LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXIX, Issue 149, 16 August 1911, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Senior-Sergeant Dart and Constable O’Neill turned up unexpectedly in a New Plymouth hotel on Saturday night about half-an-hour after closing time. The sequel, says the “News,” will be read in the Police Court reports. . f‘Would -you accept a baronetcy?”, was. a 1 question' put to Mr.* MatSKt'd'V Mastertdn on Saturday evening. At first tire Leader of the' Opposition replied with assumed sadness that no one had offered him a baronetcy. Then he stated seriously that he saw no harm in a man accepting a title for the term of his life as a reward for meritorious public service, but he drew the line at that. Ke did not believe in hereditary titles.

The St. Petersburg correspondent of the “New York Herald” relates an amusing incident arising out of the Coronation celebrations in the Russian capital. As Lady Buchanan, the wife of the British Ambassador, was unable to attend the Coronation banquet, it was decided to exclude ladies from the feast. This caused great indignation among the ladies of the British colony, and they immediately ■•.ot to work and organised what proved to bo a very successful rival banquet, from which men were rigorously exluded.

It seems rather singular, but the fact is beyond doubt, that the first intelligence of a steamer being in the vicinity of icebergs is communicated from the enginoroom. The explanation is that when a steamer enters water considerably colder than that through which it has been running the propeller revolves more rapidly. Abnormally cold water usually surrounds the vicinity of icebergs for miles. When, therefore, the propeller begins to run faster without any additional steam power the engineers down below know that icebergs, are not far off, and word is passed to the bridge to keep a sharp look out. A floating bait, set for the purpose of catching kalnnvai, attracted the attention of a young albatross at the harbour on Sunday, says the “News;”

He swooped down on it and was hooked. -Mr. L. Callaghan, the owner of the line, soon hauled in his unexpected capture, but was unfortunate enough to drop In's watch and chain overboard during the process. ’I iir bird is blackish-brown in colour, and Ids wings spread six or seven loot from tip to tip. Ho is at present domiciled at Mr. Callaghan’s, and promises to create a problem soon, for he has a voracious appetite. The bird is to be offered to the Zoological proprietary at Wanganui.

Yet another competitor for tii champion mean man’s belt- has cntoi eel the lists, savs the Xow Plvmout.’

“Nows.” To a recent public function in this district a man bronchi his wife and two children. “A shilling, please,” asked the doorkeeper. “What for?” asked paterfamilias, and ho continued, “I thought this war a public affair.” The doorkeeper said it was public, but adults were being charged sixpence each, this payment entitling them to afternoon tea. “But 1 don’t drink afternoon tea,” ho said, and, objecting to pay any more than sixpence, he left his wife and family and one single sixpence there.

A few days since a paragraph ap nnaVed with reference to a brave native guide and a revolver that formerly belonged to him. Mr. W. Wal-)->ce, of Mercmoro, toils us, says the Hawera “Star,” that there is an inaccuracy in regard to his death. He savs that “Big dim” was, at the time of his death, with a force under Colonel Whitmore coming up to the ftewera Country to join a force to which Mr. Wallace himself was attached. “Big dim’s” men fell into an ambuscade, and he was killed. At the same time, Mr. Tom Adamson was wounded. Referring to the Royal Irish Ri-Ih-s, the last'lmperial troops stationed in Xew Zealand, Mr. Wallace says that they had their last engagement at Fraser Hoad, near Mr. .Richard Thompson’s tarm. I hey aitcrwaids marched to destroy a lort at ic Run. Rura, hut there was no fighting.

Another of the popular dances will bo bold by the Cardiff Dancing Assam by at the School on Friday evening next, commencing at 8 o’clock. A recent-action for breach of contract against a firm of Rugby engineers occupied do days, and cost about llffkOOl). Counsel’s fees were £7OOO, solicitors’ and witnesses’ and other costs £11,500, and shorthand notes an.d transcripts £I4OO. The verdict was for £3535, with costs on the higher scale. A sti ip of tarred maoadem roadway in Cashel Street, Christchurch, has beau down for eleven years. This year the centre of the street has been created again, and is expected to last another ten years. An improved method of laying tarred maoadem hits ■been discovered by a Scotch engineer, which reduces the cost and makes an infinitely better roadway with a. surface almost equal to natural rock, and with a life of from ten to fifteen oars. Many years ago there were three families living in a rural district in Ireland. All were named Keogh, but none of them were related to each other, and tho families were scarcely even acquainted with each other. In the course of years a descendant of ,-ach of the families found his way to Now Zealand, and there met, knowing wiio they were and where they came from, for the first time. One is Rev. Father Keogh, of Palmerston, another is Rev. Father Keogh, of Hastings, and the other was Air. Keogh, a well-known musical conductor of Australia. The mother of f- ather Keogh, of Hastings, lives with Her sou, and is wonderfully hale and iiearty, considering her advanced

t 1 had the advantage cf watching Clio review in the company of a former chief constructor of the navy, who Xnow every ship in the far-flung bat•Oe lino (writes Sir Henry Lucy in the “Sydney Morning Herald”)/Recall;ng a naval review, fourteen years ago,' when wo were also ship companions, he toid me that of the muster at the time acclaimed as the mightiest alike in number and in power the world had ever seen, not one ship is flow in tiic service of the navy. Probably in tlie course of a dozen years the stately ships looked upon to-day with made by all Englishmen, with envy by other maritime nations, will also have been relegated to the scrap heap, giving place to mightier engines of desrnction.

It is astonishing how easily an honest penny is earned on some occasions of popular demonstrations, porno years ago, on a very wet afternoon, a shrewd speculator made a few shillings by selling empty sacks for people to sit upon, on the occasion of ibc English football match against Taranaki, in the Recreation Sports Ground at New Plymouth. After the match he went round and collected nearly all the sacks, which he re-sold. On the occasion of the Coronation procession in London, some astute persons, realising that many of . the auge crowd would he unable to see over the heads of those in front of thorn, sold, for eighteenpence each, little tin manors, which, fixed at the end of a walking-stick, enabled the holder to watch the probeedings reflected as in an elementary sort of periscope used on a submarine. Our word “sugar” is said to he derived from the Arabic saccar, the article itself having got into Europe through the Arabian Mohammedans, who overran a great part of the world in the seventh, eighth, and ninth centuries. According to Dr.' Van Lippmann,; a--Dutch, writer; ‘ as a result of the Arab invasion of Persia, sugar found its way into Arabia, whence again its culture was carried into Cyprus, Rhodes, Sicily, and Egypt. In the last-named country preparations of sugar were greatly improved, and t!io Egyptian product became widely famous. From Egypt the industry spread along the northern coasts of Africa, and so entered Spain, where, about the year some fourteen refineries were in operation. Columbus introduced sugar canes into the New World.

A somewhat remarkable incident is reported from South Canterbury, as the goods train was travelling between Albury and Fairley, inland from Timaru, the driver noticed two dogs standing beside an object lying in the snow at the side of the main road. Fairley, it may he stated, is about a thousand feet above the level of the sea. On further investigation a man was found to bo huddled up and in a dazed condition. His face was bleeding, and his clothes were soaking wet, but no bones were broken. It was subsequently ascertained that the injured man was a farmer who had left Albury for his home on horseback. Apparently he had been thrown or fallen off, and the horse had bolted, but the faithful dogs remained. The dogs appeared to be disposed to resent any interference with their unconscious master, :nd when ha was removed to the van -hey leaped in and accompanied him '.3 Fairlcv.

Improvement of the stock routes through Central Australia is one of the results expected from Captain Barclay’s exploratory expedition in ti'.o Northern Territory. Captain Bar- ; lay is now camped at Newcastle Waters, and is inspecting the stock veils and reserves north and south. He informed the Acting-Minister for External Affairs by telegram that he had inspected the routes to longitude 1 dlkleg. Flo had found them all irst-class, with sufficient water, and lad selected sites for three wells and

•narked off the positions permanently. Excellent stock feed was discovered, md, although 15,000 head of stock nivo used the route this ,year, there s sufficient food and water now for mother 1000 head. An idea of the Jovernmcnt policy was given by Senitor Findley by telegraphing to Cap•ain Barclay asking him to recommend areas around wells for stock reserves. It is intended that, reserves round wells should be made available .or travelling stock.

It is painful at times to have to administer the law with 2its utmost rigour as the committee of the Auckland Acclimatisation Society found at cs last meeting. A correspondent wrote that he wished to send a pheasant to a friend in Australia, and isked whether the society would give aim leave to shoot an old hen bird which had been on his property for ’-bout ten years. The members speculated (says the “Post’s” correspondent) upon the question whether the hid nad boon ear-marked, and igrcod if over there was an honest man here was one, but they were constrained to reply that it was impossible to grant the request, and referred him to the Minister of Internal Affairs, with a quiet reservation that he would probably not let the bird bo exported either. Dr. Lewis mi id the caso was nearly as pathetic that of a man who returned a mallard duck three times from his farm to a neighbouring lake whence it persisted in wandering back into civilisation.