STRATFORD.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 16448, 29 May 1919, Page 2

STRATFORD.

rt'.OM OUR RESIDENT AGENT. May 28.—Winter has com© upon irS quite suddenly and with severity. Yesterday was a bleak dull day of searchingly cold wind and occasional refrigerated showers. To-day was bright and! clear, but icy cold in the shade. Another week will see most of the daily factories closed- down for winter. Thelinest autumn 5 -on record has almost mad© good the losses of what was almost the worst spring and early summer.

LasfTfevening was not one for lightly deserting the domestic hearth, and it said a good deal for the attractiveness of the Rev. Papakakura’s concert party that an audience braved’ catarrh and sciatica in our town hall. Their couragejwas well rewarded, lam told. The new political- movement was, on the other hand, quite congealed and- arrested by the cold, for the National Welfare League failed to secure a,quorum for its meeting.

Stratford has hut one name on the military defaulters’ list, and that name, Private G. Blair, is there only by one of those cruel and exasperating blunders of which the Defence Department is ■occasionally guilty. Everyone knows that mistakes' will happen, however much care is taken, but we want to know why, before the department casts such a slur upon a man’s character, it does not take the trouble to inquire pi bis next-of-kin or other relatives as to the facts. In this case the defaming notice will not hurt the' man’s feelings, for ho died of influenza on his way hack from the war, but he leaves a wife and child, parents, bothers and sisters. Their feelings may bo imagined. The Borough Council committee entrusted with the details of the Peace Celebration has delegated its pyrotechnic duties to the Eire Brigade. "A wise step, as it ensures the mobilisation of the fire-fighting forces. Illuminations and fireworks on a large scale in a readily combustible town are not free from the risk of starting a bonfire not arranged for on the programme. It appears that, the desperate anxiety of tho Germans to get back to business after their long vacation is likely to cause their Government to put its signature to the new “scrap of paper.”