LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIX, Issue 30, 27 May 1914, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

“There is nothing to he gained by being half-hearted in politics,” said Sir Joseph Ward at the farewell gathering to Mr M. L. Reading in Wellington. “I don’t believe in trimmers. A party is far better without them. Men who try to appeal to all opposing parties are neither fish, flesh nor fowl in the political world.”

A case of interest was heard in the Melbourne County recently, when John Hannon, of Swan-hill, farmer, was awarded £l6O damages against Alexander Duncan M'Larty, of Tarraby, farmer, on account of the death of four of plaintiff’s horses. Plaintiff’s case was that defendant wrongfully left a waggonload of wheat unprotected on a main highway, and four of Ins horses ate the grain, dying in consequence.

“I could tell « New Zealander from an Australian or a Canadian at the end of the street.” remarked Sir lah Hamilton at Rotorua, in discussing the physique of the New Zealander. “You have quite a distinctive type. The Canadian walks quickly and eagerly forward upon his toes, while the Australian walks loosely all over the place. The New Zealander is spoilt half-way between the two. Universal compulsory training will tend to efface the difference in the walk, but it is very characteristic indeed.”

A new turn has been given to fashion, states a lady writer. The days ot the advanced styles are numbered, ami their extravagances are to give way to the simplicity of the fashions ot 1880. Thus we are to see shortly a revival oi the tight bodice, the porkpie hat, and the plaid skirt of the days when the present generation were children. Du Manner’s sketches in “Punch” will come to .life again.

A remarkable “cargo” was found aboard a man named Regard (53), who was arrested in Sydney on a recent Sunday morning. When searched, Regard was found to have ten bottles ot nun, .lour bottles and a Hask of whisky, and a glass in his clothes, len bottles of beer found in an empty house were, he admitted, his property. There had been two previous convictions against Regard for slygrog selling. In one case he had been fined £IOO. He was again fined £IOO, or nine months’ imprisonment. Ihe local No-License League will have a busy tinfe to-morrow. In the morning the annual Taranaki conference will be opened in the Wesley Hall, Regan Street, and in the evening an address will be delivered in the Town Hall by Mr C. »H. Poole, who is spoken of as an excellent speaker and who lias recently returned from a tour of the No-License States of America. An address will also be given by Mr Wesley Spragg, who also returned recently from a tour in the Old World. Following are extracts from a District Order issued regarding the observance of King’s Birthday, which falls on Wednesday next-It has been decided to hold parades of troops at nil local centres on the 3rd June in aonor of the King’s Birthday. A royal salute of twenty-one guns will be fired by R.N.Z.A. at Wellington. At Wellington City, General I.S M Hamilton, G.C.8., D. 5.0., InspectorGeneral of the Oversea forces, will® be the reviewing officer. Parades will be compulsory, and will count as whole day parades. Leave of absence may be given, but those absent without leave will be prosecuted. At local centres where sufficient troops are not available to hold a review, they will co-operate with any celebrations conducted by the local authorities. With the exception of suburban troops being brought by rail to Wellington City, no movement of troops will be authorised. Dress: Review order (service dress-all ranks).

Two men left by last night’s train for Whangamomona to take up a contract at road work, and it would appear that they can claim some distinction, having unsuccessfully tramped over the best part of the southern portion of the North Island in search of work. Both men are good .workers and they tried as hard as they could to find employment, but were not successful until they reached Stratford yesterday. The men belonged to Auckland, but they set out on their travels from Napier about two months ago. They first walked to Wellington, where three weeks were spent in vainly looking tor work. Then they went to Wanganui, but were equally unsuccessful and therefore tried their luck in the W anganui hinterland, going up the River to Te Tui along bush tracks. They came out again at Kai Iwi and again struck into the back country, going to Pipiriki. coming back again to the railway line fit Waitotara, thence coming on to Stratofrd. It is remarked that the fact that one of the men bears the same name as the Premier did not act as an open sesame to a job!

An Otakeho resident, whilst walking ing along the beach discovered a sealed bottle, which on being broken was found to contain a memorandum by the Commonwealth Meteorologist of Melbourne. It was n printed form of instructions to the masters of steamers (states the correspondent of the Hawera Star) and also a set of questions were to be filled in and after being securely sealed and weighted, was to be thrown overboard so that when found it would serve to indicate the direction of the ocean currents through which it would pass. This particular bottle was thrown into the sea by A. E. Jolly, master of the s.s. Port Pirie, on December 7, 1912, at noon, latitude 43.59 south, longitude 103.14 east, which, on referring to the map, would be about four hundred miles south-east of Adelaide and at a point where two great ocean currents meet, the one down th« east coast of Australia from the Indian Ocean, and the other down the west coast of Australia into the Great Australian Bight. Full particulars regarding the weather conditions on that date are given and the steamer was bound from London to Adelaide. So that was probably the reason Captain Jolly selected the spot. Having followed the course of the former of these two currents on the map and believing that this was the course traversed by the bottle, the correspondent found that, it drifted across the Tasman Sea down the West Coast of the South Island, around the Bluff along the East Coast and also the West Coast of the North, until it reached a point where the current sets in nearest to the‘land and was washed ashore by the heavy weather during the past week. The portion asking where found, by whom, and the date has been filled in and will be returned to the Weather Bureau, Melbourne.

The Mayor has given notice to bring forward his loan proposal at next meeting of “the Borough Council.

A social and dance is to be held in the Ngaere Hall on Tuesday next under the auspices of local members of the Reform Party.

Ip another column of this issue the butchers of Stratford and Midhirst announce a new scale of charges for meat, advances having had to be made because of the high price of stock.

On Monday night the Foresters’ Lodge held the first of their series of fortnightly assemblies. The floor was in perfect order and the enjoyable evening augurs well for a very successful season. The Ngaere orchestia supplied music, whilst the catering was excellently atteirded to by Mrs Brooking.

News was received in Sydney from Papua last week of the arrival of the yacht Tilikum ll.—a vessel of about 6 tons—at Samarai, British New Guinea, on the sth inst., after a venturesome cruise. The vessel is in charge of Captain Voss, who visited New Zealand some years ago in another vessel named the rilikum, and he is accompanied by Mr W. G. Vied. The little vessel started from Yokohama (Japan) and called at New Britain and German New Guinea before going on to Samaria. Captain Voss expected to leave Samaria on the 9th inst. for Brisbane. He intends to make a trip round the world in the Tilikum 11. •sir-