LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Mr Henry Davis (Mayor) despatched a telegram to the Minister of Railways (Mr J. A. Millar) this morning, stating that a number of tradespeople and others in Ashburton were raising an objection to the site selected for the overhead bridge at the railway station. It may tys added that, this morning a number of business men resolved to hold an indignation meeting this afterneon, and waited upon the; Mayor, with this intention. Mr Davis, however, after despatching a telegram to the Minister of Railways, decided to await a reply before taking further action.

The ordinary weekly sale will be hold to-morrow at the Tinwald yards.

A special train left Ashburton for Mount Somers at 10 o'clock this morning; but the passenger list was very limited.

About a dozen informations against persons for selling impure milk will be heard at the Christchurch Magistrate's Court to-morrow.

A Wellington message states that the decision of the Government to continue the Thames police district as a separate district has entailed the ap-. pointment of an inspector to succeed inspector Kiely, and that Sub-Inspec-tor Wright has received the appointment. w .. '

I As showing the remarkably fine turnip crops in the Ruapuna district this year, it may be mentioned that Mr G. L. Sandrey on Friday sold 18 acres of turnips on his " Stoneyhurst" property, with a run put of 30 acres of stubble, for £60. Feed in the district is providing for all wants.

At a recent meeting of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce,. Mr. G. Elliott, the vice-president, reported that he was satisfied from personal inspection that the. work being done at the Piako Swamp was really magnificent. At an expense of some £64,000, land formerly useless had been reclaimed and sold to the value of about £100,000. The work demonstrated what could bo done by dredging, and the real cheapness of the method adopted of shifting soil. The dredges which were employed shifted soil, much of it clay, at a cost of 2{d to 2Jd per yard, instead'of sonietning like. 9d, which used-to be the cost. This fact "would have a considerable j bearing upon the; proposal to cut a canal from the ,;Waikato river to Maiiakau.

" When an Opposition member, on principle, refrains from urging the claims of his electorate for grants in aid of public works, for the sole reason that tho Government is hardpushed for money, I have found out by experience that the reward he gets is not in keeping with the consideration shown," said Mr W. Nosworthy during ■his post-sessional address in the Oddfellows' Hall on Friday evening. He added that, after having personally acted in the spirit mentioned by him, he had, when times were improved, gone to the Public Works Office to ascertain if tho claims he had made on behalf of his district had been included in the Estimates, as promised. What was the result ? There was nothing on the list for Ashburton, and he had left in disgust after expressing himself in terms that corresponded with his feelings. Shortly after this, lie noticed to his surprise, that the several small requests he had made had been instated in the Estimates, but the grants, of course, were by no means so large as he had asked for. "Tins," said Mr Nosworthy, " serves as another instance of the inconsistency of a party that professes, to be a Government of the people." v;

All the Canterbury rivers were r'Sported to be clear this morning.

The Ashburton Racing Club has appointed Mr R, Harley as starter at its Autumn Meeting, at winch Mr UPiper is unable to officiate.

Tiie Rev. W. J. Dawson and Mr Churchill (th« latter from England.) have been invited to deliver temperance addresses in Ashburton at *n early date, in connection with the ISoLieenss campaign. ■-■ ,\ .-.,.■•

\ Press Association telegram from' InverSl states that Victor Yon T nXman, who is serving seven years iwiifisouinettt for incendiarism and v" Sy ?%** on Friday sentenced to twefi Imprisonment additional for attempting to escape fiom gaol:

JudKiuK !>y tiiS number .of _ sheep that a^rfbeing imputed" irrto Canterbury at the present time, it would ap Deal that stock feed in Otago and So? Southland is becoming very learce A special train, with a conS en t«f sheep, passed through Etnon Sunday for the .north, and another tram with empty trucks | also passed through for the south.

There seems to be a " forward movement" amongst shopkeepers in +li« town at-present for affecting lepain To their premises. Quite- a number have receAtly put new windowSnta to their shops, and crtherwije carried out improvements. i™* ,«* no doubt taking advantage of the slack season to have the work done.

Good progress is being made with the work of laying down the acadamiseci asphalt on the Ashburton traffic bridge. The crown is being kept up higher than that formerly laid down, and, in addition to this, pipes have been put in every few yards on each side of the. bridge for the purnose of draining oft the surface water.

At Saturday's meeting of the A. and P Association, a letter was read from Mr Walter Pickles, the local agent for the British-New Zealand .Meat and Produce Company, giving the final iesult of special prizes given for the first pen of five fat lambs at the summer show. The results were: J._ H. Bule, Net proceeds, £3 9s 4d, 15/lbs, result per lb 5.30 d. J. Stevenson, £3 16s lid, 1761bsj- 5.24 d. A. Curtis, £3 10s Bd, 1671b5, o.oßd.

" Men who go out duck shooting and bring home bags of two hundred per day are not sportsmen; they are butchers/ said Mr Elliott at the annual meeting of the Auckland Acclimatisation Society on Wednesday. Mr Elliott suggested that twenty-five brace was quite a big enough bag for any man to secure in one day. With tins view Mr F. Earl concurred, and he suggested that as the Government stipulated the maximum number of nsb which might be caught,: it^would \be a fair thing to ask t 1:. t some similar restriction should be placed on.the duckshootiilg "gluttons*" .

Farmers are complaining that, owmg to the dry weather, the work of skimploughing' grass land cannot be perfectly carried out, as the soil is very hard. At least three inches of ram are needed- to enable ploughing to be effectively done. The dry weather has, however, one redeeming circumstance, for it is favourable to the work of successfully clearing land of noxious weeds; but it is stated that. farmers do not avail themselves of opportunity in this respect. Yet, owing to the dirty or weed-infested state of some of the finest land in the county, its value for cereal production has been reduced. by several pounds per acre.

In conversation with one of our re.-1 porters, Mr H. Millichamp, of Tmwald, said that he had recently paid a visit to Otago and Southland, and had saw nothing which—from the point of view of an agriculturistcompared favourably with conditions in Cantei-bury. Mr Millichamp added that the dry weather had done a great deal of harm in the south, and farmers and graziers were becoming apprehensive regarding the shortage of stock feed. "Otago and Southland," said Mr Millichamp, "are nice places in which to spend a holiday, but taking everything into consideration it would be difficult to surpass. Canterbury as the ideal farming province."

A cable message published on Wednesday gave a circumstantial account of General Hector Macdonald having been seen in Manchuria, and his identity being admitted by British naval officers. On Friday a man who had served as a non-com, with Macdonald in India and Egypt called at v the New Zealand Times Office, and stated that Wednesday's cable message bore out his own belief. Two years ago, he said, lie was breakfasting at the Astor House, Shanghai, and seated in .the same room was .Hector Macdonald, his friend and companion-in-arms of,years before. The man would not admit the possibility of having been mistaken. He simply discarded the story of the Paris suicide altogether, and said that men in Shanghai whom he spoke to on the subject said he was correct. .

A meeting of the South Canterbury branch of the New Zealand Society of Accountants was held in Timaru on Friday night, when Mr J.'-L. Gillies presided over a good attendance. The meeting was called for the purpose of considering rules necessary for the successful carrying on of th^ local branch, various amendments were made in the suggested rules, copies of.Xwhich. had been \ Circulated amongst= the members, and '& workable set of rules ■ finally adopted. The election of the local committee resulted as follows: Messrs W. Pickles, F.P.A. (N.Z.) (Ashburton), C. Dash, R.A. (Waimate), Fred. Barkas, FiR. A., J. L. Gillies, F.R.A., W. T. D. Revell, A.P.A. (N.Z.), X, ■W. Gibbs, F.R.A., and A- Wilson F.R.A. A meeting of the local committee was arterwards held,' when Mr Fred Barkas, F.R. A. was elected Chairman, and Mr Gavin Moffat, F.R.A. secretary. .

At last the Ashburton A. and P. Association has decided to take steps towards the erection of a grand stand on its show grounds. For many, years, Mr Thomas Bullock has strongly urged the Association to erect a structure of. this class, and at the annual meeting on Saturday, Mr C. W. Wood, of Newlands, moved that the erection of a grand stand be a recommendation for the newly-elected committee. The Association is yearly extending its operations and usefulness as a public institution, and there is a feeling among a large number of the members and the public that the time has' arrived when a grand stand is absolutely necessary; and it is, besides, safe to assume that I the erection of such a building would contribute largely towards popularising the Association's annual show. It should be remembered that Ashburton is unquestionably ■ the centre of one of the most important agricultural and pastoral districts in the dominion, and much smaller associations have suitable grand stands on their show grounds

There is to be a combined harvest festival and welcome social to the Rev James Ings, in the Baptist Church, tomorrow evening, commencing at 7.30.

Unusual activity on tho part of brainy farmers and business men has been noticed during the last few weeks. This fact is apparent from the reports of sales of Ford Motor Cars. Per S.S. Magdala, due Bth March, there are 24 Ford Oars, all sold, to arrive, aond per S.S. Whakatane, due 31st March, there are 24 Ford Cars, all sold, to arrive, and per S.S. Invertay, due 25th April, there are 24 Ford Oars nearly all sold, to arrive. To demonstrate the simplicity of manage- | ment and absolute reliability ■• on the road, Mr Carson, the. Sole District Agent; of the Ford Motor Cars, is willing to give full information, and a trial trip, to bona fide-pur-chasers. 'rV: .. i 40