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Ashburton Guardian, Volume 1, Issue 117, 24 June 1880, Page 2

Lecture. —The Rev. A. J. Smith, of Ashburton, lectured on Monday in the Primitive Methodist Church, Cambridge terrace, on “J. B. Gough.” The attendance was fail’. The chair was taken by the pastor of the church, who, after singing and prayer, introduced the reverend lecturer to the audience. The reverend gentleman was attentively listened to, and requested to give his lecture again at some future time, to which he readily assented. After the usual vote of thanks, Doxology, and Benediction, a very enjoyable evening was brought to a close.— Times. The Oddfellows’ Ball. —At a meeting of the Ball Committee on Tuesday, it was decided to engage Gardiner’s Quadrille Band from Christchurch, so that the excellence of the dance music is vouched for. The Town Hall on the night of the ball will be grandly decorated with emblamatic devises, representing each of the Oddfellows’ degrees, and banners, bannerets, &c. , emblazoned with ensignia of the order will bo made use of. The indispensable evergreens will be aided in their effect by a large number of pot plants obtained from brother nurserymen. The Eclipse. —The night of Tuesday was clear and the sky almost cloudless, so that a fine opportunity was given to watch the eclipse of the moon. To the ordinary observer nothing out of the way was apparent until nearly midnight, when the moon’s edge became slightly obscured, and the obscuration gradually increased till the total phase was reached, and then as gradually passed away, until a little before three o’clock old Luna was herself again. The disc of the moon was never wholly lost sight of, but throughout the whole phenomenon shone through the obscuration with a reddish brown light. A good many people were about during the night watching the unwonted event and many sat up at comfortable fires,) paying occasional visits to the window. One wag paid a hurried and excited visit to a genial and unsuspecting neighbor, and, wakening him up with a great row, asked him to come and see an old acquaintance stealing his green cheese ! The sleepy one got up to see what it was all about, but found the frost most powerful upon him than the attractions of the eclipse. Ashburton Cricket Club. —A well-at-tended meeting of the members of this club was held on Tuesday, in the County Council Chambers, Mr. Grant in the chair. The treasurer, Mr. St. G. Douglas, read the balance-sheet for the season, which showed liabilities to the extent of L 8 17s. Gd., with IA 4s. 9d. in hand. At a later stage of the meeting the members present augmented the balance in band to tlio extent of 305., so as to clear off some accounts which have been due for a long time. A draft of the rules of the Canterbury Midland Club were read seriatim, and with a few alterations and additions were adopted as the rules of the Ashburton Club, and ordered to be printed. The election of officers was then proceeded with, resulting as follows : —President, Frank Guinness, Esq. ; Vice-Presi-dent, Dr. Trevor ; Treasurer, Mr. St. G. Douglas ; Secretary, Mr. A. Fooks ; Captain, Mr. G. A. Andrews ; Vice-Captain, Mr. Grant ; Committee of Management, Amos, Denshire, Mainwaring, Marsh, Price, Strangman, and Westenra. A very animated conversation took place with i eference to the necessity existing for the appointment of a Custodian, it being universally admitted that the property of the Club had received severe handling, and had deteriorated very much in value through the want of such an officer. Mr. Poyntz subsequently consented to act as Custodian. Now that only one cricket club is in existence for the district, it is to be hoped that a feeling of unity will prevail amongst our cricketing friends. By pulling together and sinking every feeling of jealousy, which has existed more or less in the past, combined with losing no opportunity which presents itself for practising the noble and healthful game, there is no reason why Ashburton should not in the future produce a cricketing team that will prove a determined and difficult foe to all opponents. Non-players who admire the game are invited to help the Club by an occasional donation to its funds. The Volunteer Outrage. —ln the Legislative Council on Tuesday evening the report of the inquiry into the Volunteer misconduct at the Christchurch review was laid on the table. Colonel Whitmore withdrew his motion for an inquiry, but will re-introduce it if necessary after reading its papers. Colonel Brett said he had important letters on the subject, which he would place in members’ hands.

Waterton Assessment Court. —There was only one objector to the Longbeach toll on Monday, Mr. John Grigg, one of whose objections was sustained. Mokmonism.— A detatchmcnt of Mormon converts from the southern parts of New Zealand and from Australia, sailed in the mail steamer from Auckland for Utah. A Thirsty Thief. —A burglar broke into a shop in Oamnru, by cutting out a pane of glass. Ho found no money, but stole two dozen of porter. Temperance Column. The Christchurch Globe has made arrangements with the Good Templars of that city, for the publication once a week of a column of temperance paragraphs. The Smuggled Report. —The Times' correspondent says a searching inquiry will be made into the circumstances attending the publication of the Civil Service Commission report before it was laid on the table of the House. Broaching Cargo. —Some seamen of the ship Chile are under remand till the 30th June, by the Auckland R.M., on a charge of broaching cargo on the voyage out. They stole whisky,' &c., and left burning candles about in all sorts of places in a ship with 200 barrels of gunpowder on board. A Fortunate Borough.— The stoppage of the subsidies, so far as concerns the Borough of Napier (says the Daily Telegraph), will make very little difference to the revenue of the Corporation, if the Ministerial proposals are carried out by which Government property shall be liable for rates. The house and land property belonging to Sl thc r Governmcnt in Napier, exclusive of railway buildings, at the last valuation was estimated at over L 37,000, upon which a shilling rate would return LI,BGO. This is a larger sum than what the borough received as a subsidy last year, but fails short of what it would have obtained this year if the subsidies had been continued. Vacancy in the Town Council.— Mr. Edward Saunders, who is removing permanently to Courtenay, has placed his resignation in the hands of the Town Clerk, and his seat at the Borough Council will now he vacant. Recently Mr. Saunders has been unable to devote as much time to the Borough’s business as he would have liked, his residence at Scafield interfering with the regularity of his attendance, but during the time ho lived within the township there was not a more regularly attending councillor, nor one more attentive to its business. His removal is certainly a loss. The Civil Service Commission. —The Civil Service Commissioners have returned their Commissions to the Governor. They think that before proceeding further with their investigations Parliament ought to say whether or not it is desirable that the woi-k, involving as it does a heavy expenditure, should be proceeded with. They believe they can do good service in the work, and are willing to proceed if backed by Parliament, but it is not an advantage to work with the Royal Commission system generally disapproved of by the country. They also think the work is an urgent necessity. Parliament should have the option of saying who shall carry that work on—whether the old Commsssion or one formed of other gentlemen. Wesleyan.— The usual quarterly meeting of office-bearers of the Wesleyan connection in Ashburton was held last night in the Cameron street Church. There was only a moderate attendance, the Rev. W. Keall, superintendent of the circuit presiding. The statistics read showed that there were forty-seven fully accredited members, with five on trial. The balance-sheet for past quarter was not very encouraging, the total receipts being L 52 2s. 7d., with an expenditure of L 66 12s. Bd., the deficit with the debt held over from last quarter, leaving a balance on the wrong side of L 47 19s. with which to start the incoming quarter. A lengthy conversation took place on the unsatisfactory state of the finances of the church, which brought cut two very feasible schemes for the more satisfactory carrying on of that indespeusabie department of the church’s affairs. A meeting of members of the congregation will he held this evening, when these schemes will be laid before them, along with other matters pertaining to church work. Several other items were considered by the meeting, amongst which it was decided to hold services at Tinwald for the future. Jenny Lind —Jenny Lind, the Swedish songstress, who twenty or thirty years ago enjoyed a popularity that has rarely been equalled, and whose name was on everybody’s lips, is now residing with her husband (Mr. Goldsmidt) in an obscure English village, and on fine Sundays is a prominent member of the Church choir. The famous vocalist is said to have grown exceedingly touchy her in her old age, and she loves to “rule the roast” in the choir. How strange a change must it seem for a celebrity who has travelled the world over in her day and delighted thousands by her singing to have settled down at last, her life of hurry and excitement over, to the quiet hum-drum existence of an English village ! Marble in Japan. —Signor Gagliard', Italian Professor at the Polytechnic Institute in Tokio, who was lately commissioned by the Japanese Government to explore the Ibaraki mountain range, reports that lie lias found several veins of marble of different colors. One mountain, Suvoyama, seemed to him to be a mass of white statuary marble, and he also declares that he came upon some black marble equal to the finest in Europe. He anticipates that if care he taken in quarrying, and facilities of transport be provided, Japan will become the great marble market for the world. Marble has been known in Japan for centuries, but it was not much prized, being considered too difficult to polish. The World’s Wheat Crop. —lnforma-, tion to hand by last English mail shows in the wheat crop of the whole world for 1879, there was a deficiency of over 375,000,000 bushels, nearly 200,000,000 bushels of the deficiency falling in Europe. The Bulletin des Halles et Marches publishes an interesting table showing the yield in bushels for each large wheatraising country in 1879 : —United States, 337,500,000; France, 172,125,000 ; Russia, 157,500,000; Germany, 90,000,00; Spain, 78,750,000 ; Italy, 67,500,000; Austria-Hungary, G 3,000,000 ; Great Brilain, 47,500,000 ; Turkey, 27,500,000; Roumania, 22,500,000 ; Belgium, 14,050,000; Portugal, 5,075,000; Algeria, 10,875,000 ; Canada, 13,500,000 ; Australia, 14,050,000 ; Egypt, 11,500,000 ; Netherlands, 3,375,000 ; Denmark, 2,250,000; Greece, 3,375,000; Servia, 2,812,500. A Costly Leg.— The Massachusetts Courts have ordered the payment of probably the largest price ever given for a human leg, except, perhaps where it was lost on the field of battle and the owner took the question into politics. A Chicago travelling salesman was so injured by a railroad accident that his leg was amputated, and he obtained a judgment against the Company for 18,000 dollars. The Company naturally appealed, and the second verdict was for 26,000 dollars; another appeal resulted in the new verdict, which is for L 45,000 dollars. And still the Company is not satisfied. A motion is to be made to set aside the damages on the ground that they are excessive, and there is a possibility that the Court may so decide. The power to do so has been exercised in some cases, though it is difficult to see why this is one. The fact that no such damages have been given bcfoie in a case of the kind is not a proof tha uch damages should not be given, to each railroads economy in accidents.