LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 80, 1 April 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Tie Mahoo anual school concert' and dance will be' held in the Mahoe Hall, on ''Wednesday, April 3rd. : ,For ; the penjd of fo'ir v, ock,s ,er.dmg March 2nd, 545 rats, wer? examined, at Auckland, hut i.o, plague nir. feet Lou. teajg discoveredi, ■,,. , Shareholders of the Stratford Dairy Factory Company are reminded of the meeting to be held in tiie Town Hall at 11 o'clock to-morrow morning, to discass the question of cheese-making. Miss Christie, who gave the theos'ophica] lecture on Thursday, will be in town this afternoon and evening, when she will be pleased to meet anyone who is interested in theoisophy.

Tt is not 1 every day that .in democratic New Zealand a prospective Earl is'born, b'ttt the little son of the Hon. T. Ogilvie-Grant, and Mrs. OgilyieG ran it, of Karon, will—if the Earl and Countess of Seafield have no son —succeed to the titles/The Earl and Countess.-have one little daughter of e : ght years old, and the little- hoy for wborn'such interesting possibilities are in store has a small sister of four.

A movement is on foot in Australia to put a stop to the one late shopping night of the week. It is pointed out that for many thousands of workers the late shopping night at the end of the week is an absolute necessity. The city dwellers have already been seriously incommoded by the loss of Saturday night, when most of their perishable commodities used to be bought, and if the Friday is also virtually taken from them the thousands of toilers who must have one late shopping night at the end of the week will be at their wits' end to know what to do.

The m'ssioner at Wesley Church had a field day yesterday. The morning and evening services were powerful, and large congregations were present. The communion service at noon when several new members were received, was most impressive. In the afternoon Mr. Beecroft was at the Sunday-school, and delighted the scholars with an address on "Chasing." Yielding, at some personal inconvenience, to a request by the church officials, Mr. Beecroft has consented to prolong the mission until Tuesday. There will therefore be a service' at 7.30 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday, and another address to men from 1 to 2 p.m. on Tuesday. The subject will be ''True to the Highest." Those business men who listened to the ■ address last Friday, when thv splendid ideal of a true life amidst the temptations and distractions o) commerce, was dealt with, will be glad to hear him again to-morrow.

It is becoming more and more evident that the principle of -lay labour in New South Wales is not fulfilling the hopes of its supporters, ic-maiks the Sydney Morning Herald, which cites the ease of the Moree-Mimi;iiidi railway extension. "Here,'' is says, "is an instance where tlie Minister found to his hand ideal conditions for the great experiment. lhe piovision of everything from si<-e;v<rs to permanent way, was to be kept out of reach of eontractors intent only upon undue profit. The Government was to find its own sleepers at great saving, the line was to be laid d< wn expeditiously, and with much resulting economy, and the badly needed connection was to be put into operation with .much less expenditure of money and time than was possible to any contract. That was before the event. Now day labour at Mungindi is shown to be somewhat below its level. For one thing, those sleepers are alleged to have cost not less, but £osoo, more than the contract price. Fir another thing the proposed contract time had expired, but day labour V still ret work upon its railway, and likely to be no. Instead of expenditure being covered by returns, as should be the case by now, expenditure is increasing fast, and there are no returns."

The new, school is to be opened on the 18th, if the Premier can make it convenient to attend on that date. A meeting of the Executive of the Stratford A'- and P. Association will be held on (Thursday evening at 7.30 p.m.

A Press'Association message from New Plymouth states that John Mynott, aii old l resident, dropped down dead in Devon Street to-day.

At the 'Supreme Court at Masterton on Wednesday last a junior named A. H. Callister, of Carterton, was excused from further service on the grounds that he was unable to obtain any one to take his place or Lms farm to milk the'cows inc-re.

The meeting of the Stratford Hospital and Charitable Aid Board which was to have been held to-morrow, has been postponed to April 9th. At this meeting the chairman will be appointed and estimates will be framed.

The bushman, Jack Morrow, who was injured at Whangamomona on Friday, through falling down a gully," was brought into Stratford on Saturday evening and taken to the hospital, l„pri enquiry this morning, we learned from Dr. Steven that the patient was,progressing very favourably. ,•

The present Mayor, Mr. J. Masters, Was approached this morning by a representative of the "Stratford Evening Post," and asked if he would be a;candidate at the forthcoming mavoral' contests. Mr. /lasiers said he" regretted that lie could Aake no definite-;*statements or even give his reasollsX'As soon as his mind was definitely made up,, he would do so.