LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVI, Issue 88, 12 July 1918, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Tin* Honan Road ladies will have charge of the Patriotic Shop to-mor-row (Saturday) with a largo supply of poultry, vegetables, and cakes.

Weather Forecast. —The indications are for westerly winds strong to gale. Indications are for a temporary improvement, hut there is every prospect of had weather at the end of tinweek. The barometer has a rising tendency.—Bates, Wellington.

A significant indication regarding’ the rate at which reinforcements are being forwarded is contained in this week’s General Orders at Feathcrston Camp, stales the Wellington correspondent of the Dunedin Star. It shows that several reinforcements of mounted men, numbering approximately 1,000. are given 11 weeks’ leave without pay. They are all First Division men.

At a representative gathering of dairy factory directors held in Hawora last week, it was decided to recommend directorates to, appeal in all cases whore their skilled employees are called up for military service. It was the unanimous opinion that the industry had already been deprived of skilled labor to such an extent that threatened the quality and quantity of the output.

A special musical programme is being arranged by Mrs K. F. Hollands for the Women’s National Reserve monthly tea for mothers and wives of soldiers on Tuesday afternoon in the Town Hall, which makes plain thd fact that the interest in the Reserve’s work is growing apace. The performers so far enlisted in the good cause include Miss Hopkins, Mr P. Aitken, Mr G. T. Walters, Mrs V. Massey, ami Mrs Hollands.

In furtherance of Stratford's effort in connection with the Red Cross Copper Trjiil, the Ladies’ Patriotic Committee obtained permission from the Taranaki Education Board to place collection boxes in the schools. This has already been done locally, and schools in outside districts are being communicated with. It is also proposed to place boxes in hotels, clubs, and banks. The money thus contributed will bf l forwarded to Wellington every month, the amount being placed to the credit of Stratford, and at the end of the campaign, the total contribution from here can be ascertained. For the first time in its history the Bed Cross Society is short of funds, and it is hoped the present method of appeal, which ends in October, will produce substantial funds to assist in the carrying on of the work among the wounded.

At the King’s Cinema, to-morrow afternoon, one ol the most famous Charlie Chaplin pictures that has yet been produced is to he screened, and will be repeated in the evening. It is entitled “The Adventurer,” andis said to )>e almost fatally tunny*

“Those hospital ships could • well ■do with a clearing out; they fare like our Houses of Parliament,” 'said f a speaker at the meeting of the Wellington Returned Soldiers’ Association in Wellington (states the Dominion). The staffing of hospital ships was discussed at some length, and tlie remarks of members showed the existence of a very definite that men who had field experience

ought to have first’ call on hospital ship appointments. There was more than a suggestion that in the opinion of returned men some of th* members of the hospital ship staffs were holding very tightly to com* fortahle and relatively secure jobs.

According to the Government Statistician’s computations, less goods ‘under the three food groups—meat, dairy produce, and groceries) can be : purchased for the sovereign in Wban-

garei than in any other town in New : Zealand. According to the monthly* abstract received yesterday what could have been purchased for £1 in. the period 1909-13 now costs 30s 2d at Whangarei. Taihape is the run-ner-up, where n former £1 worth now costs 30s It. On the same basis the fallowing is what the people, of four centres have now to pay for a. former twentv shillings’ worth Wellington. 29m 3'd; Auckland, 28s "d; Christchurch. 27s 6}d : and Dunedin, 28s s;]d. ruder th*« beading, “Bela- , tive wort l, of the sovereign,” Mr Fraser cumulates that the sovereign, of 1913 is now only worth 13s HJd,, So that, roughly sneaking, the value of the sovereign .or rather the £b note, for sovereigns ere now seen hufc , rarely) has depreciated 33 1-3 per cent.

The Rev. J. W. Burton, M.A., Organising Secretary of Foreign Missions for Victoria and Tasmania, will deliver an address on “The Awaken> ing of India” in the Methodist Church to-night commencing at 7.30 p.m. Mr Burton has made a life study of Indian life and its problems, and is a speaker of exceptional ability. A collection will be taken up on behalf ol the. Methodist Foreign Mission Fund;;

In connection with the meeting on V Saturday afternoon in the Fanner*' Co-operative Organisation Society’s store premises, at which the directors will addres-s shareholders on tlie' question of opening tlie store in Stratford, it is understood that the meeting will bo open to the public who are invited to attend. The extension* of the Society’s business in tlie directing proposed, is an important one, and a full attendance of shareholders is most desirable. j •