LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXX, Issue 60, 6 November 1914, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The railway gauge question is to be further considered at a. conference to be held shortly in Australia.

The executive committee of the A. and P. Association will meet at 7.30 this evening.

Yesterday was Guy Fawkes’ Day, and the long-honored anniversary was “kept up” properly in Stratford, bonfires and fireworks being conspicuous in the evening.

A final reminder is given of the children’s social under the auspices of the Fire Brigade to be held in the Foresters’ Hall this evening. Tire proceeds are to be devoted to the motor engine fund.

Weather forecast.—The indications are for northerly strong winds to gale. Expect dull weather with much mist and fog in parts. Rain probable. Barometer has-a falling tendency, at present.—Bates, Wellington.

Judgment by default was given in the following cases at the Court this morning: R. Hid,Bright and Seth Backhouse v. JarhaWMcLeod; -£0 10s, costs £1 5s 6d; Bellringer Bros. y. M. M. Shute, £1 4s 2d, costs 11s; Adolph dVtanoy v. J. H. Herbert, £2 14s, costs 10s.

- ■ '', •v '; , S * ’to-night at the Regan Street' Hall residents will have another opportunity of hearing the excellent concert given a week ago by the children of the Methodist church. Half the proceeds are to go to the British and Belgian Relief Fund, half being ear-marked for the piano fund.

A Press Association telegram frota Palmerston North states: There is dull .but. fine; weather for People’s Bay at the spring show, but there is a great erod'd present. The train arrangements were dislocated by ■ tile derailment of two engines in the early morning holding up the outgoing Napier and Wanganui trains for a couple of hours. No serious damage was done.

; V A. reminder is given of the social to be held this evening in St., Andrew’s Hall. The Ladies Guild of the congregation are giving this in connection with a sale of work to be held in December. An excellent programme of song and music has been arranged, and tea will be served at the close. The function should prove entertaining, besides furnishing an opportunity for helping a good cause.

There was a fair muster of the Defence Rifle Club at the parade last night, when some marching practice was indulged in. The officer commanding (Mr J. McMillan) was able to compliment the men on the showing made, and they should make ai creditable showing in Sunday’s church parade at Victoria Park. Mr McMillan last night jocularly attributed the small muster to the fact of it being Guy Fawkes’ Day and made a special appeal, for a good muster on Sunday.

The other evening John Schaffer, a naturalised German, placed himself on the Whangamomona railway station platform and proceeded to issue a verbal defiance to the British Empire, stating that he personally had no fear of it. But certain of the phraseology employed was neither legal jargon nor good plain English; and at the Cofirt this morning Schaffer was fined £o on a charge of using obscene language. Mr Kenrick, S.M., made some remarks regarding the ease with which foreigners 'could obtain naturalisation. It was a mistake, he thought, to make the qualifications for naturalisation too easy. Blood was thicker than water, and at a time like the present all foreigners, even those naturalised, should bp carefully watched.

An interesting find was made upon the beach at Apia, Samoa, by a sergeant,in the D Battery with the garrison force. The sergeant states that he was shovelling up some dirt on the beach on October 7th, when his shovel ran through a packet containing revolver ammunition. “This being so unexpected,” he proceeds, “I became very cautious and began to dig further. For two or three minutes I unearthed nothing else but ammunition and then ran into a six-chamber modern revolver. I continued digging, but found no more.” The revolver, he adds, was evidently placed there by some Germans quite recently, as it bore no sign of rust, and he thinks it Was,,the first “plant” found in Samoa. He had received ..some very tempting .offers, for the weapon, but prises it too greatly to part with it.

A temporary reading room will bo open to the public at the. Fire Brigade Station to-morrow, The Town Clerk will be in hiVnew the hire Brigade Station to-morrow. A very line lamb is now on view at Mr T. D. Colson’s, Broadway. This was fed by Mr T. Lyford on his Fast Koad farm and weighed 521bs. • . ■ i Mr W. H. Hawkins (the Liberal f caijflkla'te) advertises a list of,, meet;digs to be held -during next week. ; The districts to be visited, commencing Monday next, are * Tariki, ■ Norfolk Hoad, Durham Hoad, Salisbury Hoad, Stanley Hoad, and Ratapiko. The Rsv. R. B. S. Hammojid,' of j Sydney, Anglican vicar of St. Simon's ; and St* Jude’s parishes, will arrive in i Stratford ou Monday, 16th inst. A i reception will be tendered Mr Hammond in the Parish Hall at 2.45 p.m. by the women of Stratford. Mr Hammond is one of the greatest social reformers in the Southern Hemisphere ; he is the vicar of two parishes, editor of the newspaper “Grit,” and runs a night shelter and home for dead-beats. The Bulletin and Sydney Sun speak in glowing terms of the work done by the great missioner. Mr Hammond speaks to the women of S|rnt|nrd in the Parish Hall, and in the , Town .Hall on Monday night, the 16th, , The collections are for the British Relief Funds.

Last iriday night Mr Huston Young and his party, who are contract, ing on the top end of the Ihaia Road, had a very narrow escape, says, the - Opunake Times. The inmates of the tent hearing a cracking noise, when the stormy winds blew, hurriedly left their tent. The one person who did not leave his bed, Mr Young, was pinned down by a tree falling across the tenjfc({|nd bver his body, but luckily the branches of the tree divided like Moses’ rod divided the waters of the sea, and allowed liim breathing space, but no manner of get-away. His mates doubled about for their axes, and as the wind flogged their shirt tails and fanned their keenness they piled their axes as bushmen can when danger is nigh, and relieved their mate from the .grip of the foliage and a tombstone inscription., *There was. not

even the necessity for a doctor’s fee