LOCAL GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 95, 22 April 1912, Page 4

LOCAL GENERAL.

Tho annual meeting for the election of school committees will he held throughout the district this evening.

At Southbrook, a few miles from Christchurch, a trap horse was killed by lightning recently. The owner had just taken the , horse out of the trap when the storm came on, leav ng the harness on, and covering tho animal with,a horse-rug. It appears that the lightning was attracted by a -buckle on the bridle, and it made a mark right along tip© .horse’s body. ~ Planned,to throyy a projectile weighing, 20001b' with armour-piercing velocity a distance of 15 miles,'a new re-cord-breaking ,16in. gun lias, been designed, by the (United. States, Navy J)epar.tmqnt. The gun will I).© 67ft. long.; and a pew itype of sunpr-ProadhongJit prill bps .necessary fpv its.use,Npjbattl.esjiip now in.’commission 'in ,an.V .of the world’s navies, could withstand without injury the firing of the new weapon. At present the largest rifle on any warship is a 14m. guivfiring ? projectile of ,14001 b eleven miles.

William .vJenkinson Sparrow, an habitual criminal, came up before Mr C. ]). Sole; J.P., this, morning, on a Charge; ,of breaking the terms of a probation order, by leaving .Stratford, Where work had been - found for, him, Sergeant'McNoely stated,'Hint the .accused had been released from, Now Plymouth prison three weeks ago, to enable him to earn enough money to go to the Old Country, where,, he stilted, he had a.legacy to .collect. The accused, had spent nearly.’twenty-one, years in- gaol. Ho, was sentenced to three month,o’, hard labour in New Plymouth prison, . .. On Sunday evening at Hawcra the Salvation Army had an appreciative audience, consisting of another and more military band of soldiers. Their open air meeting went with a swing, the Territorials joining in the s nging with much energy. When it came to the time to depart for the Oddfellows’ Hall, and the hearty invitation to follow the band was extended, the .Territorials formed into line, the order war smartly given to form fours, and .‘.winging in behind the hayid, they marched in fine- form down the street towards the Hall. Once there, however, the armies separated : the soldiers of peace were deprived of their escort, and the soldiers of war departed, with great hilarity for pastures new.

The lire on a mail train near Brisbane on April 6th has had bad results for some New Zealand correspondence. The Post Office authorities have been advised by the Brisbane postal authortics that some of the-mails in the fire were from New Zealand. Letter-bags from Dunedin and Christchurch to Brisbane, the contents of which are unknown, were burned, hut the contents of mail hags from Auckland to Hongkong, and from Wellington to Kobe, Japan, are in fair order, the registered letters heipg intact. The parcel mail from Wellington 1o Hongkong was badly damaged, hut the insured parcels are intact, and the Wellington to Brisbane newspaper mail is in fair order.

The publication of the fact that several youthful applicants had hc.cn rejected as unfit for military trainin'* on account of impaired health caused through cigarette-smoking, states t!ie Sydney Morning Herald, has directed attention to the finest on of juvenile smoking. Dr. Ashburton Thompson. President of the Board of Health, stated recently that the matter of examining youths for physical fitness war

entirely in the hards of the Common wealth. Still, the State was vitally interested in the health of the rising generation. The evils of juvenile e’gir-ette-smoking were so well known that lie did not need to emphasise it further. but it would he an excellent thing for the State to make the law entirely prohibiting hoys from smoking. Already too great a proportion of the rismg generation was affected by cigarette smoking. Coishlorahle interest is being evinced at the present time in the work of a number of Maoris who are preparing a canoe in the Pukekohe East district. The. work lias been undertaken by a party of Rangiriri natives, who obtained a sphmd’d kahikalea free for the purpose. The diameter of the tre n at the butt is -Ift Din, and its height will permit of the canoe being made 77ft in length. The tree has been lowered, and' preliminary work on the canoe has been commenced, and a further reinforcement of Waikato natives skilled ;n the van k of modelling, etc., ere to arrive 'shortly, and assist with the work. The canoe is to he named after the d‘strict in which the tree was grown, and when completed will he carried by da of the natives over a distance nl two and n, half miles to Bnokland, from which station it will he railed away in the Waikato,

It is computed that the coming Mayoral election will cost the City of Wellington about £350. The Stratford Goli Chili’s 1912 -season will open <ui Thursday next, when mixed fanrsom.es will be played, starting at 2.30 p.m.

Special railway arrangements for the benefit of those desiring to visit the Territorial Camp at Ha wen Racecourse on Tuesday and Wednesday next are notified.

Mr. George Donnell, of Climie Road, Cardiff, leaves liy the _ Remuera on Thursday week for a visit to the Old Country'. He expects to return in October.

Ratepayers are reminded of the address to lie given in the Town Hall at 8 o’clock this evening by Mr J. Me* A 1 lister, in pursuance of his candidature for the mayoralty. The Prime Minister, the Hon. T. Mackenzie, lias intimated to Mr. A. M. Conroy, that he will be pleased to accede to the request to open the third Winter Show in liawera, on Wednesday, -June 12.

Questioned at Hastings, Sir James Carroll su’d: “1 never telt better in. my life. 1 have nothing to say on the subject of polities except that ‘A day, an hour, in virtuous liberty is wohtli a whole eternity in bondage.’ ” Sir James is at present in the Gisborne district. ,

The Stratford Gun Club have. had. to move their quarters this week owing to the Golf Club having tlwvßacecourse; for their opening day. The inconvenience, however, will not be considerable, as the Gun Club have been fortuilate in securing a piece of ground in Fenton Street kindly lent them by Mr. Marr. On Thursday the champkinship of Taranaki will be decided, jind it is expected there will be a big entry of sportsmen from all over the province.

The danger of allowing horses to wander loose on the roads was exemplified on Saturday evening, when a young man named Harvey, riding a. noise and leading another, met with a serious accident. Coming from Kaponga to Stratford, lie rht't at Cardiff two loose horses, one of which. cut across and collided with hiii.’■ upsetting the rider and his horses. Harvey himself was only slightly bruised, but one of his horses had its eye knocked cut, as well as other injuries. Wo understand that more will be heard of the case.

Cabled information has been received by the Acting-Chief Inspector tor ,:New Zealand (Mr. Clarke Johnson) that the scheme of capital rearrangement was passed unanimously at the meeting of the shareholders of the New Zealand Loan and; Mercantile Agency Company, Limited, held in London on Thursday. The Wellington “Post” is authoritatively informed that votes favourable to the scheme were recorded by five-sixths of the shareholders resident in this Dominion, there hemg practically no op-i position. "■

Attention has been drawn to a misstatement in the paragraph .published on .Saturday regarding, th.e accident Reported on Friday’s mail train. It appears that thp .actual fact is tnat wlxdn the/train reached Midhirgt. fhe guard' reported that, he had been told by passenger that, somebody had fallen dtf tii-o, train.!;The station staff .a't'fflice' set out and thoroughly seai’Ched dJHfe' linfl'iyithqu£ aypil. >, They reported;thbmaftcr!.at the ..local railway ■ station, r but apparently the MidliirSt meii-’fe' statement was taken as : setting thef' matter at rest, and no further action was taken.

Mr. Joseph McCluggage has decided to open an .office in Stratford in York: Chambers, and will continue in busk ness as a land, estate, and finance agent. Mr. W. Bowler will be associated with the new firm, which will be conducted under the s.tyle of “M©Cluggage and Co;’ v ," Mr„ a very wide general knowledgeyof the country from. .Auckland to,' WellingtfoiV,' and of the lancl .values in part of, the North Island., fie is also :; yei-ji’ well. and favourably, known as‘*,an 1 ;j-;ght man of business, , and his'Services should, accordingly, 'be ■ pretijy much; in demand. The .new firm ought to, prosper. , , Tho belt which is to he. presented to Louis Robertson by • his many Stratford admirers is on view.-in Mr. .Watson’s window. It is a remarkably Handsome piece of work, viewed from every standpoint. The belt, of broad leather, faced in red morocco, is .aclorned by three plates, mounted in frosted silver. The centre one iii an enamel representing two wrestlers in loving embrace, on either side being two gold fern leaves. On tiie other plates figure two lions, relieved by polls lied silver. It might be mentioned that though several local gentlemen have subscribed liberally towards the very considerable cost of the belt, there is still a considerable sum of money required. Stratford has a reputation for being a community which, never fails to honour the true sportsman. That being so, Stratford in this instance, has a reputation to maintain. E ther Mr. Skoglund or Mr. Watson will be pleased to receive, subs', notions. A young Maori, one of the three leper patients at Quail Island, was on Thursday last taken over to Lyttelton and sent to nis home in the North Island. He came from the north some three ,\ears ago, and since his armkfi has been under the treatment of Dr. 0. H. lipham, the Port health officer, for leprosy. When first taken to the island, the Maori, who is about thirty years of ago, had the disease in a 1 a tier acute form, hut under treatment ho made rapid strides towards recovery, and was given a clean bill of health, says the Lyttelton Times. This is trie second case that has been discharged from the leper station at (,lna;l Island. Tho previous one was about three and a half years ago, when a young man, also a Maori, was discharged as cured and sent to his home in the North Island. The remaining two patients are reported to lie making good strides towards recovery 7.

The widow of the Duke of Fife will be known simply as “The Princess [loyal,” and her eldest daughter will he formally styled “The Princess Alexandra, Duchess of Fife.” Incidentally, it may he pointed out that there is no precedent in living memory for such an arrangement. The last Englishwoman for whom a Dukedom was created ■as Cecilia Buggins, who married the Duke of Sussex, about the beginning of the reign of Queen Victoria. She was created Duchess of Inverness. But a Dukedom descending to an unmarried girl is an almost unprecedented occurrence in the history of the Peerage. The late Duke was in the unusual writ ion of having no male relations, though his isters have several sons, who, of course, are not in the Tkie of succession to the honours of Fife. How many people arc aware, by the way, that the late Duke and his Royal wife were third cousins P Yet it was so. Tie Princess Royal is the great granddaughter of the Duke of Kent, a son of King Cloorgc 111. The late Duke of Fife, her husband, was the greatgrandson of King William IV., and Mrs. .lordan, As the Duke of Kent and King William IV. were own brothers. it will he seen that the blood bond between the late Duke and the Prin-. cess Royal was not a very remote one.-