LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 81, 17 November 1911, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Wirth’s Circus is shortly to visit Taranaki again. Mr. Leonard Wohh, who for some y ars has been on the mechanical staff of the “Stratford Evening Post,” was last night presented hy the staff of tho paper with a suit-case, on tho eve of Ids departure for Auckland to take up a position on the mechanical staff of tho “Waitcmata Times.” • The presentation was made by tho editor, Mr; A. E. Copping, who wished Mr. Wohh, on behalf of the staff, every success in his new position. -7

A pigeon post will he employed in connection with obtaining some -of the distant returns at tho forthcoming Mastcrton election. The telegraphed returns last election from one remote booth did not reach Mastorton until nearly 10 p.m. owing to the distance from the nearest telephone stdtion and the bad roads. The air line distance is about -15 miles, and as the pigeons can do tho distance under the liour, a great saving of time will bo effected.

Letters of light on the footpaths are the latest thing locally in the way of an aid to vote-catching, says Wednesday’s “Dominion.” People who passed some city hotels last evening were confronted by an illuriiinous inscription urging them to vote in a certain way at the licensing poll. The apparatus employed in throwing the inscriptions on the footpath “screen” was a neat little instrument. somewhat on the principle of the optical lantern.

Mr Leslie Reynolds has reported to tlie Wai+ara Harboiuußoard on the matter of harbour improvement. The scheme is, briefly, to have a -weir constructed, as an attempt to do anything at the entrance would mean the expenditure of at least £IOO,OOO. The effect of the weir would be to give a series of freshes equal to five times the normal flow, and that, too. as often as required. The cost would be' approximately £SOOO.

New York, following the example of other American cities, has now abolished public drinking-cups, and on the Ist October for the first time people desiring water at the public fountains, railroad stations, and other public places, uses little paper collapsible clips, sold at two a penny. All school children are obliged to provide their own mug. In some States they still allow public drinking-cups, but there is every prospect of the prohibition rule becoming universal within the next few years. ’ > f Out of the 59 birds liberated by members of the MaStertdn Homing ■Bigeon Club in ’connection with' tlie nice from Christchurch on Saturday,

J-th instant, only three have returned home, says ’ the “Wairarapa . Daily Times.” Mr E. Rdsson, who owned the winning bird, got another home on tlie Bth, as also did Mr S; Hoar. It is fortunate that the club had divided its old bird races into foiif (t\Vo North and two South), )as the-NO. 2 South birds- 'which were the contestants iu The recent disaster have been practically wiped out.

It was stated in connection with a judgment summons case in the Magistrate’s Court at Auckland on- Thursday (says .the “Herald”) that tne defendant, a new-comer, had purchased li ’hVitilhfactiiTing plant for £llO and paid a deposit of £ls. Before long no was informed that he had made a bad bargain, as the apparatus was not worth anything like the purchase price. He asked the vendor to keep fcho deposit and his plant as well, but the request; was declined. Then an expert was called' .in, and ho valued the defendant’s . bargain at £7 at the highest limit. Eventually it was sold under the hammer and. it brought £2.

Some interesting landmarks of old Auckland are still to the fore. The silo of the office that is now occupied by Sir John Campbell has been in llis possession for over 70 years. It was purchased at the first Crown lands sale hold on April 19, 1811. The upset price of the land at the time was £IOO per acre, but the estate averaged £550 an acre. “Acacia Cottage,-” which was erected on the back portion of the section shortly afterwards, and which was first occupied by Sir John’s partner in business is still standing.

Peter Sweeny “the last of the-Tweed Ring,” died tne other day at the ago of 86. The deceased was known as the brains of the notorious Tammany organisation about 50 years ago, when the Tweed Ring had at its disposal the “whole of the local government machinery of New York, with its expenditure and patronage and its employment of at least 12,000 persons, besides its possession of the police, its influence on the judiciary, and its control of inspectors find canvassers of election.” During the reign of this ring the plunder of the City Treasurer reached colossal dimensions.

Another amazing calculation as to the value of hairpins in actual rise among the women of the United Kingdom results in tlio statement that these unsuspecting ladies do, among them, spend not far short of £24,000 per year on the harmless, necessary hairpin! Following this astounding calculation, it remains only' to add that if every woman in the United Kingdom loses one hairpin every dgy, the value of all those hairpins would amount to £IBOO per day, or £657,000 per year! The moral is, never lose nairpins; the problem is, where do the lost hairpins go to? A point that crops up in civil cases from time to time was referred ’to again at the Magistrate’s Court the other morning, says the Christchurch “Evening News.” In an undefended case the Magistrate (Mr. H. W.

Bishop) pointed out that the initials of defendant and , his occupation (clerk) were all that was given in the statement of claim, and that as there arc women clerks, there was not enough to show whether defendant was a man or a woman, a point that should be made clear in all summonses.

Miss Gillam, formerly on the staff of the Napier Girls’ High School, who is pursuing her studies in France, id a letter to the secretary of the Board of Governors, says:—“This is rather a critical time in the educational world in France. Newspapers are crying out igainst the modern system. Business men object that the clerks they get are not nearly so well trained as heretofore, and big engineering firms are declaring that the boy who has learnt his ‘small Latin and less Greek’ is much more capable in that branch of work than the boy who has gone through the school taking only those subjects as are ‘useful.’ After all, oven in these prosaic utilitarian days much is to lie said for teaching one thing thoroughly, even if it be Latin. 'The laborious hours spent at Latin are after all not wasted. 1 am more and more realising that this one thing well done does not tend to narrow the power of the intellect, but rather braces it up and makes it more effh'ient, and at the same time disciplines character also.”

Entries for the 0. M. Curtis Bowling TioDhv close to-day with the secretary of the Stratford Bowling Chin, Mi* W. H. Ryan. The Christmas holiday fares on flic New Zealand railways (single fare for return journey) will come into force on December 16. Judgment by default was given in the following cases at the Magistrate s Court this morning:—G. Syme y. A. E. Kemp, £3 4s 2d, costs 13s; A. D. 1 Carbery v. Jas. Farrell, £3 lbs, costs 10s.

A London correspondent states that about a hundred domestic servants arc being sent out by the Emigration Department of the New Zealand High Commissioner’s office on \ the Marmora, which sails from London; on December Ist. V “Fines do not seem to stop this,” sttid Mr Kenrick at the Magistrate’s CoUrt this morning, whpn C. J. Wiley was; charged with having driven two loose horses in Portia Street on November 7th. A fine of 10s with 's costs, was imposed. Miti J. Vigor Brown, M.P., on retiring Vrom the chairmanship of the Napier Harbour Board, was voted fifty guineas',with which to purchase a suitable jpemento of his long association with .the board. With this he has purchased a solid silver tea and coffee service Queen Anne design. Yesterday %Ir F. Birdj Registrar of Electors, • upturned to town after tidying his filial visit to polling booths in the-, electorate. During these visits he 'has ridden '222 miles, aild. driven 160, \visiting 51 booths. The most distant, booth was sixty miles away. \ ■ Although we do Seem to have had ii more than fair shnio of rain in Tafanaki lately, it certainly did not wash all the dust awfu% and a perfect dust-storm ragcd\ in Stratford to-day, and at an early* hour Broadway • shopkeepers’ were hsking, “Where, oil whore, the Borough water-cart?” ;■ The Territorial scheme being universal, of course cveiybodil is affected. At His Majesty’s Theatre last night the indulgence of -patrons Had to bo begged, as the bulk JR the orchestra were attending the parade tit the Town Hall, making it somewhat late before the performance started. However, those present scopied to take the delay in -good part. J. T. Belcher was charged at the. Magistrate’s Court this morning with - having on November 11th left ahorse unattended in the street. Defendant explained that it would have been hard, for the horse to move away, but Sergeant McNeeley said the horse was * near a train which was shunting, and was actually on the move .when he it. A fine of us, with costs 7s, was imposed. : In the unavoidable absence of the President of the Stratford , Bowling Club (Mr R. McK. Morison), the vicepresident, Mr N. J. ping, thanked the. West End visitors for the good game they, had givep , Stratford in , the first of the Banner matches, and promised to ’ repeat the dose when Stratford went, to do battle on the West End., green. One of -the visiin A*eply,‘hoped, the tables would ,hp,turp,ed. , ' , J ' A'-Striatfordfresident .who well remembers’the Maori; -Nod 'Skipper, uvhose body was found hanging near Smart Road, tells us that it will be a great surprise to all who knew him that the man should have committed suicide, as Skipper was always looked upon as a happy-go-lucky, good tempered sort of person, without morbid tendency, and in , ,rpsp,oct_S| more like a white man than a Maori, Mr. H. Edgecombe, Stratford manager for the Melbourne Clothing Company, this morning showed us a novelty in the form of a communication which - travelled part of the way to fits destination-:by aerial post. It was ■‘conveyed by aeroplane from London to Windsor, and may be seen- in the Melbourne’s * window in Broadway., The?communication itself will also be interesting as. from the firm’s London hujfers announcing a shipment of rieiv goods amounting to £lOl9 14s 6d. Mr. Edgecombe tells ns that the strike had held back these goods for a time. “Whatever may be the faults of ignorance or -wilfulness in this country, from a statistical point of view, it would appear that far better conditions obtain than elsewhere,” states the i Government statistician in comparing the infant mortality of New Zealand with that of other countries. Taking as a ffiasis the number of deaths of children under one year per thousand births, he shows that New Zealand, with 62, is (with the exception of South Australia, 61) aide to boast the lowest infantile death rate in the world. The Australian States show a. much better average than any of the’ European countries. Norway is best of the latter, with 76 deaths per TOGO births, while the average for England and Wales is 109, and Scotland 121.

iAdyance sheets of the New Zealand Year Book show that during the financial year ended Mai •ch 31st, 1911, the, investments made by the public on the totalisator amounted to £1,933,001, a decrease of £90,892 compared with the previous year, when there were tKirty-six more days of racing. 1 lie percentage paid to the r l reasury was rilmost douliled, amounting to £48,000, compared with £29,615 in the previous year. This increase was due to the fact that during the year the (government tax on totalisator investments was increased from U per cent to 2* per cent of the gross amount passed through the machines.

'"Among the different migratory birds which spend about half the year in New Zealand perhaps the most notable are -the shining cuckoo and the godwit. r The former .arrives in the North Island with marked regularity about the middle of September, and gradually travels southward. Recently (savs the Christchurch “Press ) a shining cuckoo was observed at New Brighton, which seemed to indicate that this feathered migrant has now reached these parts. A relative o the shining cuckoo —the long-tailed cuckoo, which also visits New Zealand in the course of its migrations—is less regular in its dates, and some years appears to journey no further south than Australia. As far.back as 1842 it was discovered that the sinning cuckoo was migratory, and that it travelled across a thousand miles and more of ocean from New Caledonia and the Islands of Melanesia in the Pacific. The two cuckoos spread over the New Zealand mainland and continue eastwards in large numbers as far as the Chathams. The directors of the Stratford Dairy Company have shown a progressive spirit by installing modern machinery to replace some of that now in use. The present installation consists of two 1911 model ‘‘Perfect , self-balancing separators. These machines, which are highly spoken of ny users, are direct-driven, and have each a capacity of 66001 b. of milk per hour. The work is being carried out by the well-known dairy machinery firm of C. Dahl and Co., Ltd., Palmerston North, and is under the supervision of Mr. Norman L. Dahl, the firm’s dairy expert. v

A lucky Wnilara railwayman is reported to have drawn £IBOO in a recent Tattersall’s sweep.

A first practice on the new pitch at the Show Grounds was held by a low enthusiastic cricketers yesterday.

J. Liddington and J. Ward were each fined ss, with costs is, at the Magistrate’s Court this morning, for having ridden bicycles on footpaths. A meeting of the general committee of the A. and P. Association will ho held at the Association’s office atone o’clock to-morrow afternoon.

Dr. L. H. Whetter, of Milton, who has been appointed surgeon to Dr. Mawson’s Polar Regions Expedition, will leave Milton to-day, on route for the Macquarie Islands, where ho will join the exploration party. The Stratford Cricket Club did not play a practice match with Eltnam yesterday as previously announced, members merely practising on the show ground. Eltham will probably be played next week.

The Stratford Tennis Club’s courts were not opened yesterday, as intended, owing to the late rain making them rather soft. If the weather keeps dry the courts will bo opened to-morrow, and, failing that, on Thursday next.

At the Magistrate’s Court this morning, George Wilson was sentenced to fourteen days’ imprisonment on a charge of being a rogue and vagabond. Sergeant McNeeley explained that Wilson was found at midnight last night in a railway 1 carriage. He had been about the town for a few days, and had made himself a nuisance to stable-keepers by endeavouring to sleep in their stables.

The railway service between Stratford and New Plymouth might certainly be improved, it is now stated that in response to an urgent request for hurry, two truck loads of choose were last week bustled right through from Stratford railway station to New Plymouth freezing works in 22 hr. 6min. 3 3-ssec. This awful speed is dangerous. Had the cheese been Stilton the mites would probably have grown tiled and gdne on ahead. ' Mr Harry Fisher, the New Zealand inventor of a new lifeboat, is now in Canada. Writing from Toronto cn September 24th, he says:— We have built a boat, and shall .be giving trials next week. The boat has to be taken to England for the Board of Trade to pass; it is 24 feet long by 7ft diameter, holds 50 passengers inside, .another 50 out, if desired. This is increasing on my original number by about 20 per cent., 1-A.t it is right; it draws 17iu. unloaded, and is as buoyant as a cork.” Siere, was no appearance of judgs debtor in two* judgment summons.-, cases at the Magistrate’s Court this .morning, and the cases were dealt Jyith as follows: —G. Clement v. John Haggle, to pay £3 12s 3d forthwith, in, default seven days’ imprisonment; Central Co-operative Store Co. v. JamcsS Hodge, to pay £l9 6s forthwith, in (default fourteen days’; imprisonment,. In the case of, A. Ferguson v. If . L. Divehall, an order was refused, but'the S.M. said .judgment debtor’s statement'Of his'finances W;:s highly

The “Herald's”’, Sfratfqfd •'correspondent, 'writing Oh November 15tb, says:—“Wanted, within easy breach 1 of tram and ,’phoii'q, ,an .‘ipland-valley 91 Avih'on, whore flails not hail, or ivn, or onj snow, ntar ever wind blows loudly'’ We want rest. Die incessant strife of the past fe.v weeks is becoming too much for our .neives, and is producing wars and rumours of wafcs,. libel actions, sild’rty leading' articles, and blistering lett-'is to the editor.l( The only people not affected seem', to be .the candidate; for Parliament, whose utUiances so far have boeti singularly devoid of gall. Probably it is merely suppressed, and with ‘a conthuunto of tno present weather conditions (meteorology ;pid .psychology are allied sciences) may burptjoyth any day a lava-flood of destyuc'tive ,cloquVn jo. Who knows? In tile universal exasperation of everybody with everything the Ward Government mAy be •blown out of office. Ah, well,] it’s ail ill wind, etc.” Since Morocco is the order of the day we come across words? unfamiliar to English ears and cyess For instance, “manlialla” signifies an army of regulars. The “Aarkaj” on the other hand, is a body of virregiilars. The “Caid” is' a military chief. “Maghzon” indicates the (Moroccan Government. “JJjemaa” is a reunion, an assembly. “Razzia” and ‘‘pillage” have the same signification. The “smala” is a camp; the ‘]|uicli” ,a contingent of cavalrymen Furnished by the principal fighting’ tribes. “Oued” is a river, “nahr” -.a watercourse, “fedj” a defile, “dhaba” .a ravine, “tell” a hill, “tassiliV a plateau, “chotl” the shore, and] by extension, a salt lake, dry in -summer. “Ar.i” is a source, “bor” a trench, “remel” sand, “arag” dunes; “dar” a palace, “bab” a gate, “bon” a father, “beni” a son, “kasbah’l a fort or citadel, “adrar” a chain df; mountains, “djebel” a mountain or hill. Tin’s last must not be confused with' “djoull,” which simply means f a camel. a