LOCAL AND GENERAL

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2305, 3 February 1891, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The estimated population of Sydney and anburbs at the end of las1; year was 383,000. In the Geraldine district on Sunday evening there was a splendid fall of rain of several hours' duration. Amongst the passengers to Auckland by the Mariposa was Mr C. A. Longfellow, a son of the poet Longfellow. He is on a pleasure tour of the colonies. The Ashburton Rifle Club hold thoir shooting competition to-morrow, when the Cup and Championship matches will be fired, the shooting is at 5 a.m. and 2 p.m. on the Ashburton range. At South Rakaia, to-day, before Messrs C. A. C. Hardy and L. Oxley, J.Ps. Michael Sheehan was charged with indecency in a public place, and there being some twenty or more convictions against him he was sentenced to one month's hard labor* On Saturday, some evil disposed persons broke nearly all the vases on the graves in the English portion of the Christchui-ch Public Cemetery. It is to be hoped the offenders will be caught and severely dealt with. Four splendid trout were exhibited in j Ashburton on Monday, caught by a local angler at the mouth of the Rangitata, and weighed 13£, 10J 10, and 51bs respectively. The Rangitata is still thick, but fish are plentiftil. It is reported that Mr Owen, who was dismissed by the railway authorities during the strike at Lyttelton, has been reinstated on the Palmerston North section. He made application in the usual way to the Commissioners, to whom he has surrendered his allegiance. At next general election the Queensland Labor party count on returning from twelve to fifteen candidates, which if it happens, will create a great rout in the old Conservative Camp. Teetotalism is a leading characteristic of the Queensland Labor leaders. The six foremost figures—Hinchcliffe, Casey, Mabbott, Seymour, Turley, and Bowman— all eschew strong drink, aa does also the editor of the " Worker," Mr Lane. On Saturday afternoon a four-roomed hous e at Southbridge belonging to Mr H. Paddyi and occupied by Mr H. "Buach, was totally wrecked by fire, only a portion of the furniture being saved by a few willing hands who happened to be near the place at the time. The origin of the fire is unknown. As far as can be ascertained there is no insurance. Mr Paddy's lose is estimated at about £100 The reason for the interest taken by Mr Buick in the housing of shearers and station hands is that i» the course of his canvass of the pastoral portions of the Wairau electorate, he was struck with the wretchedness of the accommodation set apart for the laborers and station hands on the large runs. It was, he says, neither more nor less than scandalous, and in many cases the men provided themselves with tents rather than avail themselves of the wretched huts.

The Ashburton Cricket Clnb will play an alphabetical scr. match to-morrow (Wednesday) afternoon, A to L r«i« M to Z, sides will be chosen on the ground, play to start at three o'clock sharp. In the Christchnrch R.M. Court yesterday Henry Message, who was convicted last week of distributing indecent literature, elected not to appeal, and undertook to discontinue the practice. Mr Beetham, R.M., ordered him to be imprisoned till the rising of the Court and to pay costs. It has transpired that am%n answering the description of Bennett, the defaulting bank manager, Sydney, was n, passenger by the 5.3 Moaowai, from Sydney, booked for San Francisco. He represented himself as a sportsman, and proceeding to San Francisco to meet Mr Thompson, with a view of arranging for laying out a racecourse near that city. As one indication of the improved slate of affairs in Auckland it is stated that the number of hotuses unoccupied are less by one half than they were at this time last year. In a great many cases improvements, have been made and the premises repainted. The number of depositors and amount of depositors are steadily increasing also at the Auckland Savings Bank, a fact which tells its own tale. The Taranaki " Herald " says:—The frequetit and heavy rains which are being experienced in this district this summer are doing damage to the grain and seed crops. It is reported that rust is appearing in the wheat, and that considerable damage has been done to the grass seed, which cannot be cropped, on account of the wet weather. On the other hand, the grass this year is in abundance. In fact, it has never been so luxuriant in summer within the recollection of the oldest inhabitants of the district. The season, too, has been, so old settlers aver, the wettest that thej . have ever knowm. On Saturday afternoon, a lad named John Sale, the second son of Pro. fessor Sale, Dunedin, while out shooting with three or four companions, met with a nasty accident, owing to the accidental discharge of a pea-rifle, with which one of the party was armed. The rifle was loaded with ball, and Sale received the charge in one of his elbows, which was shattered by it. Drs Hocken and Maunsell were soon in attendance, and extracted the bullet, and removed from the arm a piece of broken bone, and the lad is now progressing very favourably, and no serious results are apprehended. All master bakers,of Vienna recently combined together to form a '' ring " with a view to increase the price of bread in that city, especially the price of fancy kinds, like the "Kinfel" and " Kaiser-semmel." An old statute, however, which has never been repealed, forbids the formation of any trade combinations aiming at making the people's food dearer; and accordingly the Vienna Town Council, through their Executive Committee have taken legal proceedings with a view to break up the new combination among the ' bakers. The Ashburton Primitive Church officers have just accepted the tender of Mr Joseph Legget for the enlargement of the present church to more then double its present size. The cost,|inchiding seats, will be £200. The Rev Mr Cocker, who arrived only a few months ago from England, has bsen very acceptable in the pastorate of the church, and every Sunday evening there are some that cannot get admission to the present building. The enlargements are to be completed for Easter Sunday, and the week following a monster bazaar will be held. The members and friends are working hard to open the new part free of debt. Prebendary Earl Wilmot, in a sermon delivered recently in England on the healing of the infirm man at the Pool of Bethesda, said he had just heard from a friend in the East of the discovery of this-said pool at Jerusalem, with its five porches. That in sinking down the explorers came upon a church, St Mark's, which church was built over the spot in the sixth century. That on the walls were paintings descriptive of the Pool, with its live porches, and of the infirm waiting to be healed, -md the angel troubling the Pool. And in sinking down further that they came upon the Pool itself, with its five porches. In Smith's "Dictionary of the Bible" there is a pool mentioned, named Birket-Israil, which has been supposed to. have been the pool, but the " Speaker's Commentary " says it does not answer tn the conditions of the pool, as also this pool is not mentioned by any Jewish writers. Two lads, named Samuel Mardon and Jas. Evans, aged 20 and 14 respectively, were drowned yesterday through a canoe capsizing in the dam at Mardon's flax mill, Upper Riccarton. No one witnessed the accident, but a lad passing saw the boat upset, and one of the lads' arms in the wator, and gave r.n alarm. The employee* at the mill used every effort to recover the bodies. Mardon's father let off the water from the dam, soon after which the bodies were recovered. Eugene Frawley, aged thirty, lately bavman at Barritt's hotel, Christchurcb, met with a serious accident by removing the blinkers from a horse in a dray to feed him, at noon yesterday. The horse bolted, knocked Frawley down, trod on his chest, and the wheel of the dray also went over him, breaking several ribs, and completely crushing his lungs. Dr Ovenden was quickly in attendance, but Frawley was not expected to live through the night. Six weeks ago two. boxes of butter from the Tai Tapu factory were placed in the Islington freezing works to test the relative merits of placing butter in the freezing cr the cool chambers of steamers. The period of test was that taken by steamers to perform the voyage, from the colony to England. Yesterday morning the boxes were opened for inspection by Mr M. Murphy, Secretary of the Canterbury A. and P. Association, Mr Muunings, and the" Directors of the Tai Tapu Dairy Factory. The test was not quite so satisfactory as could have been wished, for two reasons; one was that owing to alterations, etc., being carried on at Islington the temperature in the cool chamber got as low as freezing point, so that the butter was actually frozen for a time; the other was that there was an unequal quantity of salt in the two parcels of butter. Another experiment will be held consequently. A most important experhmnt has lately been made by the London Omnibus Comp pany, who are owners of 6000 horses, on the subject of crushed v. whole food. Onehalf of the horses were confined to one kind of feeding—viz., that of bruised oats and cut hay and straw, and the other half to whole oats and hay. The ration allowed per day to each horse, according to the one system, was :—Bruised oats, 161bs ; cut bay, 7^lbs; cut straw, 2{rlbs. The quantity allowed, according to the old system, was : Unbruised oats, 191bs; uncut hay, lSlbs. There is thus a saving of 61bs on the feeding of each horse, and this saving is not merely in the quantity, but in the value of the articles employed, for straw in the former case was substituted for hay in the latter. The advantage of one kind of feeding over the other was far more apparent when reduced to money value. The saving by using the bruised oats and cut hay is nearly 2id per day for each horse, which is equal to £62 103 per day for the 6000 horses. And it is said this saving was accomplished without any sacrifice whatever, for all the drivers and those having charge of the horses agreed that the difference in the condition of the horses was decidedly in favour of those fed on bruised oats and cut hay and straw. The ration of cut and bruised stuff seems small. The Sydney 'Bus Company feed their 1000 horses with bruised corn, oats &c,, and oaton hay chaff, of which about 15|lbs of each per horse are given each day. Hojxoway's Oixtmext axd Pruj?. — The combined ill effects of over-crowding, sedentary occupations, and monotony of life are only too well known to thoso vho have to paat tljo best part of their lives laboring in factories and crowded workrooms. The compulsory confinement weakens the general health and induces chronic constipation, indigestion, and various forms of skin diseases. Hqlloway's remedies are of priceless value to persons of this class, for they can be used without entailing loss of work, being purely vegetable in their composition, and consequently act ■without harshness on the most delicate system. The experience of more than forty years proves that no means surpass Holloway Js remedies foil en ring i bad _legs, bad breasts, piles, and woum\s of f