patrons of the Burnside sale yards on Wednesday last, says a Dunedin paper. It came from the fat cattle sale. Only 81 head of cattle were brought forward, and as may bo readily imagined, a keen sale resulted with such

■i ridiculously small yarding. Moreover, the position was accentuated by tho fact that butchers had only a small stock on hand, and they had to bid or have no supplies for their customers. The prices they had to pay for the medium class of cattle was extraordinary. Cattle which ordinarily fetch £9 to £lO, sold at £l3 10:;. One prominent butcher declared that tho memory of no man could recall such a day when the prices had been so high and the quality of the cattle offered so inferior. On the average lOOlb of beef realised ■ from -10 s to -15 s. “Too solid, altogether,” said a bystander.

“Plant your feet firmly and squarely on the ground, throw hack your shoulders, fold your arms, and swear in most emphatic terms that yon are strong, healthy, and well.. Do this for a few minutes every evening, and even if this is not how you actually feel, maintain by your physical and mental attitude that it is

your condition, and you will soon find that it becomes so, and that you arc not really telling lies.” This was the advice given by Dr. J. Stenson Hooker in a lecture on “Posturing and Posing for Health” in connection with tho opening of the Simple Life Conference and Exhibition in London. “It is ■ wonderful to what extent our state of health can be altered in this way,” Dr. Hooker added. “It stirs up tho currents of fooling which act on the nerves; these act on the blood vessels, and thus the whole system is improved, and we become different beings.” No loss than 767,720 gallons cf spirits were consumed by the people of Now Zealand last year, the duty •on same being at the rate of £1 18s per head, an increase of Is K)d per head on the previous year. In the same period the people who arc not teetotallers drank 153,435 gallons of wine, 271,591 gallons of ale and beer, while 7,582,5301 b of tea were used. The consumption of tobacco was 2,295,7771 b, and cigars, cigarettes and simff cost tho smokers an average of ,10s lid per head of tho population for the year, an increase of 7;|ci per bead on the previous year. Coffee, cocoa, and chicory was drunk to the extent of 5(51,30211), and 113,337,8751 b of sugar was consumed. The figures relating to ale and boor given above do not refer to New Zealand browed beer, 9,399.1 10 gallons, of which were consumed, or at the rate of 13.1 gallons per head of the population over fifteen years of age. On the same basis of calculation the duty per head was 3ld.

A cable message from London, published in our issue of Thursday last, informed us that Sir Henry llutlin, before the International Dental Federation, said that cancer of the tongue rarely attacked a person free from leukoplakia, whereof the predisposing causes wove rheumatism and eput, and the exciting cause was tobacco. Discussing this pronouncement, a Christchurch doctor said that h ukr.plakia was a superficial inflammation of the tongue, which resulted in a white patch. It was due to 1110elmnieal irritation, and was most often seen in smokers. It was rare among women, and was said not to Irwin after a person was sixty years of age. In all his experience lie had not seen a ease of leukoplakia which did not end In cancer, and it was usually the first warning that cancer ei the tongue was going to occur. There v. civ cxciiin** causes other than toIv.ren, such as dyspepsia pout indulgence in spirits, or too tree iiuluT

Captain William Bcndall, for many years marine surveyor to the Wellington Underwriters, died yesterday, aged eighty. At fim TewiLmi d Car p at Pai ’-erstun North yesterday the New Plymouth High School officers’ tent was •burnt out, and the officers’ gear was last. A social evening will be he’d at the 1 rimitivo Methodist Schoolroom tonight at 7.30, when solos, recitations, competitions, and parlour games will form the programme. The Stratford Boxing Club has been formed into a sub-branch of the Taranaki Boxing Association, and a moating of those interested in the matter is to lie Held at an early date. Crib teams from Denbigh Hoad and Stratford will meet at Mrs. Brown’s ro mis to-morrow evening. The teams have met on two previous occasions this season, each having one match to its credit. The Cardiff Band of Plope will bo held in the Cardiff Church on Thursday, August 10th, commencing at 7.130. A good programme has been arranged, including solos, recitations, pianoforte duets, and dialogues. The usual monthly meeting of the Stratford County Council will he held at the County Office, Stratford, on Wednesday, August 16th. The Council will consider the question of levying separate rates on road districts which are in debt. The death is roportd at Westmere, Wanganui, of Mr. Edmund Talbot, one of the best-known settlers in the district. The deceased, who was 79 years of age, was in his younger days a member of the band of the 48th Regiment, which was for a time stationed at Gibraltar. In one or two places in England ladies’ fire brigades are being established. Perhaps one of the most efficient is at burton, which numbers, ■ eighteen ladies, the captain being the daughter of the superintendent of the Borough Brigade. Their uniforms are ■of blue and red, set off with smart caps, the’captain’s accoutrements being silver-faced. A smart turn-out was effected on their manual engine, the brigade galloping round the enclosure, at a local fete, amidst hearty cheers. During the course of the exhibition which followed, numerous rescues wore effected, girls ascending to the upper stories and lowering victims by means of life-lines. Scaling ladders were also used, and the fire women jumped from the top of the tower without any hesitation. They also showed themselves well up in •Ambulance work. After other the girls re-mounted the engine and drove off amidst demonstrative applause. Within another couple of years the treat Keokuk clam, the largest in the' world except - the Assouan, will bo 'abroplated, thus harnessing the Mississippi. By the power thus gained, equivalent to about a quarter of a million horse-power, Keokuk will become one of the largest power-distri-buting centres in the whole world, rhoro will bo power enough to light nary public and private lamp, run every street car and turn every factory wheel in practically every Mississippi Valley town from St. Paul in Bio north to St. Louis in the south. Already contracts have been signed lor the transmission of 60,000 horsepower to St. Louis, a distance of 176 .miles south, to run the street cars mi, light the streets of that city. Negotiations'arc'now’in progress of completion to transmit the power north and south, oast and west, from St. Paul. It will bo the most marvellous electrical engineering feat yet achieved in America or elsewhere.

A notable droving feat is reported from New South Wales. A rnn-hold-v-r near Yass found himself in an awkward predicament. The snow threatened tho lives of his large mob of cattle, over a thousand head, and an attempt was made to get them out of jeopardy. Tho rescuers, a number of export drovers, prepared an outfit resembling that of a Polar expedition, including a full stock of snowshoes, the locality being in the vicinity of the Brinclabella Mountains, on which phenomenally heavy snow had fallen. All along the route by which the cattle were to be taken deep snow drifts had to be negotiated, the shallowest portion being 2ft. deep. The drovers started tho strongest of the .eattle to break a path through the snow, the mob travelling in single file in a procession four miles in length. The journey was necessarily a slow one, besides being cold and perilous, sleep being a matter of impossibility, is the cattle had to be kept moving, and when a lower and warmer country was reached tho cattle and the drovers rested for four days. Their intended destination was finally reached without the loss of a single head.