LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXV, Issue 60, 12 March 1913, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

On Saturday night an old gentleman from Inglewood, aged 82 years, got to the top of Mount Egmont in the very creditable time of six hours.

One of the slaughtermen at present employed at the Waingawa Freezing Works is said to be a champion at bis business. Ho claims to be able to dress two carcases of beef in 13 minutes. The record for the world is two carcases in 11 minutes.

The Kiore and Huiroa schools yesterday held their annual picnic at the East End beach, New Plymouth, rain falling throughout the day. However, the youngsters and their parents managed to find shelter in the bathing sheds, and despite the weather looked quite happy when they passed through Stratford Inst night on the return journey.

An enginedriver who ran down a cow had to fill a printed schedule with details of the tragedy. When he reached a column headed “Disposition of the Carcase,” he scratched hh head. Then, on the principle thai we should speak nothing but good of the dead, he wrote, “Quiet and gentle.” He knew the English language better than his superiors!

A meeting of delegates of various local bodies and Friendly Societies conferred with members of the C.E. M.S. last night to make final arrangements for the open-air service on Good Friday. The route for the procession was decided upon, the members to start from the Foresters’ Hall and proceed to Victoria Park, via Broadway and Fenton Street. Unfortunately, a. majority of the members of the Stratford Band will be out of Stratford on that day, hut it is hoped to be able to procure the services of another band. Minor details were also arranged.

Counsel: “Mr Jenkins, will you have the goodness to answer me, directly and categorically, a few plain questions?” Witness: “Certainly, sir.” “Well, Mr Jenkins, is there a female living with you who is known in the neighbourhood as Mrs Jenkins?” “There is.” “Is she under your protection?” “Yes.” “Do you support her?” “I do.” “Have you ever been married to her?” “1 have not.” Here thor.e was a sensation among the jury. “That is all, Mr Jenkins.” Opposing Counsel: “Stop one moment, Mr Jenkins. Is the female in question youi mother?” “She is.”

Smuggled diamonds valued at £4OOI were discovered by the New York Customs inspectors in consequence of a curious accident. While they were examining a picture frame which had been sent by registered post from Amsterdam, some of the diamonds (the Express says) slipped out of the frame where they had been secreted. When Nathan Green, a diamond dealer to whom the parcel had been consigned, called at the post office he was arrested. Customs officials then went to Green’s place of business and seized diamonds valued at £12,000.

Three members of the Imperial Trade Commission passed through Stratford last evening by the mail train, these being Sir Rider Haggard, and Messrs N. Lorimer and T. Carnett. They will be joined to-morrow by two other members of the Commission—the Hon. Bowring, of New' Fonndland, and Mr Green, of Australia—and will leave for Auckland on Thursday night. No evidence is being taken in New Plymouth, but tho party are being conducted over the northern part of the province, visiting the oil wells, tho Mountain House, and other places of interest.

Says the Christian World under date January 2.'ird: “We hear that the Daily News enumerators began the church census last Sunday. Meanwhile there is, we learn, a strong movement among the leadens of Free Churches to 'urge the editor of the Daily News to reconsider, the whole question of the enumeration and abandon the census for an inquiry into religious organisations and their operations. Private efforts in this direction having failed, nearly two hundred Free Church ministers, including some of tho best known men in several denominations, have signed a memorial pro-! testing against the census on the ground that it will injure the Church by fixing attention upon statistics as against spiritual and moral influence.”

The bachelors of Strathmore are holding their annual ball on Monday, March 31st. Mr C. Coulton is the secretary of the committee.

Notice of polls to be taken on the Stratford Borough loan proposals is given, the said polls to take place on Wednesday, March 19th at the Borough Council Chambers. “Crockford’s Clerical .Dictionary” reveals that no fewer than 400 clergymen of the Church of England have been reported missing. Of that number 30 disappeared during the last 12 months.

At the annual meeting of members of the Hawera Municipal Band, a proposal was considered to merge with the 11th Taranaki llegiment as, a regimental band, and eventually a deputation was set up to approach the officers concerned in regard to the matter.

A Press Association message from An pier states that steady rain fell throughout the night and shows no sign of clearing. The Park races were postponed till to-morrow.

When Bo’sun Miller cam© ashore from the wrecked Star of Canada he confided to a Gisborne Times reporter over what he termed “a drop of Nelson s blood,” that he was a Jonah, He had been connected with shipping all bis life, but disaster ever followed hot on his trails, and be regarded the loss of the Star of Canada as quite in the ordinary course of events. Later the bo’sun joined the Matatua, and be is seemingly keeping up his reputation as a bringer of bad luck, for though the vessel has so far called only at three New Zealand ports, there has been an accident at each. At Auckland a wharf labourer was killed while working cargo on the vessel; at Gisborne a fireman had both his hands cut off on board; and now, at Timaru, a disastrous fire in the vessel’s hold has caused thousands of pounds of damage. It is well for Miller that the old superstitious days of the sea have gone, or he would probably find himself food for the nearest whale.

“Citizenship in this glorious Empire is a great heritage,” said Sir H. Rider Haggard at the Christchurch Boys’ High School, “and you boys should appreciate what it means to be able to enjoy the privilege of such a citizenship. I have on my finger a ring that was worn by a Queen of Egypt over 3500 years ago, and when she ruled there were boys just like you. But they had a different heritage ah together. Their knowledge of the world was limited to Egypt. The rest of the great world was unknown. But to you b'oys every door is open because you are citizens of this great Emoire. It is a privilege you should thank God for; but with privileges come responsibilities. Nothing can be had for nothing, and man has to pay for what he has. One of these responsibilities, one of the greatest, is the defence of the Empire, and I rejoice to hear that New Zealand has adopted a system of national defence. I congratulate this country on the step it lias taken, and I hope that its example will he followed by the older countries in the Empire.”

“Dairymen are slaves,” heatedly remarked a witness before the Pood Commission at Sydney (says the Telegraph: “I work 14 days a week.” It was a dairyman who was giving evidence, and the chairman (Mr T. R. Bavin) smiled at the idea of a man putting two weeks into one. “I do,” the witness bluntly continued, and work longer hours than you.” “I hope you do not,” the chairman explained. “Yes, and Sundays and holidays are all the same to me,’ ’the other answered. He added that it could easily be arranged to take only one delivery on Sundays and holidays, as most people were away from home. Dairymen, he considered, were most oppressed people. When children were ill the first question the doctor asked was, “Who do you get your milk from?” “It is,” he went on, “the same when typhoid and diphtheria are about—who do you get your milk from?” The butcher and the baker, the witness proceeded, with some feeling, were never mentioned. The baker would touch the bread while he had his pipe - in his mouth, but the dairyman’s hands never came in contact with the milk.

On the occasion of another anniversary of the Sedgwick Boys Immigration Scheme, the founder writes to the fifty lads he took out to farm in New Zealand, two years agd', the letter containing one or two things of interest to all. “When more boys are sent for,” writes Mr Sedgwick, “I will bring them. I have about five hundred on a waiting list already, and know where to go for another five thousand. I am glad to hear that some of you are already getting your relations out to you. It is the best possible use to which you can put your banked wages, and the best thing you can do for God’s Own Country. I have reason to hope that Acts will be passed this year in two or three of the Australian States to enable them to adopt New Zealand’s plan for placing out boys with the above-mention-ed provisions, and I have proposed to the Government of another Australian State to try an experiment with various types of girls and women who have not been in domestic service here but wish to go into service there. Our system of domestic service here is a very unsuitable training for tlie Dominions, and girls should be assisted on account, not of what they had done here, but what they proposed to do overseas, just as you boys were, and the younger ones apprenticed. The Ontario Government have offered to see after 500 boys this year and probably 1000 in 1914, after seeing what fifty of our town lads really were.”

The Wellington correspondent of the Otago Daily Times states that the Government is at present negotiating for the purchase of some large areas of land for settlement in different parts of New Zealand. i A Los Angelos councillor has proposed an amendment to the “hatpin law which will lessen the length of feathers and plumes used as trimming on women’s hats. He says that being tickled by a long feather is nearly as bad as being scratched by a largo hatp;:i. ' The Cheal Road cheese factory recently completed the manufacture of fifty cases of cheese, which graded at 93—-a grade which few of the Taranaki factories attain. Other factories in the Eltham Dairy Company that have been attaining a -high standard of production are Rotokare, and »awhitoroa, both of whom graded at 92*. Though these are not records for Taranaki, they speak volumes for the excellence of the management.

Writing to “his boys,” Mr T. E. Sedgwick says: “You have found out that the farmers are good employers with very few exceptions, and that the New Zealand farmers are among the best. They have found out that town lads from home are as good, if not better than the colonials, and are far quicker in noticing things and picking up. the work than country bumpkins, who have a lot to unlearn when they go overseas. At home we have ‘ learnt a good deal about the best methods of selection ;• and in Wellington they have full experience of how best to place out the lads.”

•A civil claim which came on at the courthouse on Wednesday (says the Timaru Herald) did not lack elements of humour. Plaintiff, a married woman, asked for compensation for loss sustained through the death of 19 guinea pigs, which she said had been killed by defendant’s dog. She found the pets lying dead near their boxes, and although she did not see the dog actually worrying her precious rodents, she knew it was the dog in question, by its feet marks, and she had been told it was that dog. Mr L. E. Finch, for defendant, cross-examined the plaintiff, and it transpired, after all the circumstances had been related, that the defendant did not possess a dog. The justices dismissed the case, allowing £1 Is solicitor’s fee and 5s court costs to the defendant.

A Parliamentary paper which has been prepared at thd instance of Mi Okey, shows that for the year ended March 31, 1912, there were 48 officers attached to the High Commissioner’s office in London. Their positions were'as follows Secretary, audit offitrade and immigration representative, produce commissioner, assistant produce commissioner,veterinarian, inspector of warlike stores, accountant, chief clerk, inspector of dairy produce, librarian, reeprd clerk, 10 clerks in accountant’s department, 10 cleiks in the shipping department, 13 clerks in the general department, and three m'essehgers. The total cost to the dominion for the year was £9251.

We (Otago Daily Times) have again to report a distinct advance in the first cost of Ceylon teas —id per lh fox commons and almost Id for fine. Shortage is evidently the A further disturbing element is the feeling that the very heavy duty of Is 10d per lb on tea in Russia is likely to -be Considerably reduced, and it would appear from past experience of Russian buying, that if this happens we shall find very soon afterwards that Russian sorts tfill advance not by * cents per pound but by pence, for a substantial lowering of the price of tea in that country would convert what is at present a luxury (common tea . selling at 4s per lb) into a commodity in general demand by a vast population, the result of wliich will speedily be felt here.

The Stratford Chamber of Commerce met last evening, but there was little business to transact. Correspondence was received fronj the New Plymouth Tourist and Expansion League thanking the Chamber for their co-opera-tion in the matter of securing weekend railway excursion fares; from the Commissioner of Stamps pointing out that there were at present insurmountable difficulties in the way of establishing a branch of the Stamps Office in Stratford j and from the Department of Agriculture, Commerce, and Tourists wishing to know if the Chambei had any articles to donate suitable for exhibition at the Anglo-Chinese College Exhibition, Amoy. The Stratford Mountain House was discussed, and the Chamber arrived at the conclusion that improvements to the upper Pembroke Road werb very necessary.

Several members of the wrecked steamer Red Pine arrived in Wellington last night. It appears that when the ship struck, the look-out man rushed to the forecastle and alarmed the sleeping crow. As the men left the ship, Captain Eden called each by natae, and found that the cook was missing. Eden, despite the fact that the water was creeping up foot by foot, and was just on the deck line, rushed forward and found the cook asleep in his bunk. The cook would probably have been drowned like a \ rat in a trap, but for the captain’s action, as, when both men sprang from the deck the vessel took a final plunge and sank. The Pres® Association telegram states, in conclusion, that the men speak in the highest terms of Captain Eden’s coolness in a trying situation. Household drapery and furnishings are largely stocked at A. Spence’s store, Broadway, Stratford. Blankets, sheetings, table damask, serviettes, d’oyleys, tray cloths, runners, duchess sets, apron dowlas, glass cloth, honeycomb and Marcella quilts are shown in great variety and marked at lowest prices.

"With reference to the proposed

picture benefit performance in aid of the funds of the Stratford Hospital and Caritable Aid Board, the secretary (Mr T. H. Penn) has written to the manager of His Majesty’s (Mr Will Diamond) stating that the Board much appreciated the kind feeling which dictated the offer, but thought it too soon after the very successful appeal recently made to the public to approach them again, even though in this case good value would be offered the public for their money.