The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 1887. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1642, 22 August 1887, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 1887. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

France's President receives £36,000 per • nnnm " Sand-paper " now contains uoitber sand nor paper. The British interest m Brazil falls little short of £100,000,000. France has the largest national debt of any country m tbe world. India's foreign trade during the last ten years has increased 57 per cent., nearly treble the increase of any other country. A pauper centenarian has just breathed her last m tbo vicinity of Monmouth, England. Her name was Betty Charles, and she was 109 yean of age. ; The officers, non-commissioned officers, ! and men of the Aldershot division have con* tributed £22'J towards the Imperial Institute, ( and the sum has been forwarded to the Frinoe of Wales by Sir Arohibald Allison, the officer m command. The Deputy-Master of the Mint, m his annual report, mentions tbe interesting faot 1 that the total production of gold m Auatra. : lasia, from the earliest records to the end of I 1885, amounted m value to nearly 318 , millions sterling. We hear tbat the tiret issue of tbe Jubilee ; gold coinage from the Sydney mint has been reoalled m consequence of some error m the inscription, and the consequence is tbat tbe incorrect coins hava risen to a prioe far m excess of their current or intrinsio value Professor Jaegar olaims that the odour of camel's hair, whioh is so distinguishable, has a beneficial effect. Qe asserts tbat it produoes sleep m persons suffering from insomnia! and advises them to sleep on pillows covered with camel's hair and stuffed witb hair. The manuscript of a hitherto unknown comic opera by Flotow bas recently been dis covered at Mannheim, and it ia to bo producsd at the Carlsruhe Court Theatre. A curious scene waa witnessed at Carrick. on-Suir recently. A drayman m tbe employment of a brewer of Clonmel arrived at tho town with a load of ale and porter for delivery to customers. A crowd of people gathered round him, hooting and pelting bim, and tbe publicans for whom be had brought tbo liquor refused to allow bim to enter their houses. The police interfered to proteot him from the violence of the crowd, and he was finally escorted out of town by cix constables. The disturbance originated m a dispute at a football match between the (Jarriok and Clonmel teams for the championship of Tipperrry. Tbe players quarrelled and fought, I and sis Carriok men were arrested and fined by the Mayor of Clonmel, hence the boycottiug of the Clonmel brewery. If we look to America (says a Home paper) for the production of ingenious machinery, we still find that the elegant and beautiful come to us from our French neighbours. We are reminded of this by seeing tbe descrip. tion of a new form of clock whioh has recently be^u patented m France. Tbe novtlly of it is m the dial, whioh is made of parchment, and painted witb garlands of flowers. Among these flowers are seen two bees, which literally flit from flower to flower; but while one gets round the dial m an hour, the other takes twelve hours to run its course. Tbe parobmenthas no opening m it; and it puzzles many to understand how the busy bees can be made to move without any connection with the interior works of tho clock. Here is the explanation :—Just underneath the parch, ment face are the ordinary hands of the clock, each forming a magnet. The bees, being made of light steel, readily follow tbe paths of the unseen magnets below the parohdial.

Sir Julius Yogel will deliver an address m Ashburton on Thursday evening. On Saturday night the Willmott Comedy } Company gave their second performance m Ashburton at the Oddfellows' Hall, the pieces plaoed on the beards being " Good for Evil " and " Borrowed Plumes." There was again only a moderate attendance, far less than tha merits of the Company deserved, but the members endeavoured to appear oblivious of the fact that a poor house was before them, and went through their respective parts with more than ordinary fire. During the evening Mr Willmott announced that, by request, he had decided to give another performance on Monday (to-night). We hope to see the efforts of the genial Frank better rewarded by the Ashburton play-goers. The Company will also appear m the Templar Hall,' Tinwald, to-morrow night. A football matoh was played on the Sports Ground on Saturday afternoon between a local team and one from Geraldine. The game resulted m a viotory for the local team by a goal to nil. Some time ago a oloak was stolen from the ladies' waiting room at the Railway Station, and at the same time a resident at Trevorton lost a rug. These articles have been found m the possession of a woman named Croten, who is at present serving a term m the \ Timaru gaol for larceny. She will be brought up at the looal Court on Thursday nest. Mr John Stalker, of Tinwald, has applied for a patent for a grating-check. Mr Palmer^announoes that he will meet the electors of Bangitata, on Thursday next, at Flemington, and on Friday at Doric. It is notified m the" Gazette " that letters of naturalization have been issued to Jeus Laurity Christensen, farmer, of Mayfield. An official return show 3 that German conscriptions' m 1880 reaohed 1,010,525 m number, and prosecutions for emigration without permission, 159,092. The body of Sir Julius Von Haast was interred at the Avonside Cemetery on Sunday afternoon. It was a very large funeral, and was attended by the governors, professors, and students of Canterbury College, the Mayor and City Counoil, the Industrial Association, Philosophical Institute, Freemasons, and foreign consuls. The statement of accounts issued by the Christchurch City Council shows that the Auditor General has disallowed the following items " for whioh no au hority of law is shown : " — Payment to licensing clerk, £50 ; refund of Club license, £5 ; expenses of Queen's Jubilee meeting, £40 7s; contribution to Fire Brigade picnic, £10 lOd. New Orleans boasts a new thing m warts* One of her citizens; has one on the back of his neok, which he uses for a collar-button. The price of gas m Invercargill is 7a Od per thousand feet, so that Auckland is not the cheapest supply. Dunedin supplies at 6a isd per thousand for cooking and motive power. At the French registrar's ollioe a wedding party had been waiting a considerable time for the bridegroom. At last he came— an old man about 70. " Another time," said the registrar, " try to be here a little sooner." A very Berioua stabbing case occurred at the Old Men's Home about -1 o'clock this morning. Two men, named respectively Wm. Sohaffer, a foreigner of apparently about 35 years of age, and Wm. Morgan, an old man between 50 and 00, occupied one of the small compartments into which the wards are divided, the bunks of the two men being a tow feet apart. Morgan, it appears, was or sis times to " Bhut up." Shortly afterwards Morgan got up, when Sohaffer Btruok him on the head with a piece of wood. The two men struggled on the floor for a short time, but Morgan mac aged to get Sohaffer down and wrested the bludgeon from him. The foreigner thereupon drew his pooket knife, and made a violent blow at Morgan's abdomen, but fortunately the old man managed to intercept the thrust with hia hand, or m all probability he would have received fatal injuries. As it waß, the blade of the knife went olean through his hand, entering at the baok and coming out at the wrist. Morgan called for assistance, and an inmate named Bichard Eiernan came and Beoured Sohaffer. Mr Fox, the master of tbe Home, was speedily on the scene, and he bound up Morgan's wound pending the arrival of Dr|Trevor. Information was sent to the police station, and at seven o'olock Schaffer was arrested by Constable Smart and lodged m the look-up. He will be brought up at the Court to-morrow morning. In Arkansas some time ago a olergyman said : "I bave again to apologise for the absence of the newly engaged tenor from the ohoir. Ho is expected by the next train. While I think of it I would suggest that the present practice of shooting at tbe organist during the service should bo discontinued. It is a ridiculous habit, annoys the congregation by filling the ouuvch with Bmoke. The poor man has his faults, but he does the best he can. Besides, it ohips the new organ. After a young man had three teeth drawn ,by a dentist m Mount Pleasant his jaw became immovable, and tbe doctors were unable to unclose them. It is stated that married men |f or {miles around Liverpool have con. cealed thia faot from their wives, and advise them, when they want their teeth extracted, \ to patronise the dentist who operated on the unfortunate young man hereinbefore mentioned. The object is unknown.