LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 19, 5 January 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Mrs G. Eliis ami Miss Lees, Toko, have left on a holiday tour to Dunedin and Southland. The risk of a great European war will probably remain, growing gradually less acute, till about 1930. The wars of a modern nation tend to recur at intervals of a generation, or, say, thirty years. The generation that has been through one great war generally wants no more; but the new generation, hearing of the glories of the contest, but having known notliing of its horrors, burns to emulate its fathers. If, however, the big war can bo held off for another full generation, a race will have grown up that lias known and heard of nothing but peace.—“ World.”

The Federal Parl'ament has passed an Act having for its object the minimising of fire risks. The Act in question gives power to the Governor in Council to issue an order prohibiting the sale, distribution, or use of matches other than those wh’ch can. be struck on the box containing them. The prohibition is limited to the summer months, and to the locality specified in the order. Bush and grass fires of exceptional severity may be expected in several districts in Australia this autumn, as a, phenomenally proTfic grass season has been experienced, and in many areas herbage has climbed up to an abnormal height. Elsewhere will bo found the rainfall for December, as well as a recapitulation for the year, both of which provide interesting reading, says the Inglewood “Record. J laking the month just finished, it will be noticed that the drought broke up quite early in the month, half an inch of rain falling on the first day; rain also fell on twenty-two other days in the month, and by the time the month closed a total of just over 1 foot 5 inches and a half was registered, which is not bad for a midsummer month, and does not suggest that Inglewood is as yet “going dry.” The rain for the year shows very distinctly the complete topsyturvy of the seasons, as during May, June and July—the winter months—there were respectively eleven, twelve and nine days upon which rain foil, while in’ November and December, when one usually expects a little fine weather, rain fell twenty-five and twenty-throe days respectively. During the year just short of seven feet six inches fell on 173 days. Inglewood is not yet suffering specially severely from drought.

The Opunako Times mentions that an old grey horse and trap were loft standing in the township on New Year’s Eve while the owner went to an adjacent hotel. The lior.se was found next morning in a local blacksmith’s shop painted like a draughtboard.

ihe ueavy wind yesterday had a peculiar effect on the Hunter road, says the Eltham “Argus.” It gathered up a huge pile of hedge- 'S'pp.j'gs which, on the principle of the rolling snowoall, kept increasing in size as they were blown along until quite.a formidable pile was gathered together. And as the slippings were blown along the road, passing horses wore amazed and terrified, according to their mental disposition. inc Midhirst School picnic is to bo held this year on Fitzroy beach, New Plymouth, on February Bth. A special tram will leave Midhirsi for New My mouth 9.4 a.m. ,returning at G. 28 p.m. Races for child ren will no put on during the afternoon, and the committee will supply hot water, milk, tea and sugar. The prices of tickets (which are now obtainable from the chairman and secretary) have been fix-, ed as follows :—Children Is, senior scholars and teachers Is 6d, adults 2s.

A correspondent of -a Napier paper states that about a year ago the police laid themselves out to catch furious drivers, and the bag was a big one—-the unfortunate driver of a butcher’s cart going at the enormous speed of six miles an hour. Like ships that pass in the night, motor cars and motor bikes also, when travelling at 40 miles ,an hour, arc difficult to see, and he suggests mounting the constables on the latest type of racing motors, to be purchased" by public subscription, which'he starts with a donation of threepence instamps !

A man who elected to walk down tiie streets of Timani on Monday evening habited only in a sporran caused a mild sensation in the town, writes a correspondent of the “Lyttelton Times.” He was considerably under the influence of liquor, and walking into the fire brigade station he divested himself of all his garments, and, buckling on his sporran, proceeded into the city as far as the Bank of Xew Zealand, followed by a crowd of about four hundred. He was then apprehended by a constable, who marched his interesting captive to tho police station, where lie was seized with a violent attack of delirium tremens.

The editor of the Sydney Bulletin, Mr James Edmond, who has just returned from a tour of the Old World, says it is possible to go into fortyone costly hotels in and around London, at which one was liable to be charged £lO per week for board and lodging, and “find the bathroom door as rigidly locked as if it contained a gorilla instead of harmless washing apparatus.” This impression of Mr Edmond’s is borne out by returned New Zealanders, who have been surprised by the fact that, like “washing” in a colonial boardinghouse, the use of the bathroom is an “extra.”

Auckland in the past year gained 1618 in population by the excess of births over deaths. Almost as many were lost in interchange with overseas ports, the excess, of - departures over, arriyals for the year being 1605. The. year’s statistics, however, do not in-; dicate the extent to which Auckland has gained in population; during the .yesar frpm other, parts of New, Zealand. The drift northward has been a remarkable feature of the year in New Zealand, and to this Auckland largely;, owes the undoubted increase in the population of the city and suburbs since this time last year— Herald.

.A dairy farmer from America, who is visiting the Palmerston 'North district at present, states thtit maize, when' stored in the same manner as hay, makes an excellent winter fodder for cows, and is largely used in that manner in the United Stales. It. should be'cut, he 'states, just when the covering of the cob is turning yellow, and then#put into stocks for four or five weeks. After that it can bo either stacked or put into a shed, the latter for preference. If it is stacked great care must bo taken to see that the stack is properly topped, otherwise the wet will penetrate and spoil the whole crop. Having been treated in the way mentioned it can he kept for months and fed to the stock at anv rime.

On an early morning recently the owner of one of the most beautiful and carefully tended gardens in Manaia found about a dozen cows wandering at large over his flower beds, says the “Witness,” trampling choice blooms into the soft mould and generally turning the place into a stopk yard. The annoying feature of the business is that the gat© was secured by the ordinary latch, hut no, ordinary fastening is capable of excludng the average Manaia cow, which has the instincts as well as the ingenuity of a modern house breaker, and can ■open anything short of a burglarproof bank safe. What the language of the owner of the garden was, is not on record, but considering the wholesale wreckage that confronted him, it should bo fairly purple.

There was a narrow escape from a serious accident at the Tirnaru railway station a few days ago. A woman had been showering kisses over her husband and children in a carriage when the signal for the train to start caused her to rush precipitately out of. the carriage, moving backwards, and still waving farewell to ncr relatives. Another passenger, a* .nan, also made a rush, but he wanted to get on board, and the woman didn’t see him. A collision occurred and the man, was knocked down, and slipped between the train and the platform. A constable dragged the nan from his perilous position, but md not got clear when the woman, dill backing down the steps of the carriage, fell on top of them. The constable had the presence of mind to clasp both of them in his arms and drag them practically fiom under the wheels of the train, which by this time had gained considerable speed. ■ A well known Taranaki M.P. who sojourned in Manaia on Sunday last on his way to a holiday fishing excursion in the district woke up in a local hostelry on Monday rnovnmg fill can pounds sterling poorer than when he had retired on the previous night,

says the “Witness.” Another visitor was also relieved during the night of some loose silver that ho had in his pockets. In both instances the bad room doors of the vicitims were left unlocked which permitted the thief to secure his plunder with com r parative ease. It is surmised he gained admittance to the hotel through the fire escape door. Robberies of this kind are very rare occurrences in Manaia, and no doubt the marauder ,vas a stranger, a bird of passage, who was out for the holidays on professional business. When the victims of the robbery had discovered their loss, particulars were at once given v in the police, but up to the present no arrests have been made. The missing money consisted of three £5 notes.

Mr. F. Bird will return to Stratford from his holiday iu Westport on Thursday next. In the meanwhile the work of the Court is being carried on by Mr. F. Marlow. Mr. G. T. Murray, District Roads En gincer, is circularising lo'-al led; is within his district . urging them to push on with such of the Gove: o.M-Mt grants as are now under offer or os are already authorised to them. Wo understand, .says the ‘‘News,” the first batch of underwriting letters S' 1 ’ accepted by the British Empire elds. Ltd., has been passed, and will be posted to shareholders in the Taranaki Petroleum Company, Ltd., to-day. Owing to the large number of queries they cannot be completed till .sometime next week. The post last night brought in almost as many applications as were received during the first few days the list was opened. Owing to the holidays many shareholders appear to have only just received their underwriting letters. One' does not need to go to the picture theatre to see centipedes, as a local fruiterer found out when opening a case of bananas the other day. This importation, which was not included in the bill of lading, has as near as we can count, twenty-eight legs, well furnished with sharp claws. It measures five inches long, and is about a quarter of an inch in circumference in the middle, tapering away at both ends. At the business end there are two venomous claws. Altogether it is quite a fearsome creature, and by no means as the little girl in the' Huddersfield Bellringers remarked, “a handy little thing to have about yon.” A landmark o.f Old London has disappeared in the removal of the oldestablished premises of Messrs S. W. Partridge and Co., the well-known publishers, of Paternoster Row. As the work of demolition proceeded the remains of some early monastic establishment were revealed, the work being so substantial that it was found easier to utilise than destroy it. Arches and vaults were disclosed, containing remarkable examples of Roman brick and tiles. But for injury by , the pick there would 'have been an all but intact specimen of Roman vase work. Another striking object was a bone or ivory syringe belonging to a time before such instruments were made of glass, and in an excellent state of preservation. Then there was a curious pair of bronze; snuffers, of quaint design. Palatial new offices are to be erected on the spot.