GENERAL ITEMS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXV, Issue 26, 24 December 1917, Page 7

GENERAL ITEMS.

Mr C. W. Mountfort, of Napier, father of Mr K. P. Mountfort, of

Gisborne, attained his 92nd birthday ou Wednesday. Whh the deatJi o) the Hou, Mr Bowen last week, Mi Mountfort is left the sole survivor of the adult saloon passengers by the Charlotte Jane, one of the first four vessels which came out bearing the Pilgrims, as the founders of Canterbury province wore called.

The Base Records Office states tha all efforts have failed to locare th. next-of-kin of 1.0-281, Arthur Black move, who left New Zealand attach ed to the Main. Body, and was killei in action on August 8, 1915. Pno: to enlistment he was employed by M R. Riddiford, at Ouri Statini, Master ton. Amy information concernhif the whereabouts of any of the de ceased soldiers’ relatives communicated to the Base Records Office will b< greatly appreciated.

Under the name of Hugh Galbraith, a man came down to Wanganui from the Upper Waitotara on Thursday t r give evidence in the ease in whirl Douglas Campbell Waldie was chargee with inciting Michael Kilalea to re fuse to render military service. “Gal hraith” is supposed to he /identical with one Hugh Gilmore, who on tin sth day of May, 1913, at Marton. h alleged to have obtained by fa Ispretences the sum of £1 from Chns R. Gibbons by means of a vehicles' order on the N.Z. Farmers’ Co-opm" five Association of Canterbury. TW result was (states the Herald) that Ik was arrested by the police and re manded to Marton.

During the celebrations at Raetih on Tuesday 'reference was made to tin fact that at one time the Waimarinr, Block, consisting of 200,000 acres narrowly escaped falling into tin hands of a private syndicate frmr Auckland, the price arranged l>eing 2s fid per acre. A certain hitch occurred, and subsequently the land was acquired by the Government. AJ man named Mahoney was fined Lby Carterton Justices for refusing to answer questions put to him by the police in connection with the Military 7 Service Act.

An annular eclipse of the sun, completely visible only from a limited portion of the Antarctic circle, took place last week. The chief feature ot interest in the eclipse was the fact that within a few miles of the Pole it occurs at local apparent mid-night, the sun being 23 degrees above the horizon. In the southern portion of West. Australia a partial eclipse was visible at sunset. A total eclipse of the moon, visible in New Zealand, wil l occur on the evening of December 2'b

A rather amusing incident has occurred at Walcha, New South Wales. Some months ago a Girls’ Club was formed. It flourished and helped the Win-the-War party in the vigorous crusade of appeals. It was reported, however, that the members had stated their intention of refusing to dance with any young men eligible for the war who had not donned the King’s uniform. This report was resented by members of the football club, who promptly declared the Girls’ Club “black.” Here was a dilemma. The members of the football club considered they had sent all their eligibles, and were inclined to demand an apology. When the young ladies looked into matters carefully, and had several friendly “conversations” with the opposite sex, the outlook became brighter, and the clouds of distrust and gloom vanished. The footballers dc'idc l to get up a dance and raise funds bo erect ,a roll of honour. The o-irls showed sympathy and attended. Doth clubs have now been declared “white,” and the footballers, with that spirit of chivalry which only requires the magic feminine touch to spring into life, are now arranging a social for the benefit of the girls’ club. Perfect harmony now prevails.

Dr. Cameron, the Director of the Victorian Department of Agriculture, is at pesent in Wellington. He has visited in connection with a deal that will be of great interest to the dairying community. The Victorian State Farm at Werribee has a Red Poll dairy herd which Dr. Cameron has been building up during the last 10 or 12 years. This herd, which has been sired by imported bulls, has reached a high standard of excellence, and calves from the herd are in great demand among the Victorian, farmers. One of the cows, under the Government test, produced BRslb of butterfat, equivalent to IOOSIh of commercial butter, in a year. Dr, Cameron has arranged to exchange 17 animals from this herd for representatives of the New Zealand Government’s herd of Priesinns. The suggestion that an exchange should be made came originally from New Zealand’s Minister of Agriculture, the Hon, W. D. S. MacDonald, who inspected the Werribee farm during, his visit to Australia last May. The Friesians are coming from the Central Development Farm at Weraroa, and the condition of the deal Is that they must be equal 'in milking quality to the Red Polls supplied by the Victorian Department. Dr. Cameron inspected the Weraroa herd a few days ago, and In- expressed himself very pleased with the cows he has selected. Mr MacDonald offered originally to buy a bull and half a dozen heifers from the Red Poll herd, hut that wns oonsido’o ' impossible owing to the prior claim possessed by the Victorian farmers, who have filed their applications for calves far in advance. The exchange overcame the difficulty, and it is likely to he mutually beneficial. The Bed Polls will go to ope of the New Zealand State farms.

Ashhurst claims to have the strong.st man in New Zealand—one who could make a living by giving exhibiions. He weighs only 11 stone, and , does not look particularly robust, 1 | though his activity in following his business as a carrier is unbounded. Recently, for a wager, he shouldered | i full sack of wheat, jumped on a push bike, and effected delivery at his client’s house; and what was even more wonderful, owing to the shea entrance being difficult, lie carried in succession four bales of wool singlehanded about TOO yards each weighing 4001bs.

It is announced in general orders that the medals of an officer or soldier dying on active service, whether issued before or after his death, will be disposed of in accordance with the will of the deceased man, if there is such a document. In default of a will, the medals will be sent to the next-of-kin in the following order of relationship; Widow, eldest surviving son. eldest surviving daughter, father, mother, eldest surviving brother, eldest surviving sister, eldest surviving half-brother, eldest surviving half-sis-ter. If the medals cannot be disposed of in these ways, they may be sent “to any relative or interested party who, in the opinion of the 'Army Council, will preserve them with due care as a memorial of the deceased.”

Some days ago there appeared in the Christchurch Sun a letter commenting on the fact that Sir Joseph Ward could not receive a deputation regarding Lyttelton trains on the day requested because he had to leave r><irlv in the morning for the south by motor car. The. letter also criticised the Railway Department for running the train service in such a'- way that the railways were of no use to the Ministers so that the country had to hear the cost of motors for them. Commenting on this letter to a Sun representative. Sir Joseph Ward said : “Evil lie to him who evil thinks.” There was always a section of the community ready to malign anybody in public life. The statement that he was travelling at the expense of the country was absolutely incorrect. He was travelling in his own ear, with his own chauffeur, at his own expense. His arrangements had nothing whatever to do with the railway timetable, as he had to visit many places which he could not reach by train. Ho had made complete arrangements for his trip more thani a week before he was asked to receive the deputation., and it was impossible to alter them without causing inconvenience to many people. It was unfortunate that there were always individuals so unmanly as to attack public . men without appending their signatures.

Officers in England are complaining of the cost of many of the little things they are forced to buy—without which no offier is complete, though he could very easily do without them and never miss them. “I know war is waste, but why should the hereditary high priests of war—those Aldershot minds who draft Array regulations and orders—make the waste worse than it is?” writes a correspondent to the Daily News. “Her© at the front we never use a sword—never even see one. But we have to buy these stupid encumbrances—and leave them at home, I know one huge factory employing (or rather wasting) a vast quantity of energy and skill in turning out ornamental weapons, which are at once wrapped up when bought, and put out of sight. All we bring to the front is the leather ‘frog’ for carrying an instrument we haven’t got, and leather hoots so scarce. It

is just the same with spurs. All officers above a certain rank must wear them. Even if only doing clerical work at the War Office they must put them on, when their only opportunity 1o use them would be on the attendant.

The Rev. R. Haddon does not at all agree with the notion that the Maori race is either declining in numbers or deteriorating in physique. Speaking at a Methodist Home Mission meeting at Manaia (the “Wit-

ness” reports), he said philanthropic, ladies had come to him, bewailing the approaching disappearance of the Maoris. But they were entirely wrong, he said. The Maoris had increased from 40,000 to 52,000, their present number, and they stood well: in the health statistics. Their dangerous time was the transition from Maori to pakeha habits and customs. But they had passed that stage, and were bringing up numerous and healthy families. “Look at me,” he said, “1 have a family of nine children. Does that look like dying out?”— (Laughter.) One of those narrow escapes, usually spoken of as miraculous occurred in Wellington on Friday morning to Mr E. McDonnell, sub-editor of “The Maorilnnd Worker” (states the Times). He was crossing the tramline at Courtenay place behind a car bound to the city, when, without the slightest warning, the trolly head came away from the pole and in descent touched tlie rim of his hat and then struck the ground with considerable force. “Are you hurt?” inquired the anxious conductor. “No,” replied the man of ink, “but I think yon owe me a whiskey for the shock.” A passenger’s comment was, “It is not a matter of jest, for you were within a hair’s breadth of a smashed skull.”