LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIII, Issue 22, 23 May 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The schedule' for the dog section of the Winter, Show . has now ,bcen issued, and those interested can obtain copies from Mr. : T. Kirkwood, who, also, can supply entry and registration forms. Tiie Hon. Ceo. Fowlds is to deliver a lecture in Stratford on Monday, May 27th, on "The Unity of'Labour," as applied to tlfc employer and employee. Mr. Fowlds is an excellent platform speaker, and his subject should l)c interesting.

Poultry, keepers and the .general public will be interested to know that the (price received by members ol the Stratford Egg Circle for .the last two months are:—Eor April, Is lid per dozen; for May, 2s 4d per gozqv The demand for eggs from the depot, ,s greater than the supply.

Yesterday Messrs. McMillan and Fredric secured an irder for i ine Sinus weighers for the Eltham Dair.y Oompany, against the jomp stir.i jn of all other machines of the type on the New Zealand market. This is. the largest order ever placed in New Zealand by any dairy factory for this class of machinery, and the cost runs into a few hundred pounds.

A member of the Stratford Acclimatisation Society brought up the subject of still fishing at the Society's annual meeting last night. He suggested that the Society endeavour to stock a few ponds with perch, and so encourage the youngsters to become disciples of lsaak Walton. The suggestion was well received, and a motion carried to empower the secretary to get this accomplished.

The boycott is a favourite weapon of the Chinese, but it is not often that they employ it against their compatriots,' in New Zealand at least. However, it is alleged that in Stratford the majority of the Chinese in the laundry business are boycotting one Chinese who is said to be ironing collars at a price below the standard.

The hawk was being ardently condemned by members of the Stratford Acclimatisation Society at last night's annual meeting, but Mr. G. i>. Hunter was inclined to attach more importance to the wild cat, of which he said there were great numbers in the backbloeks. "Where a hawk takes one pheasant," he said, "the wild cat will follow the bird up and make away with the whole of the brood."

"What is your opinion about the fish?" asked the President cf the Acclimatisation Society of another member. "Poaching," was the reply. The member added that the acetylene lamp and hoop-iron were responsible for much slaughter, but wholesale butchery was accomplished by dynamite. Near the bridges where contracts wer? being carried out they would find no trout; gelignite was the leason.

A curious fact was menti.rvd by the President of the Acclimatisation Society, at the annual of the Society held last evening. At a certain river a few miles from Stratfoid, he said, you might I'm 1 above the bridge plenty of rainbow trov.t, but no brown trout, while below the bridge the brown trout alone inhabited the waters. "It looks very much as if there is a Yankee strain in the rainbow family, and they are just 'drawing the colour line.' " The largest oil tank- ship ever built, to be driven by internal combustion motors, is to be constructed by the Krupps for the German-American Petroleum Company. The vessel, according to "Popular Mechanics," will have n length of 525 feet, a breadth of 66-4 feet, a depth of II feet, and will have ii loading capacity of 15,000 tons. She will he driven by two 6-cylinder 1750 h.p. Krupp-Diosel engines, which will

giro her an ocean speed of about ten miles an hour. Two-thirds of the length of the vessel will lie occupied by the tanks, which will be divided by transverse bulkheads into eleven compartments, which, in their turn, are separated into twontv-two tanks, partitions being made by a longitudinal bulkhead extending over the whole length.

A rethrned Aucklander who has been on a visit to the Commonwealth states that the congestion of traffic in Sydney is becoming a very serious problem. The narrow streets are the great obstacle. In Melbourne it is quite different, with its splendid broad thoroughfares. It is quite a common thing in Sydney to see ten or a dozen vehicles in a row all held up by the police who regulate traffic. In none of the streets is there room for a double tramway line, whireas in Melbourne there is ample room for all sorts of traffic. He pays a high tribute tvyfc the foresight which ensured for tho Victorian c; pital such magnificent broad thoroughfares, which are mere appreciated by the citizens year by year.

Mr. Robert Crichton, a descendant of the .Admirable Crichton, has just celebrated his hundredth birthday. Mr Crichton, who has lived in the reign of six monarchs, and is still hale and hearty, was orig'naJly intended for the law, but went out to Australia in early life, It took six months to accomplish the journey. When Robert joined bis brother James in New South Wales, lie settled down to sheep and cattle fanning. the two brothers were joined by their sister, who kept house for them. The three were so deeply devoted to each other that the brothers mutually agreed not to many so long as their sis-tTJ' remained single. In turn she deemed it her duty to study their well-being instead oi : marrying, and the result was that none of them ever married. At the end of twenty years they had made sufficient money to retire, and they returned to England. In no place can funnier street nomenclature be found than in London. How, for example, would you like "Frying Pan Alley" to appear at the head of your notepaper? Yet there is such a thoroughfare in the East End. Until a few weeks ago there existed in Camberwell a "Cut Throat Lane." It was changed, however, in deference to the wishes of local people to ''Cue Through Lane," quite another matter, though still somewhat unusual. Peckham possesses a "Dog Kennel Hill," and among thoroughfares to Hie names of which objection has been taken may be mentioned "Pickle Herring Street," in the Southeast district, and its near neigh hour, "Asylum Road." In the city "Beer Lane," "Houndsditch," and "idol Lane" have caused some comment. Up West, exception has been taken to Duck Lane," and "Core Road," in the East End, suggests bloodshed, though unjustly so, of course.

A local Chinaman is the possessor of a gramaphone, not an ordinary gramaphone, for the music it dispenses is calculated to frighten the customers away from his shop. The records come direct from Canton, and are, he states, genuine samples of Chinese music. Yesterday a member of .our staff had the pleasure of hearing a few records run_ off on the machine. The first selection was a very plaintive melody, the musical accompaniment consisting of weird strains, interspersed with much banging of gong's. There was a good deal of "patter," hut according to the operator! this was not the effort of a Chinese Billy Williams, but was the tearful farewell of •> little Chinese girl leaving, tile ' Flowery Land, perhaps never' to return.' From the record it was quite evident that she intended to jump overheard; 'at' the first ! opprMmiitv. The sbcpiitl was a garrulous affair] and, 'all pretence 'at music ' seenied to' have departed from it. Imagine two vaudeville artists endeavouring to give simultaneously impersonations of a dog fight and a cat squabble. Then, while "these are labouring for breath, imagine you hear a Celestial laundryman explaining to a deaf customer that he can't get his collars without a ticket. "What you fink?" said John, when it was all over. "Wellv ni'—him go malice, see fadden" ' ,'

"We regret to ha,ve[ to record -the death of _ still another resident of, this district, in the person of Mrs Sheahan, wife of Mr. Jeremiah Sheahan, one of the oldest settlers of the Whenuakura Block, which, took place at 11.30 last njght, at the ripe age of 71 years,, says the Patea "Press." Mrs. Sheahan. who was born at Killarney, County Kerry, Ireland, came out to the colonies in the early sixties, landing lit Melbourne, where her friends resided. After a short sojourn at Gippsland, where she was married to Mr. Sheahan, she came over to Xew Zealand with Mr. Sheahan, some 47 years ago, living on the West Coast of the South Island for some six years. Mr. and Mrs. Sheahan were among the first settlers to take up land in the Whenuakura Block, Mr.' Sheahan having acquired his present property at the first sale of the Block some 41 years ago, where the family have rested ever since. The late Mrs. Sheahan leaves a family of nine children, six sons and three daughters, including Mrs. Cower (Whenuakura), Mrs. S. Johnson (Moumahaki), Mrs. O'Sullivan (Matapu) Messrs. J. Sheahan (Stratford), P. Sheahan (Mere Mere), D. Sheahan (Thames), John Sheahan, Tom Sheahan, and Con Sheahan (Whe-

nuakura). 'The greatest sympathy is felt by all for the relatives in their bereavement.

The millionaires who were expected to assist in the establishment of the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre are still in hiding. They mav come forth later, perhaps when Mr. Lloyd George lias disappeared from the financial horizon. In the meantime various schemes for securing additions to the memorial fund are being evolved, and some of these will soon come to matururity. The most interesting is the Earl's Court Show a sketchy reproduction miniature of Shakesneare's England, which Mrs. Cornwallis( formerly lady Randolph Churchill) is planning with the aid of some scores of wellknown authorities on the history of dress, on Elizabethan architecture on the classic drama and other arts. Mrs. West has given proof on various occaions of being a born organiser, clearly an aptitude inherited from her America?! father. Arrived at the age at which most society women begin to conserve their energies and incline towards dignified ease, she continues to delight in all sort of spectular scenes and movements and "stirrng up things" generally in the social world. At Earl's Court as usual, she has a

small army of helpers working under her direction. ' It is quite clear that the show is going to be the extremely -, interesting and the prettiest event of the London season. One of its most notable incidents will he a great Venetian Ball carried out with the strictest accuracy in respect of costume and other effects. Several of the Shakes-

peare plays will be produced in the onen air by actresses, including Miss Kllen Terry, Sir Herbert Tree, and Mr. Martin Harvey.