The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 1892. LOCAL AND GENERAL

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XIII, Issue 2566, 14 January 1892, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 1892. LOCAL AND GENERAL

It costs abont £12,000 to fit up a vessel for the frozen meat trade. The New Zealand Shipping Company have ten steamers and three Bailers so fitted—over £150,000 sunk m the business. The Rev Gordon Webster, who has filled the office of Moderator of the Christchurch Presbytery since the resignation of the Rev H. Adamson m September last, was yesterday elected Moderator for the ensuing year. In Melbourne the death sentence has been recorded m the case of Francis Lyon and Junes Hayes, found guilty of burglary aud wounding. They broke into the house of Francis E. Ryan, Madeline street, Carlton, and wounded him with a aodawater bottle and a piece of wood. The Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association has decided to refuse entries made by an exhibitor disqualified by the Otago Agricultural and Pastoral Association for defiance of the officers of the latter association. The following item appeared m a Mississippi paper; "Rev. A Cathy, a minister, aged seventy years, living at Bunsville, recently eloped with MUs Millie Marlor, aged fifty-one years. The lady's jwents objected. * j The Stratford correspondent of the "Taranaki Herald" walls the statement that- men m that district; were being given £1 a day for grass seeding a "yarnr and states any number of men could be got for 10s a day. $heep m Hawke's Bay run to size. Out of a draft of 600 from on 9 station killed for freezutg up there lately, only sixty were under the regulation weight. One weighed 138, another lSllbs, and many were over 1201bs. The Sweetmeat Automatic Delivery Company of London (" penny m the slot") pa:d a dividend for 1890-91 of 10 per cent., and carries forward £2,298 4» 6d as against the same dividend m 1889-90 aud £TM lls lid carried fonrard. The injurie* sustained by the TZaAAm Minister through *lws accident he met with while riding through the interior of the North Island are confined to a s.trai#ing of th« muscles on one side, and complete #jcov«ry will* ww*d lyjiwt.

At the annual tneetiug of shareholders m the New Zealand Insurance Company yesterday the report and balance-sheet, declaring a dividend* of 12i per cent, was adopted. Messrs James Russell and R. Rose were reelected directors, and Messrs Bcoadm&u and Wayinouth again appointed auditors. A Wellington telegram says :—A warrant has been issued for the arrest of a jnr.au-who attempted to stab Dr Grace on Monday night. A man with whom the doctor had had a law suit some years ago visited the surgery demanding moiiey, and being refused drew a pocket knife and attempted to stab Dr Grace m the abdomen. The annual meeting of the Ashburton branch of the Women's Christian 'iemperance Union was held yesterday afternoon. The following officers for the ensuing year were elected :^-Mrs G. W. Andrews, president ; Miss Hannaford, secretary ; Mrs J. B. .Steel, treasurer; Mrs Edwards, superintendent social purity. A meeting of the Committee of the Ashburton Horticultural Society was held last evening ; nine members present. In consequence of spvetal members being at the Garden Party, and others desirous of going, the meeting was adjourned to this evening at eight o'clock at the Arcade Chambers, when a full attendance is requested to draft the prize list and fix the date of the show. A meeting of the Central Board of Health was held yesterday afternoon, at which Messrs Donald McLean, R. Campbell, G. W. Andrews, and Dr Tweed were present. A letter was read from the Hampstead Board, m which that Board expressed its desire to adhere to valuation as a basis of rating m preference to population. The question was fully discussed, but nothing definite was resolved upon, and the Board adjourned Three Portobello fishermen on Thursday last secured m one haul of their net three boatloads of mackerel. The fish were subsequently sold to Messrs Thomson Bros., manure manufacturers, of Port Chalmers, where, on being weighed, they turned the scale at 5| tons. Allowing 84 dozen of the fish to the ton, there were close on 6000 fish m the haul. On Wednesday last the men caught 120 dozen of the same fish, which they offered for sale at the Stuart street landing at the rate of js per dozen, but only eight dozen were disposed of, the remainder being sold to be converted into manure.—Dunedin "Times" An American inventor claims to have devised a bicycle that can be run at a speed of a mile a minute. Briefly described, the new machine is a regular safety bicycle half inside a big wheel. The large outer wheel is 9ft m diameter, and the inner circumference, connected by spokes to the outer wheel, is Bft m diameter. The driving wheel is three feet m diameter, and rides the big one a little beyond the centre or point of contact with the earth, so that it is constantly climbing on the big wheel. This friction revolves the big wheel at every revolution of the small one, and produces increased speed a».d power. Qua wheel surface is concave and the other convex, with one surface of rubber. A new telegraph form will shortly come into use. It is of the same size (says the " Post") as those which were m vogue until some months ago. The counterfoil which is necessitated by the abolition of the keeping of duplicate copies, is still retained, but the main sheet is reduced m size, though quite large enough for the general run of telegrams. The form is a great improvement upon the cumbrous sheets which have been inflicted upon the public of late. A big crop of old maids seems imminent, judging from statistics. If the statistics of Great Britain are correct, the excess of women and girls over men and boys m thac country is about 900,000. In Germany the females m excess of males is about 1,000,000. m Sweden and Norway the " weaker sex " is m the majority by about 250,000; m Austro-Huugary by 600,000 and m Denmark by 60,000. "In the United States, Canada and Australia the males are m the majority. In America there are about 1,000,000 more men than women. Broken Hill is still suffering from a water filming, aud vlic looidoute o.ro v«vl«oo<l to tU« direct straits. The price for 100 gallons of water has run from 12s to 255. One establishment m Main street is doing a good trade m filtered water at 3d a glass. The supply on which the town is depending is forwarded from South Australia by train, and one can imagine m what condition it reaches the town after a long railway journey m the blistering heat. The prayers for rain are being continued m all the Catholic churches, m which the triduum, or three days' devotion for rain, concluding with the exposition of the sacrament, commenced on Monday night. Many families are leaving town. At a new settlement m the Victorian mallee, called Hopetown, a singular accident occurred at the New Year's races. After the official programme had been gone through the owners of several horses arranged an impromptu consolation race. As the four horses engiged were about half a mile from the winning post a well-known local rider, Recce Jenkins, although not a starter m the race, was observed to cut across a corner of the course and run his horse into the two leading horses, all three falling m a heap. Recce Jenkins was killed instantaneously, and his brother John, riding one of the leading horses, was fatally injured. He continued insensible all night, and died at 11 o'clock on Saturday. The other riders escaped without; injury. An instance of squaring cases before they are brought into the police court wap exposed m the Water Police. Court, Sydney, on Monday. A constable had entered a charge of assault against a prisoner who was also charged with having been drunk, but on the case Toeing brought before the magistrate the constable made excuses for the prisoner, and the solicitor asked for a slight sentence. The case had been discussed outside and »n amicable arrangement come to between the solicitor and the constable to get the man off. Unfortunately, however, for the defence, the arrangements had been made and the discussion carried on beneath the magistrate's window, and when the constable stepped into the box the evidence was anticipated by the magistrate, who spoke his mind, and although the solictor begged for mercy all round, the {prisoner wa« hgavily sentenced, and the constable's conduct is to be reported. —" Otago Daily Times'" correspondent. Mr George Augustus Sala, m a leading article m the London " Daily Telegraph, " sa y S ._»A Maori.lady is nothing without a short pipe, which she smokes with the philosophic equanimity and the stocial ! determination of an Irish applewoman. j Nothing, it would seem, can permanently wean the female New Zealander from her beloved dhudeeu. There is a story told of I an officer m the British army who, at the j conclusion of our last war wifch the Natives, j settled m the bush and became what is known as a " Pakeha Maori, " or white man affiliated to the Native ways. " He fell m love with a Maori princess, sent her to school m England, had her brilliantly educated, married l«<ir 4 brought her back to New Zealand, took a handsorjie house for her at Auckland, and introduced her to the begt society. Her manners were considered to be equally dignified and refined, and she became »wt ©jt l^ea^r of fashion; but the married princess had vast ladled possessions, and, her title to some of these estates ijeing. disputed, she was summjoned to appear at Court held for the settlement of land claims at a township half-a-dsy's journey from Aaikfend. Her husband accompanied her, and they t©ok up their quarters at the best hotel m the place, The next morning the gallant officer unaccountably missed his wife and sought for her, m vain,'fo*a whole hour, He found her at last squatting, a la-Twque, on the steps* of the Courthouse," m a black i moire dress, a cashmere shawl, and her head enveloped io a faer.chiejf #f cpstly Brussels lace, tranquilly smoking a short hiac^ pipe ; m the company of ofciieFMaQrip4n^s.es. h& friends."

There are thousands of small dog ami goat farms scattered over the northern district^ of Mongolia, aud Manchuria, on ;.■; ii of which fiotn teu to several hundreds of animals are reared annually for the sakejpf their skins. The " Argus " representative who recently had a two hours' interview with Li Hung Chang says :—ln the course of the conversation tea, cigarettes, and champagne were placed on the table. Chinese etiquette prescribes that the visitor shall just sip the champagne, which is then returned to the battle, and preserved for the next audience. An outbreak of diphtheria has occurred m one of the suburbs of Timaru. As a result one death has been reported by Dr Lawson, and another case is likely to prove fatal. The Levels Road Board, m whose district the outbreak has occurred, is taking steps to remove the cause, if possible. • The Old Country and the Colonies are gradually being drawn closer and closer. The French mail steamer Australien, las'; trip, landed her Marseilles passengers m Melbourne m thirty-one days, and the lime occupied between Marseilles and King George's Sound was only twenty-five days five-and-a-half hours. Collecting postage stamps being auch a favourite hobby, the Portuguese Government are keen enough to turn the fancy to account. They propose to issue a new series of stamps, and thus Cause the present stock to be bought up immediately by amateurs and merchants. They expect to realise half a million sterling by this expedient. A circular has been issued from the Defence Office notifying that information has been received from the Agent-General that no objection exists to local Colonial officers, recommended by their AgentsGeneral, attending any course or school of instruction m the United Kingdom, and also that there is no objection to the presentation at Court- of such Colonial officers as may be presented by the Secretary of State for the Colonies. Hitherto it has generally been considered '< that the oyster was a harmless sort of beast, but it now appears probable that the typhoid fever, from which Prince George of Wales has been suffering, was contracted from Dublin oysters. In support of this | theory a. medical writer m one of the Home [ papers declared that a friend of his clearly traced his attack of typhoid to a luncheon of oysters served to him m a well-known Dublin tavern. The oysters m question, originally conveyed to Dublin from a distance, had been spread on a tidal bank to fatten. Over this bank the entire sewage of a neighbouring town was carried by the tide ! The forty-first anniversary of the establishment of the "Lyttelton Times "is marked by the reproduction m to-day's " Canter- j bury Times" of the original description of ' the voyages of the first four ships, with illustrations. Our contemporaries issued from the " Times" office are themselves ex- j amples of the progress made since 1850. To- ' day's " Canterbury Times " is an interesting memento of the early days, and will be read by old and young colonists alike. Captain Bourke, of the Ringarooma, told the people of Oamaru that he did not know how Oamaru was defended, but a few defences were not of any use ; indeed they were rather the opposite—a disadvantage, the unwritten law of naval warfare did not permit a vessel to attack an undefended town ; but if the town put up one gun she immediately became a fortified town and a fair mark for the enemy. The question naturally arises : Would it not be safer for us then to sell our guns and disband our volunteers ? A sad accident happened on Tuesday evening at Mr R. J. Parson s farm, near Amberley. His two little boys, aged about four and two years respectively, were playing about the yard, and Mr Parson's attention being drawn to the youngest one, who was crying, he ran out and picked him up. At the time nothingseriouswasfeared, but on Wednesday morning the little sufferer growing worse, Dr Morris was sent for. The child died while the doctor was present, it is supposed from a kick m the stomach from a horse. Great sympathy is felt throughout the district for Mr aud Mrs Parson. A magnificent lot of 107 fat lambs sent to Addington matkefc by Mr J. Dolan, of Rakaia, topped the market at lls lid to 14s 3d each. Among the fat sheep from this district sold at the same sale were 272 mixed crossbreds from Mr T. E. Upton at 14s 9d, aud ewes at 13s lid ; crossb»-eds from Mr J. 0. Wason, at 15s Id and 13s lid ; and crossbred ewes from Lowcliffe at 13s Bd, 13s Id, and 12s lid. Prime freezing mutton was quoted at at 2§d to 2yd per lb, net. " Lloyd's News " began its fiftieth year with its 2558t/h number, which was issued recently. JMr Traill's biography of Lord Salisbury, m dealing with the last struggle of the Tories to maintain the paper duty, reminds us how closely the fortune and fate of this popular paper were linked with the great struggle for taking the taxes off knowledge. It was the pioneer of the penny press and was an unbroken record of progress. Evidence of its remarkable popularity is afforded by its colonial circulation—now three times that of any paper m England. To mention the great names that are associated with its literary staff would be to grint the bead roll of Victorian worthies, f these none have doae moro to contribute to its success than its three editorsDouglas Jerrold, Blanchard Jerrold, and Thomas Catling. An announcement was made some time ago, and was repeated m every newspaper m the co'.ony, to the effect that Government we:e importing 2003 M #*o:dLee rifles with which to arm the defence forces of New Zealand. Major Steward, M,H ft, for Waimate, and Mr A. E. G. Rhodes, M.H P R, for Geraldine, m the interest of the volunteer corps m their respective districts, wrote to the Defence Minister, suggesting that these corps should be supplied with a full share of the new rifles, as the weapons those companies are working with at preseut are unfit for target practice, To these Igtters the Hon W. P. Reeves replied from the Defence Office that the MetfordrLee rifles had not yet been ordered, but the whole matter of re- j arming the Volunteer forces would be one of the first matters laid before the new commandant, whose arrival m the colony was shortly expected. Full correspondence is published m the Waims,te "Times "of January 13.