LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 295, 11 December 1914, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

1 , The usual monthly meeting of the 4 Stratford County Council will be held on Wednesday, 16th December, when. Cr. Smith will move: "That the Engineer prepare plans' and specifications for the Cardiff Road River Bridge Renewal."

Exports of New Zealand products during the week ended December Bth were valued as follows: —Butter £95,179, frozen lamb £5248, frozen beef, etc., £-57,176, grain and pulse £6028, kauri gum £11,634, tallow £15,799, wool £190,674, cheese £42,350, frozen mutton £30,399, gold £2128/liides and skins £15,341, flax and tow £IB4O, timber £5044.

For the annual concert in connection with the Stratford District High School to be held next Wednesday in the Town Hall, a programme has been arranged that will be sure to please and entertain. Children's items will be a special feature* of the first part of the programme, and these in themselves constitute a "draw" of sufficient merit to fill the. hall to the doors. But then there will be the staging of an operetta "The Birth of the Union Jack," all the characters in which will be taken by the school children, and in which opportunity is afforded for stirring patriotic songs, and .choruses. Youthful ticket-sellers may be relied upon to thoroughly push the claims of their own annual concert before the public;

Newton King draws attention in this issue to a sale of the privileges in connection with the Stratford Racing Club's meeting, which takes place on January Ist and 2nd, 1910. The sale of these privileges will be held to-morrow, the 12th December, commencing at 2 o'clock, at the Mart, Broadway, Stratford. The privileges to be sold comprise 1 publican's inside booth and 1 publican's outside booth. Tt is hardly necessary ,to mention that this meeting will be a highly successful one; in fact, the committee are leaving no stone unturned to ensure a record attendance at the New Year fixture. Competition at the sale to-morrow should be very keen indeed.

There was a break in the great good humour of the crowd who witrissed the Stratford Evening Post's display' at the Post Office after the hour of midnight had been past with the defeated candidates. This was the result of an argument between two local citizens who became heated in conversation concerning ie majority of the winning politicians, during which the police intervened when the matter was being settled by fisticuffs. This morning Sergeant MoXoely explained to the Magistrate at the Courthouse that it was only a bit of a fight—it was not much—but there was no saying what it might have led to, and apparently f

the parties were good friends again.

Certainly, as the accused stood together in the Court there did not appear to be much fight left in them. His Worship (Mr Kenrick), in fining them five shillings each without costs, advised such as they to go home early to bed on election nights. It was much cheaper to do so, and they could always read the results in the paper in the morning!

AMONG THE CROWD.

Polling proceeded quietly throughout yesterday, both sides working hard in getting voters to the polling booths. During most of the day the weather was tar from pleasant, but the evening was fine, and the public could therefore await the result of the poll, in Stratford and elsewhere, in comfort. The announcement that results' would be displayed by the "Stratford Post" from Mr W. P. Kirkwood's County Hotel balcony brought in a very large crowd from the countryside and surrounding townships, which lined up opposite the Post Office and received the various returns with expressions of pain and pleasure, cheers and groans, as the figures displayed indicated a wish realised or a disappointment meted out. Nevertheless, the crowd was in excellent temper, and thtere was an utter absence of roughness. A great many women and children were scattered through the great assemblage and seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves. Sergt. McNeely, assisted by the members of the staff, were quietly alert. In only one instance was anything approaching trouble manifest, when an argument between two young men passed from words to blows. In the twinkling of an eye, however, the combatants were spirited from the scene and spent the short balance of the night in the cool seclusion of the village "jug." As the returns came to hand they were screened by a powerful lantern on to a large sheet erected in the north wing of the Post Offic, by kind permission of the Department. A great number of pictures of candidates for Parliamentary honors, prominent local residents and world celebrities had also been specially prepared by Mr J. McAllister, and his artistic efforts when screened caused loud outbursts of approval and applause. Best thanks are due to Mr McAllister (and Messrs Clayton and Bush, who assisted him with the mechanical part of the work) for the very fine display he produced on behalf of the "Stratford Post." The first returns which came to hand Inst night—Stratford borough and Whangamomona—were in favor of Mr Hawkins, but as the country returns came to hand Mr Hino gradually increased his lead. Early in the

evening lie had an assured majority, and he finished the polling with the handsome margin of 529 votes. A feature of the evening was the cordial nature of the' speeches of the candidates, no discordant note being sounded by either. AT THE COUNTY HOTEL. As usual the public looked forward to the display made bv the "Post" at the Countv Hotel. On the balcony ' was a strong lantern which projected bhotbgmnhfl and figures on c very large screen erected on the front of

the Post Office building. From just" 1 after the closing of the poll the crowd began to congregate and when the first result was screened about halfpast seven there were quite a large number present. By eight o'clock the whole width of Broadway in the vicinity was covered. The Municipal Band enlivened proceedings with a number of selections. The crowd seemed largely to be good-humored, and both political parties seemed about equally represented, the various results and photographs of candidates being greeted impartially with a seemingly wellbalanced chorus of cheers and boos. CANDIDATE'S SPEECHES. « ,' At about 9.30, when Mr Hine's majority 'was such that lie must win the seat, both candidates appeared on the balcony, being greeted with hearty and continued cheering. Mr Hine said the people of Stratford were once more his constituents. He was pleased they had stuck to the old horse. -,(A voice: What about the young horse?) There was nothing like sticking to the old horse who had carried thorn for the past six years. Ho believed the district recognised what good work the present Govern-, ment had done for the district and for the country as a whole. One thing he was particularly pleased with was the vote Stratford town had given him. (Applause). It was an ever-increasing vote and in three years' time it would be so big that it would frighten anybody from standing. His opponent now stood beside him, as good friends as before the contest. And ho could guarantee Mr Hawkins that if he was still in Stratford at next election he would be a supporter of the speaker. Mr Hawkins did not know him or he would not have opposed him. And, said Mr Hine, addressing a group of Liberal demonstrators, ho would get all them too. Then they would lie all Liberals then—Massey Liberals. Mr Massey was proud of Stratford. The Reform Party was looking forward to continuing in the House the good work they had commenced. At Mr Hine's call three cheers were given for Mr Hawkins and one for Mr Massey.

Mr Hawkins was also cheered as ha stepped forward to speak. He said that as far as he was concerned the contest had been a pleasant experience. As to the result, he personally was not down-hearted. As to t 1" Stratford town vote his opponent had not much to be proud of, having only a majority of thirty. In three years' time, if he was alive and in Stratford he would stand again. He asked the electors to throw back their minds over past contests and he thouorht the"" would admit that no other contest had been fought so cleanly. There were some things which needed \n be criticised, but it could not be done that

night. They were too close to the threshold of the contest. He thought the electors would- find as the returns came in that their representative belonged to the Party which would be in a minority in the House. He had come to the town as a stranger and the fight which had been put up without any organisation, though he desired to express thanks to ladies and gentlemen, who by personal unorganised effort, had helped him in his fight. Three cheers for Mr Hine were given at Mr Hawkins' call. THE CROWD IN THE STREET. As the night wore on the crowd in the street thinned a little, though there were still a good number at eleven o'clock. The telegraphed returns had been slow for a time, and "Tipperary" was sung a good number of times to relieve the tedium. With singing and having fun with itself the crowd kept themselves amused, one of the musical items being "We Won't go Home Till Morning." Getting towards midnight a further batch of telegraphed results brought relief. It was noticeable that the cheering po\vi;r did not appear to have decreased, although there were much fewer people in the street. No doubt those who had decided to see the thing out were the most lusty lunged of the residents. At 1 o'clock there were only a small number of people left and the wit became much less boisterous. A little after one o'clock the lantern bid the crowd I "Good Night."

AN INTERESTING COMPARISON.

The following table shows, the percentages of votes cast on the liquor issues in the Stratford electorate at yesterday's poll, and at the last gen-

eral election:— 1911 1914 For No-license 2825 2369 Against No-license 2578 2390 For National Prohib. 3282 2654 Against Nat'al Prohib. 2114 2141 Percentages For No-license 53 49.7 For Nat'l Prohibition 61 55.3