LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 72, 18 November 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The circulation of the London ‘Daily Mirror’ varies with the day. On the occasion of the late General Booth’s funeral it reached 1,041,319, and the daily average is 800,000. Eight years ago it was 52,000. These figures are from the report of the chartered accountants.

Mr Young, M.P., has been informed by the Prime Minister that he has authorised the purchase of 225 emp,y heifers, at the cost not exceeding £1250, for settlers in Korakonui ana llangitoto settlements Nos. 1 and 2. Repayment is to be made through butter companies by deducting 'Ao per cent, from milk cheques. The complete results of the Salvation Army self-denial collection are now to hand. Taranaki has made a splendid response,' nearly every district showing a substantial increase. The New Plymouth collection totalled £240, an increase of £35 on last year; Inglewood raised £81; Stratford £lO2, an increase of £35; Eltham £231; Hawera £l-15, an increase of £74; Rahotu £3O, and Patea £6O. It is worthy of note that Waihi, which last year contributed £134, was able to raise only £5 odd this year on account of the strike. The total collection for New Zealand was £15,933 i7s Id, an increase of £1330 19s- 7d over last year.

In “White Australia,” any Chine <?.,■ Japanese, Hindoo, African, or American or African negro may marry a white woman. But in most of the American States such marriages are illegal. The law of Georgia prohibits for ever and declares null and void any marriage between a white person and one of “African descent.” The Oregon law renders void any marriage of a white person with a. person having one-fourth or more of negro. Chinese, or kanaka blood, or any person haying more than one-half Indian blood. Most of the States of the Union have Jaws declaring marriages void when contracted between a white person and a negro or descendants of a negro, for a certain number of generations (usually three) —i.e., “having one-eighth of negro blood.” Australia in this instances, remarks a West Australian paper, might well take a leaf out of America’s book.

This is a sample of the political amenities indulged in in New South Wales:—The advice of Dr. Arthur, M.L.A., that Mr. Speaker WiJiis should go and hang himself, after die example of an illustrated ancestor, has provoked an equally vitriolic retort. “‘Have you any statement to make?” Mr. Speaker was asked, “in reply to the remarks of Dr, Arthur at the Mosman Liberal rally.” Mr. Willis replied: “Dr. Arthur is, I believe, the member for Mosman in Hie Assembly, and all 1 have to say is that the late Mr. Gladstone, when Prime Minister, stated in reply to an imprudent member of Parliament, that “there were, animals whose office it was to bite and produce irritation, and there were other small animals whose office it was to bite, but which failed to produce in their victim a sense of irritation. The speech reminded him of the second rather than of the first class of animals. ” “When the H ouse is dissolved,” Mr. Willis concluded, “1 shall sec that insecticide is put upon the Mosman insect.”

To-morrow, at the Methodist Synod meeting at Palmerston North, the Her A. Reader will read a paper entitled “The Minister as a Force in Civic Life.”

A final reminder is given of the annual meeting of the Stratford Cricket Club, to be held in the County Hotel this evening. Business is important, and all cricketers are urged to attend. Mrs McNoely and Mr F. Brake scored two second and two first prizes respectively, for their dogs at the recent Wanganui Show. As will be seen by annonnccWent; in another column, the partnership hitherto existing between Mr. Archibald W. Rawles and Mr. John Watson, as drapers, has been dissolved by mutual consent, as from Saturday last. Mr. Rawles dill carry on the business in future entirely on his own account. By an amendment to the Licensing Act passed this year, barmaids who were eligible for registration by the 1910 Act and failed to'do so, are given another chance to register. Any local barmaid who has not so far registered can on application to the local Inspector of Factories be. supplied with the necessary application forms. The annual sheep returns for the Dominion made up to 30th April, 1912, show a decrease of 245,973 for the year compared to 1911. Both the last two years, however, are below the 1910 return, when the figures were 24,269,620, the highest on record. The return for Stratford County gives the number as 115,839, compared to 136,345 for 1911. A Sports and Pastimes Club on the lines of the Eltham institution (which has proved so successful) ihas been formed in Hawera. This is the practical result of the tournament held in Hawera under the auspices of the Eltham Club at the end of last mouth. Officers were elected as follows: —Patron, Mr. G. V. Pearce, M.P. ; president, Mr. A. W. Gillies; vice-presi-dents, Drs. Thompson, Mac Diarmid, and E. T. B. Worthy; committee, Messrs. E. Nalder, L. Hill, Cummings, T. Higlmian, R. F. Page, Atkinson, E. Gallagher, Perrett and J. Mitchell; secretary, Mr. R. Morrissey: Among the electric motors installed locally is a fine little 9.6 h.p. motor, manufactured by Brown, Boveri and Co., which is used by Messrs; W. and E. Brocklebank to run their-furniture manufacturing plant. Perviqusly the firm used a water motor, which failed to run even one machine with complete satisfaction. The little electric motor, hidden under the flooring, not only runs one machine, but half a dozen others besides, and all at the same time. Messrs. Brocklebank, with their up-to-date plant, can now turn out better work in a shorter space of time, and their reputation for fine workmanship, and durable furniture, is increasing correspondingly.

The proprietor of one of the largest hotels in Christchurch said that, judging by his own house and what he had heard of others, the Cup week had been by no means the best on record. A number of those who, in previous years, had stayed at one or other of the big houses, had this year been absentees. The latter ,he put down mostly to the growth in popularity of the motor car. It had made it possible for the man whose home, was within even lengthy radius to watch a day’s racing and still have supper in his own home.

Pelorus Jack has a rival, but as he is as far away as Scotland, no trouble is looked for between the two. The newly discovered pilot haunts the upper reaches of the Firth of Forth. As soon as an approaching steamer .sounds her: , sif'en,,. the,.whale, which is only 10ft. long, and apparently just a plain whale, goes down the Firth Jto meet the newcomer.- When the animal sights the ship it swims round it, and then precedes it until it has readied the wharf. So far "as we _ know, however, Pelorus Jack still retains the unique distinction of being the only individual animal that is protected by an Ox-der-in-Council. What is believed to be the most wonderful cavern in the world has been discovered in the foothills of the Cumberland Mountains, near the head waters of Fox Creek, in Kentucky. Two or three exploring parties have ventured into its vast subterranean passages,, but none has ever reached the end. The searchers report immense rooms and chambers, and innumerable transparent stalactitic courts of wonderful beauty. One room lias a floor as level and as smooth as a dance hall, while many others have fathomless pits. Evidences of the visit of human beings to the cave were found—it is feared, only to lose their lives in trying to find their way out. Old kettles, fragments of dishes, rusted lantern's, and other utensils of modern usage were found scattered throughout the inner caves. Organised exploring parties are now preparing to make a thorough search and investigation of the wonderful new caves, which are believed to be vaster than any known in history.

On the roof of Gamage’s buildings, far above the roar of the traffic pouring through Holborn, London, there is a colony of bees, to which many a former martyr of rheumatism owes his cure (states the ‘Daily Chronicle’). It is recognised even in medical circles that a bee sting is a remedy for rheumatic complaints, and the manager who has charge of Gamage’s aerial apiary had suffered twice from rheumatic fever, after which he decided to take up bee-keeping. “Since then,” ho declares, “I have never had a twinge of rheumatism. Several patients who were victims to the complaint have come to us on the advice of their dec--tors, and our bees have cured them with stings.” Three years ago the apiary on the roof was formed with a nucleus of half-a-dozen hives, taken from the firm’s farm at Finchley, each of which contained a minimum of 60.000 bees, and to-day, up among the’ chimney pots of Central London, there are over thirty hives with a total of bees which may be anything from 1.800.000 to 2,000,000.

Operative bakers (states the Melbourne ‘Age’) are demanding day labour, as opposed to night labour, and the public, with even greater insistence, are demanding, fresn-baked bread for breakfast. These two demands constitute the horns of a dilemma between which is the master baker. Obviously ho cannot satisfy both, and the eighth annual convention of Federal master bakers expressed their unanimous opinion that in present conditions day labour is impracticable. Master bakers, as much as openmes, would welcome day labour from a personal point of view, but they recognise that they have a “boss” in the public. Still, there are hopes of a settlement which will satisfy all parties. Mr. R. Robbins, a Melbourne baker, has been experimenting for some time with a view to preserving the freshness of bread, and he claims to have discovered a solution (whether chemical or not he did not say) which, if a loaf is dipped into it, will achieve the desired result, so that an expert cannot tell the difference between a newly-baked loaf and one which is three or four days old. At present the cost of the preparation liars its commercial success, but the inventor, who declines at present to disclose any details, has hopes cf leaking his idea practicable in a few months.

“The most autocratic, arbitrary, and irresponsible Government in the world” is how the Commonwva th U binet is described by a member of the Adelaide Chamber of Commerce. The speaker added that lie sincerely regretted, having voted for Federation. The general mix-up with regard to daylight saving and hours of closing in Stratford is apparently getting worse and a further petition is being signed by a large number of shopkeepers in Stratford, requesting (1) thjit shops open at 8 a.m. and close 5.30 p.m. all tlie year round; (2) shops close 12.30 Thursdays; (3) shops close 9 p.m. Won Saturdays, commencing January Ist, 1913. A number of those who signed the petition a few days ago requesting'that shops open at 7 a.m., after more mature consideration, think that it would be much too early fqr general business, and would not be in the best interests of the business people of Stratford. They have accordingly signed the second petition. Some little time ago (says the Taranaki Herald) a paragraph appeared in these columns to the effect that in a farmyard at Aisby, South Lincolnshire. is a wheat stack which has been standing there for 32 years. A copy of The budget was sent Horae by Mr Henry Oockl, of Dudley Road, to a cousin farming on the borders of Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire, and Mr Codd has just received a packet from his cousin containing several heads of wheat grown thirty-three years ago by Mr A. E. Band, of Ashling’s Farm, Underwoods, Whittlesea, Cambridge. The heads are slightly discoloured, but considering that the crop was harvested thirty-three years ago they are really wonderfully bright. The following pretty little romance is vouched for by the Carterton News: —Ten years ago a couple were married in the Wairarapa. Things Happened which led to a divorce. A child was afterwards born to them, Recently the husband was lying atdeatn’s door in a hospital. A little girl came to him with flowers. After a few visits he recognised in her his own daughter. He began to recover, and implored the child to bring her mother. A reconciliation followed, the man gob better, the long-estranged again went through the form of marriage, and the last that was seen of them was that they were proceeding to Wellington on their second honeymoon, ivinx theif offspring by their -side. Last night in the Foresters’ Flail, before, a fair-sized audience, Mr. H. Victor, psychologist, gave an interesting address on “Has Immortality been Proved?” In the course of his remarks Mr. Victor paid a great tribute to the scientific world of modern thought, including such men as Sir W. Crookes, Mr. Joseph Russell Wallace, Professor Barrett, Marconi, of wireless telegraphy fame, the Bishop of London, . and many others, who had proved by their investigation into psychic phenomena that the soul of man . survived the change called death, which the speaker affirmed by his own experiences in spiritual phenomena. After the address Mr. Victor gave a number of readings from flowers, describing their owners’ relatives who had passed on, and which were acknowledged as being correct.

It is pleasing to be able to record an instance in this district (states the Dargaville Times) wnere exiraovi , dinary keenness to secure military training has been shown. ■ Last Saturday three young men belonging to a company on the Hokianga side, rode 26 miles to attend a di’ill which was ' being held that day in KaKihu, and after putting in the day drilling, rode the same distance home again. The* reason they assigned for their action was that they were anxious to secure 11 ■'instruction ; and 'as fchejr are I, living at a place which is not visited by a drill instructor they resolved to go to where a drill instructor was to be

found, and hearing that a drill was to be held at 1 K'aihu they made the jour-, R ney as above recorded. They further stated that there are a dozen u Territorials and Cadets at the same place who are equally anxious to be drilled and who would guarantee to attend regularly if they could obtain i.* the attendance of an instructor. It is such an out of the way place, however, that there would be great difficulty in ! an instructor making the desired visits. The keen anxiety of these young men to make themselves efficient, and the amount of sacrifice they are apparently prepared to undergo in order to do so, stands out as a shining example to many others who are more happily circumstanced. Patriotic zeal of this kind deserves every encouragement, and it forms a pleasing contrast to the action, or inaction, of objectors, conscientious or otherwise, to military training.