GENERAL ITEMS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXXI, Issue 20, 12 August 1920, Page 7

GENERAL ITEMS.

The well-known Gorman racing cyclist, Walter Rutt, is keen on getting back'to the American racing circuit, but it appears that the International Cyclists' Union, the world's governing body, has decreed that no riders from the late enemy countries may compete on Allied tracks, consequently Rutt and many other first-class riders are debarred from racing in England, Fz'ance, Belgium, Italy America, and Australia.

Various -sections of the English motor press have of late been making iin insistent call for the use of roffeetpr. i;mr»i;s'by all rend vehicles. Motorists in general are beginning to realise the great advantage from the use of such mirrors attached to their cars. To be able at a glance to see all following traffic means safer and speedier progress through crowded streets. Most motorists know what it means to be held up behind a large commercial vehicle, or furniture van, the, driver of has not "heard the alarm sounded, not because the driver won't move over, but &intply because he is not aware that you are endeavouring to get past. If every road vehicle were compelled to'carry cheap but effective form of reflector, what a difference \ t would make to progress along mam thoroughfares, much congestion would be saved, and many accidents avert«d r ' » /*| j j. ~. ■ . A„ extraordinary', scene, took place in the District Municipal Court of New York when Judge Morris openly his sympathy with tenants evicted bv "grasping and gouging landlords." The judge refused to sign a warrant for an eviction demanded bv a lawyer for a building construction (ompaiiy, whei'euppn-'the appli•iiuf, .-aid he would .take the case to J„. Supreme Court. Then Judge Mor-i-j s stood i'P, remdved his judicial robs, ~,'„! sm.l, "Let me tell you, sir, that v,u, (•nil case to the Supreme i/ouri.'ol' + he State of New York or • !:,, I'nited States Supreme Court at Washington, or to hell.'' Loud cheers <„, the part of a court crowded with dispossessed tenants greeted this oxplosion. Judge Morris went on t 0 say that he could not sleep at nights because of tile, women a :d children turn od iuto streets, and he thanked God that th 0 la'w.iiow gave him power, which he would in every case, to stay evictions''for a year; '. J

The liner Rimutakaj which arrived .at. from Southampton early on Monday morning, berthed at the>Kiugs wharf, in ,the afternoon. The'vessel 323 passengers; a large number of'"whom • were immi-' grants. There were also some details of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. About ICO of the passengers Mere, nominated, and also as many more came out ■'•under the Imperial Government's overseas settlement scheme. The men of the party are of mixed occupations, farmers and clerks" predominating, while among the women are a few domestics. Many of the passengers were met here by relatives or friends. Th e arrangements -for the reception . f of the immigrants arid ,for?t|eir 'dispatch to various destinations north and south were excdlentlv carried out by the imnngraforh authorities. The Rimutaka, which journeyed out via Newport New. and the Panama Canal had a fairly good trip, the heaviest weather being experienced just before reaching New Zealand. There wer e a few cases of measels and diphtheria in a milj form, but all except two. had quite recovered before the ship arrived.

The ways in which the unwary may bei "taken down" in this busy, bust. ling world arc many and varied. The latest "take down" spoken of in Dun. edin is really so strikingly simple that it is a wonder that anyone could be gulled by it. Probably, however, its dfect'veress ready lay in its simpl'citv. Tho story goes (states the Otago Daily Times) that a "shepherd'' from (the country b~en haying a right royal-time at a. Dunedin hostelry. Indications began to point to the fact that the landlord wa s beginning to grow restive under the repeoibed injunctions to 'put it on the' 'I-late. I'U square up when i leave," ...,d that the fine for action was fast pproaching. It was then that th. ihuidlord was- called to th e telephone '., ..-.(l told that the head of a leading ! ,:ock ■"!.! station agent w*<s speaking. ''(he landlord was asked if dn pherd, was staying at h' 9 hotel, mid iii..;v.ere<i in. the affirmative. The !ii!idl«>id was then told that it was time the shepherd was getting back 'to his station, and that he might do ]iii s very best to get him on the exIpresH for the north next morning and U; V( . him a £lO note to see him home, ilk-, ih- merchant, would square up ! ~., ,i\ tiling. The landlord next morning nsed his utmost persuasion to lget the shepherd to the stairion, and j succeeded, and finally pushed a £lO nolo into his hand. Conscious of duty | faithfully fulfilled he later in the jinor.iing rang np the merchant to tell him of his success in getting the man away. It was a staggering landlord who a minute or two later hung up the receiver. The merchant had want. c d to know what he was talking about —whit shepherd?—what £lO note? He knew reJbh'ng ahmt it. It was with J a savage gli'.t in his eye that the i landlord res -metl his work in th.> bar. Now he knows hew it was that there was a familiar note in the voice of the man who had rung him up in th? ! first place.