LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 8, 25 August 1911, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Tim Marco Road School has been c losed for the past fortnight through the measlo epidemic. Nominations for the post of synodsmau for .Holy Trinity parish close ou Mondav next.

The Whaugamomona School, which has'boon closed for the past month on account of measles, re-opened on Wednesday last.

The slips on the road near the Xgatimaru railway station are at present being removed by the Public Works Department. Mr. Athol Meredith, Chairman of the Whaugamomona, County Council, was absent from Wednesday’s meeting of the Council, on account of having to attend the Counties’ Association Conference at Wellington.

A now choose factory at Kioiv for Mr. Jim Stockloy is now nearing completion. Mi 1 . Stockloy, who has boon carrying on the business for a number of years past, found that his old factory was not largo enough, and in order to cope with tho increased demand, decided to build on a larger scale. The building, which is up-to-date in every respect, i will shortly be completed, and the plant in full working.

Oil Friday, S: piondter I ft, :» complimentary social will no tendered to Mr Joseph .V.c( biggago at the A ha a.nmomona Hail oy the’ settlors cl vVhang immnona and cii'tiict. The S.M. said at the Magistrate's Count tliis morning that ho saw mo i','.\sc!i why so many Stratford residents should he proceeded against i ',r inliag Imycles da footpatlis. it appeared to Idiu that all the roads were in excellent order. At the municipal chamber at 7.30 o’clock this evening a. lecture entitled “Business Methods for Business Mon” will ho delivered by Mr 0. M. Ifawsnn, chartered accountant, commercial instructor at the Stratford Technical School. Mr. A. Meredith, of Strathmore, is the successful tenderer for the treelion pf premises for the Bank of Australasia at Whangamomnna. The' building is to lie completed within sixteen weeks of the signing of the contract.

According to evidence given in the Magistrate's Court this morning by tiio Borough Inspector, the owner of a horse which ho had found wandering on u road on a Sunday entered a vigorous protest against the Inspector using allowed to work on a Sunday when nobody else was allowed to do so!

A correspondent writes :—~‘J beg to draw your attention' to an error which crept into your report on the skating carnival held in His Majesty’s Theatre on Wednesday night, in which it says that the prizes for the prettiest dressed lady was awarded to a Miss I’carcs, of New Plymouth, whereas it was awarded to Miss Norma Maxwell, of Toko.” Quito a big batch of by-law breaches were dealt with at the Magistrate’s Court Jdiis morning. T. Carson was lined os, with costs 7s, for driving loose horses in the street ; W. Clifton was ; lined 5s and costs 7s for allowing a horse to wander; A. George was lined os, with costs 7s, for keening an unregistered dog;'and J. Webber, G. W ■ Askew, ana B. Skelton were lined os, with 7s costs, for riding bicycles on footpaths.

There is more in building and running a “Dreadnought” than appears on the sin-face, as three Wanganui Fast hoys learnt to their sorrow on Monday, says the “Herald.” For several weeks past they had been engaged in building the vessel (on land), and on Monday afternoon, everything, to tiio internal' fittings, were ready for the triad run. The lire was lit, and steam was soon got up, but tbo steam was too much tor tlie boiler, an old oil-drum, and it exploded, scalding the whole of the engineering staff. Jjindsay Neilsen and Sydney Stokes had their legs scalded with tne contents of the boiler, and Harry Butler received lesser injuries, nothing of a serious nature, out sufficient to let them know the danger of experimenting in “Dreadnought” building. An interesting suggestion lias been made by a correspondent of the “Dost,” in regard to afforesting waste and barren lands. Flo suggests that, our Agricultural Department should, procure from the Federal Agricultural Experiment Station, at Hawaii, a number of algaroba trees for planting on our waste lands by prisoners. Tins Tree is the most valuable in the world —so it is stated. It will grow on volcanic soil near craters as well as elsewhere. The tree boars a bean which falls, and is eaten by cattle, hogs, and horses. The wood is good for fuel,

and the flowers furnisn a source of pure honey. In Hawaii this tree is turning formerly barren, waterless wastes into good land. The tree also grows to a good height on coral beds., without doubt this is the . tree. ..(couih .neats the writer) wanted for our kauri, pumice, and volcanic waste lands. Mr. W. A. Boucher, assistant director of orchards,. states that he doubts that the native tropical trees would flourish here. Some three of four years ago Mr. Boucher brought hack with him to the Dominion from Hawaii several native trees which were replanted at the Waeronga Experimental Station in the North. The strangers prove too delicate, and Mr. Lonelier inclines to the opinion that the algaroba too would prove too delicate. if the trees would not take bold in the more humid climate that prevails at Waeronga, it is very unlikely that the pumice lands of Taupo would do any better.

The startling theory that the - nations in the southern hemisphere are developing “left-handedness 15 is put forward by ;i writer in the Sydney “Sun.” It has been claimed that the predominance of the use of the right .mud is the result of a process of evolution; which has boon traced from prehistoric periods in France and North’ America, and the contributor to the “Sun” asserts that he has obtained convincing proof of the existence thousands of years ago in the northern hemisphere of separate communities of right-handed and lefthanded people. Ho says that the gradual decrease of left-handedness in tbo northern hemisphere is admitted by scientists, and daring a stay of four years m Australia he has obtained evidence which points to a decrease of right-handedness and an increase of left-handedness in tbo southern hemisphere. Since the day of his u rival in the Commonwealth ho has been struck with tbo frequent cases of lefthandedness which have come under Iris notice. In sports such ns «Ticket left-handers are prominent, ; nd ilm investigator has noticed that Australian cadets carry their rifles on the left shoulder though the European practice must be due to a tendency among the younger generation to prefer the left band to the right. The only reason he can give for Ire frequent use of the left hand ;s that me people of tiie southern In mispbere, under the influence of conditions contrary to those prevailing m the nori.b, are in a state of r.rtusiti m.