LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVII, Issue 38, 15 October 1913, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Recently a Stratford - dealer : disposed of p hundred two and a half year steers at the very good price' Or £-3 oifch. :"

1 The Chamber iof Gorameroei decider: at it’s ‘nieeting last night to urge tha the railway platform bo extended northwards."

Air 1). C. Cameron, of Dunedin Organiser for the Good Templars, wii deliver a short 'temperance -addresr to-morrow (Thqrsday evening) at 7,30. in the Regahi Street Motbadist pchppk The' IbcaHLodge will be. pe-apeped at the close of the,.public; (meeting.

... I- * . IShn;;’. V as, ~.. . • XliPi monthly mooting of the Chain be of Commerce was held last nig at Present ;. Messrs J, B. Richards (prcsi dent), P. Thomson, AY. H. H. Young. AV. L. Kennedy, B. J. Malone. J Munro, and-E. Jackson. An apology for absence was received, from M R. Masters. Hie business was largely of a “committee” nature.

Quite a lot of interest is being evir.c ed in the competition for a motto anc device for the Dunedin Expansion Lea gue (states the Star). Several mot cos were suggested before the compc

tition was announced, such as “Le Otago Flourish” and “Advance Otago, but it is thought something along th lines of some American mo t toe. would be more ececlive. “Watch Otag Grow” would he copying an America) town’s motto.

The annual report of the Ha we to Chamber of Commerce, presented o: Monday evening, contained the foilowing(iu reference to the Opunake railway :— “During the year the Cliambei sent their representatives to AA’eilington to join other representatives c. local bodies in urging the claim for the survey of this line at an early date, Jt is understood this survey has been completed. Your commiti.v is still of opinion that this? line wil. connect between Xormanby and Tc Roti.”

The Farm field Colony, establish?! l,y the ’ London County Council fa the treatment and cure of habitua drunkards, is. it is said, to be abandoned. After 10 years’ experience the council find that the results do no justify the expenditure. Out of GO cases investigated only 19 per cent have benefited by the treatment, an: the efforts at' “cure” are to be given up (says the'Westminster Gazette; The possibility of reclaiming perma r.entlv habitual drunkards, women es-

pecially, has always been a much debated question. VV o know that the Salvation Army sometimes works wonders in thi; direction, and Lady Henry Somerset’s efforts have also often been attended with remarkable success. But the “coloi v” system, as

carrie;! on by tlio London County Council, has net accomplished what v.as expected of it, and as the scheme casts the ratepayers £IO,COO a jcar it has been considered wisest to bring it to an end.

St. Andrew's tennis courts will be opened to-morrow, weather permitting. Members of other local clubs and friends are invited. It was decided at last night's meeting of the Chamber of Commerce that repi esontations should be made with a view to having a passenger carriage run through to Whangamomona. At the monthly meeting of the Eltham District H.S. Committee it was pointed out that under the proposed amendments to the Education Act now before the House school committees would - be unable to get a Government subsidy on any donation that was not spent on the secondary department. As the committee relied on i tiie assistance of the Government subsidy to finance the primary department this would prove a death blow. It was decided to urge Mr C. A. Wilkinson, member tor the district, to oppose the amendment and use his best endeavors to retain the previous clause intact. The kanakana, or lamprey, which come up the Mataura River to the falls every year, have been very plen- ■ tiful this season (states the Southland - correspondence of the Otago Daily Times.) They usually make their appearance early in September, but this year they did not arrive until near the end of the month. Some of the local youths have made good cheques out of ’ them this season, the biggest catch being obtained bv Messrs Duncan Bros., who secured 11 sacks, eight of which they forwarded to Maori customers at Temuka, two to as far as | Featherston, in the North Island, and r , one to Port Chalmers. Messrs Dun--1 can Bros, say that the kanakana, which are a species of eel, are thicker c this year than they have seen them for some time, and in places were to I be seen 3ft deep, hanging on to the II rocks, where they were captured. Several Maoris have visited Mataura in quest of them this year.

In view of the fact that the present train leaving New Plymouth at 4.20 is inconvenient to the Kapoaga district, in that it fails to meet the coach which leaves immediately after the arrival of the southern mail at Eltham, it was decided at a meeting of the Kaponga .Tradesmen’s Association to write to the Minister, asking that the train be timed;,;-to , .leave a little earlier, in order to pass the mail train, at Eltham instead of Stratford, as at present, thus enabling the mails? to be delivered at Kaponga the. same evening and also doing away with ■ tJte necessity, of persqns yho visit New Plymouth being, compelled, Us .at sprefcent, to .(cave by. the earljgr , ,i;rain,;witlt a consequent; several- hours’, wait at. Klthpmhfofj the cpacl}. ~ , j.

Tliere was something in the nature of a sensation at a house of public accommodation in Stratford the other night. A casual visitor slept in a certain room and as, he was not seen on the following day it was presumed that he had vacated his room and it was let to another man. The second man had' a fair sunj of money in his possession, and .when lie ‘retired to bed -, he decided to take such , steps .as would ■>. ,v ( , . ' I • li, ,■ ( , fl > ). , , guarantee .him mgamst burglars. He. packed the loose furniture ...and crockery'tip against the'door and retired to

his slumbers. During r lie night the first-mentioned casual person . came back and made for the'room be had previously occupied: and there was a-, sad slump in crockery when he the door open. It is needless to state that the novel burglar alarm worked well and that the sleeper was thoroughly awakened.

In re ference to the proposed inauguration of a sitting of the Supreme Court at Hawera, the annual report of the Hawera Chamber of Commerce stated: “During the year the committee have made an effort to secure the sitting of the Supreme Court at Hawera for the benefit of South Taranaki. They called a special meeting of the Chamber, and invited members of the legal profession to attend. After a full discussion, a strong resolution was sent to the Minister for Justice. Later on they arranged for a strong deputation to go to AA’cllington. This included representatives from legal profession, Borough Council, and your Chamber. A very strong case was presented. The Hon. A. L. Herdman (Minister of Justice) stated he was impressed with the strong case made. He referred to the need of extra Judges to cope with the work, and gave the deputation to understand that in the event of this being the need would lie favor a’ ’y considered. The Government are now considering the appointment of extra Judges. The incoming committee,will need to keep that business to the front next year, and not he satisfied until the suggested Supreme Court sitting is an accomplished fact.” At the meeting a communication was read from the Minister of Justice, in further reference to the application of the Hawera Chamber of Commerce for Supreme Court sittings at Hawera, stating that the Judicial Bill, which provided for the appointment of two additional Judges of the Supreme Court, bad not yet passed the Legislature. Until it had passed it was impossible for him to say exactly what alteration would he made in the Supreme Court sittings throughout the Dominion, but should the measure he passed, the application of the Chamber would be given ‘ full consideration. The Star states that the President considered this quite satisfactory.