LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIX, Issue 8, 30 April 1914, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Four nominations have been received for the "Queen of Ingle wood" contest, viz.—Miss Hawke (the Fire Brigade candidate). Miss Irene Death (Country Girl), Miss Matilda Fabish (United Friendly Societies), and Miss Cora M. Nesbitt (Egmont Village and Sports).

A recently-arrived immigrant while removing his belongings from the Warrimoo at Duuodin on Thursday lost his wallet containing about £6O. The "man frae Glasca" reported his loss (telegraphs the Post's Dunedin correspondent), and was overjoyed to learn that the pocket book had been found by a wharf laborer. The owner expressed a desire to reward the finder's honesty and offered for his acceptance a threepenny piece. The gift was promptly declined.

Having got the task of electing a Mayor off their minds citizens will now be prepared to turn their thoughts from local politics to the general politics of the country; and in view of the opening of Parliament at an early date there should be a good attendance at the Town Hall to-night to hear the address to be delivered by Mr T. M. Wilford, M.P. for Hutt, who will present the Liberal view of the affairs of the country. The dress circle will be reserved for ladies and their escorts. The chair will be taken by the Mayor at 8 o'clock. "Trains could be running through the Chnanel Tunnel by about Christmas. 1920," said Mr Arthur Fell in a lecture at the Royal Society of Arts, London. Engineers now consider that the tunnels could be completed at a cost estimated at £16,000,000, to be raised over about six or eight years, one-halt to be found in England, one-half by France. The £B,000 000 to be raised by England would probably be in £4.000,000 of debentures arid £4,000,00 of shares. If the same faes which are now charged by steamers were charged by the tunnel company," he added, "the shares would pay very large dividends."

In the Hawera Magistrate's Court on Monday, before Mr Kenrick, S.M., a young man named Percy Faulkner was -charged on the information of the police with having assaulted a girl, 15 years of age. In sentencing, accused to 14 days' imprisonment without the option of a fine. His Worship said the assault itself was nothing, but it was the circumstances surrounding it. In this case the parties did not know each other, and the defendant had no right to speak to the complainant. They had to keep the Park clean. It was an ideal place for women and children to spend an afternoon, and they had to see that people could go there with safety, without being in danger of being molested by any person.

A curious state of affairs is said to have arisen in connection with a school in a southern Taranaki township as the result of two or three visits received from professional hypnotists recently. One of the scholars discovered that he possessed the hypnotic power to a. remarkable degree and as a result was able to hypnotise his teacher. The pupil it is alleged took the latter out and instructed him to dehorn his solitary cow, which he forthwith did. Still under the influence of the spell, the teacher waa told to perforin the same operation on a pony which was standing by. As a result the pony was in imminent danger of losing its ears, the teacher being brought to in the nick of time. What he did to the budding hypnotist history does not record.

The story has often been told about the racing enthusiast, who, in anticipation of a ride in a steeplechase, waited for years at a certain hurdle for a horse and rider to part company. His chance came at last, and it is on record that he won the race, after several other horses had fallen. On Saturday a patron of the Avondale Jockey Club had a similar opportunity. It was during the progress of the Mount .Eden Steeplechase, when Dogger Bank parted company with his rider at the double in front of the stand. The bystander promptly mounted the horse, and, to the accompaniment of cheers, set off after the leaders. There was loud applause when he negotiated the next obstacle in good style, but that one jump apparently had satisfied the amateur rider, as he promptly pulled his steed up before the next obstacle was reached.

A sidelight on the lucrative nature of the oyster trade as carried on by the Government was given during the hearing of a deputation at Warkworth to the Prime Minister the other afternoon, in favor of the re-erection of the wharf at Mahurangi Heads, a few miles below the town. "The oyster beds at the heads," said Mr S. Grand, "produce the best oysters in the world, and the Government is making from £I2OO to' £ISOO per year out of them." The speaker suggested that instead of charging 13s 6d per sack for oysters, the Government should sell them at 16s per sack and give the extra half-crown to the local bodies for the upkeep of their wharves. The Prime Minister, in giving a sympathetic reply, agreed that some portion of the revenue from the sale of oysters should go to the local bodies concerned.

A young man of serious mien and robust appearance, walked into the casualty ward at Melbourne Hospital the other night and said he wished; to see. a doctor (says the Age). The attendant asked the usual question as to the nature of the "patient's" ailment or injuries. The young man declared that there was nothing whatever the matter with him, but, nevertheless, he insisted upon seeing a doctor. He was taken to Dr. Southey, to whom he said,in all apparent seriousness, "Do you happen to want any blood?" The doctor replied that he was of peaceful disposition—wanted no man's blood. But, at the same time, he was constrained to inquire what the stranger meant by the question. The young man said there was no particular significance attached to his question. He was actuated by a purely philanthropic motive. He felt so very full of blood that he thought that the loss of a few pints would not do him any harm, and that perhaps his blood might be used to the advantage of hospital patients. The doctor thanked him for the kindly thought that had prompted the offer, and the young man- left the institution.

While a well-known resident of Wyndham was returning homeward from a,clearing sale at Waimahaka ont evening last week he met with an experience that is, fortunately, a rare one. He was at the time riding down the hill leading from the letter box to Island Dairy Factory. The hour was 7 o'clock—and it was very dark. Suddenly (says the Wyndham Farmer), without the slightest warning of any kind, a motor car was driven at full speed past him, and so recklessly that the side of the car brushed his coat. Two chains further on his horse baulked, and on dismounting to see what was the matter, the man found one of his two dogs sniffing over the dead body of the other—which had been run over by the motor car. It was a much-prized collie, and the owner valued it at fully £lO. When it is added that the motor car was driven (so the man avers) without any light whatever, it will be realised what a menace to public safety a motor hog is. The pity of it is that, in the darkuess, the driver escaped detection.

A Sydney cablegram reports a case of smallpox in the city. The result of a benefit performance given at the Upper Hutt by Barton's circus, in aid of the Hutt disaster fund, was that the welcome sum of £45 8s was taken. The committee of the Scottish Society met on Tuesday evening and made further arrangements for the social to be held on June 3rd. It is hoped to.secure the services of Mr McGregor, a well-known Auckland ' singer, and Miss Belle .Pruden, of , Wellington, a recent arrival from Scotland, who has the reputation of being a reciter of more than average merit. ' The Town Clerk in another column gives the official result of yesterday's Mayoral poll, as follows: N. J. King 511, W. P. Kirkwood 572, informal * 13. ~ A tally kept by the Town Clerk is of some interest as showing ai , what time of day the votes were cast. It was an hour - and fifteen minutes before the first hundred votes was cast, the second hundred took an hour and twenty minutes, and the third an hour and twenty-five minutes. The three hundred mark was reached at 1 p.m., and thereafter the polling became very brisk. The fourth hundred was registered in an hour, and the fifth in fifty minutes. Then followed a busy time for the poll clerks, the sixth hundred being registered in thirty-five minutes, the seventh m half an hour and the eighth in threequarters of an hour. The ninth hundred took fifty minutes to register, but the next hundred was put on in a little over half an hour, being completed a little after 6 o'clock. The remaining votes were cast between that time and the closing of the poll. Wisconsin's new eugenic law, which prohibits the issue of a license to marry to anyone not medically fit, has been declared unconstitutional by a Milwaukee Judge, on the ground that the law is, unreasonable, and robs a man of one of his inalienable rights. The question will be taken to the Supreme Court of the State by the officials. The case is the outcome of a suit brought by Mr John Peterson against the marriage license clerk, who had refused him permission to wed because the applicant could not produce a .certificate stating that he was physically and mentally fit to marry. The Jndge, held that, as only 35 physicians in the whole State of Wisconsin were capable of applying the eugenic tests- required by law, the statute was impracticable. The law forbade the^ physicians to charge more than 12s for, the. tests, but the physicians themselves declared that the tests cost at least . £2, The measure was also'attacked on the ground that it was "class legislation," and discriminatory, not applying to women as well as men.