LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 72, 21 March 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

It was decided at yesterday s meetin o- oi the County Conned to write to”the Department of Agriculture urci-i'r more drastic steps in .the matter of putting clown the noxious wood nuisance. The Chairman and Crs. femitli, Thomson and Marfell were yesterday appointed by the County Council to meet the Chamber ot Commerce ana the local bodies in conference with the view to compiling evidence to lay before the Opunake Railway Commission. . , , it yesterday’s meeting ot .the County’Council a letter unis received from the secretary of the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board, who applied for the signature of the Board to be attached to a form legally waiving the authority of the Council with regard to health matters, and vesting it “in the Board. It was decided to take no action.

The services in preparation for next week’s mission in Wesley Church are being well attended,_ and are characterised by a deep spirit or earnestness. Enquiries from the country districts indicate considerable interest in the mission on the paid or adherents of the church in outlying Places. The Rev. Mr. Beccroft is due to arrive in Stratford on Saturday morning, and it is -expected the visit of this venerable and glided preacher will make a deep impression upon the town and district.

The deadly pea-rifle was the subject of some discussion at the last • meeting of the Christchurch (Society for the prevention of Cruelty to animals. The inspector (Mr. W. H. Zoueh) reported that a number of complaints had reached him in reference to the indiscriminate use of pearifles, and the injury done with them by youths to domestic animals. The members of the society agreed that the matter was a very serious, one and the advisibility for securing legislation on the matter was. discussed. It was decided to hold over action till next meeting, further information to bo obtained in the meantime. ; Can‘ a telephone conversation; be, admitted ‘as 1 'evidence in the Court? The question was raised in the Magistrate’s Court at Invercargill, during the hearing of a civil case. _ A witness for the plaintiff stated in his evidence that the plaintiff and he had rung up the defendant— “How do you know it was the defendant at the other end of the wire?” asked counsel for tile defence.” (The witness hesitated. “Because he said it was he speaking,’’: i said tlihwitness. “That’s "not pi'oof. It might have ‘been Anybody Wing his name,” retorted counsel, and he submitted that this could not be treated as, evidence. The court smiled. The Magistrate (reports the Southland ‘Times’) remarked that telephone cohvercations entered into cases almost every day, and although perhaps they were not very reliable, they were admissI iblc as evidence.

A correspondent at Omaha states that recently the residents Ayere alarmed by a sudden and furious gust of win'd, which lasted for several minutes. Its path Avas strewn with broken and up-rooted trees, the damage appeared to be purely local. Large pine and gum trees Avcrc torn doAvn, and even pohutukaAvas, tliat had stood the weather for ages, Avcre levelled to the ground. Mr. Roderick Matheson’s auxiliary fishing yacht, Avhich was on the slips, avus bodily lifted and thrown aside, sustaining only a breakage at the masthead, and immemdiately aftenvards a large pohutukawa crashed doAvn on the spot just A’acated by the boat. The tree was sufficiently large to haA r e crushed the yacht from deck to keel. Many fruit 'trees Avere .stripped of the crops, aand the loss in some cases lias been severe. —Ncav Zealand Herald.

A witness giving evidence before the Wharf Stores Board in -Sydney said that 'he had reared 10 healthy children, had always been financial, and lived comfortably, and that his average earnings .had been £3 per week. “The married life’s the best,” said the witness. “The single man’s more Tkely to go to the wall than the married one.” Posssibly the comparative comfort of.married men was explained by the next witness, a woman, whose husband was receiving £2 lOg per week on the wharves. She detailed how to live on 30s a week—all that was left after paying the rent and allowing for her husband’s tram fares and “smoko.” She had to buy books and clothes- for the three children going to school, clothe herself, and Keep the home going. They all lived comfortably, said the witness, but at the end of the week there was not much to spare. The members of the board expressed the opinion that they had received a good lesson in domestic economy.

It was suggested in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly last week that immigrants were compelled to sleep in the Sydney Domain because of the difficulty in finding accommodation in the city. The director of the Immigration Bureau was asked to investigate the matter. Accordingly he detailed an officer to explore the Domain and examine all and sundry found sleeping there. The officer sent was the chief boarding official of the Department, who sees all the immigrants on arrival. He commenced at 11.30 p.m., and was out until 2 a.m. He was accompanied by two plain-clothes police officials, and every man on the grass was interrogated. The official reported that he found 131 men camped in the Domain.. They were of various descriptions, but only one was an assited immigrant. There were seven new arrivals, four from America, among the open-air sleepers. One of t lem said he had some money, but did not want to waste it paying for accommodation when it was so comfi rtable sleeping out. The .assisted immigrant was a farn'i labourer, nineteen years of ago, bred on a Lancashire farm. He arrived in Sydney about four months ago. His story was to the effect that his employer made him work too hard, so he left. He said he was sleeping out because be preferred it to the cheap boardinghouses.

The annual general mooting of the Stratford Football Club will be hold in Borough Council Chambers on Monday evening, the 25th iust., at 8 o’clock. Messrs. Mercer and Drake have taken the Stratford Town Hall for live months, and intend running an up-to-date rink, full particulars of which will bo notified,in our columns later on. Mr. J. Armstrong, traffic manager for the district, has been in Stratford for the last few days. He left yesterday by the mail train for Wanganui. The following advice has been received in Stratford from Mr. Coyne, County Council, who recently left on a visit to Wellington: “Brewer Road, Saw Minister for Public Works; very catisfactory.” The list for to-morrow’s sitting of the Magistrate’s Court includes twenty-four undefended civil cases, eight judgment summonses, one defended commission case, and one affiliation case. We are 'specially requested to remind those interested that, applications for the position of secretary to the Stratford "A. and P. Association will close with Mr. E. Jackson at five o’clock to-morrow afternoon. In an advertisement in another part of this issue the speakers of the Reform Party rally to be held in the Town Hall on March 28th, are detailed. Tickets can be obtained from Messrs. G. Sangster, Geo. Jackson, F. J. Jackson, C. Jackson, T. C. Fookcs, S. Clark, and A. W. Budge, and other prominent members of the Reform Party. By present indications there should be a bumper house; as there arc enquiries for tickets from all parts of the district. The committee has arranged for the Orchestral Society to render selections between 7.30 and 8 p.m., in order to relieve the tedium to those arriving early.