LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XIV, Issue 2842, 7 December 1892, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Mr Edward Gates, Grove Farm, returned on Tuesday evening from his trip Home, looking remarkably well. At the annual meeting of the Charitable Aid Board, at Chris*ctiurch to-day, Mr R. Westenra was elected chairman for the si^th time. At Christohurch on Monday th§ Eon Mr Seddon received a deputation from the unemployed, who stated that eighty-eight men had already put down their names at the Labor Bureau. Mr Seddon agreed to send aa many men as were willing to work to the North Island. Mr Alfred Smith, formerly manager of the Bank of New Zealand here, from whence he was transferred to Wanganui, has now been pr<im<»Ud tQ Gisborne. Before leaving Wanganui Mr Smith W entrained by the business people and resident, and a ftapd; some souvenir of his present stay in Wan : giintti—of whiflh \gm he is, a native—will follow him to Gisbgroe, The **' Timaru Herald " reports that at the 'Rangitata, on Friday evening, in five hours' fishitt!?, Mrs Hayhurst landed seven fish scaling 601bs, among them being one of loilbs and another of lOlbs. Mrs Ashwell the same evening took four, weighing 36tbs, mcluding «na ol lUbs and one of lOlbs. Their guide, Mr Kicp^s, landed six that Doaled 41|lbs, Thp river i.S »o Bolend|a qrdev. The *' Southlana Timeß " says tl»afc a tooa| entomologist has come to the concision that the beetle which is swarming in tye district and to which reference was made the other day, is the Encolapsis Brunnea or bronge beetle, an insect peculiar to New Zealand. It is destcuctive to fruit trees by eating their forage, and later in fche year attacks grass rpota, &<»,, At the monthly meeting of the Ashburton Lodge of Freemasons to-morrow evening the Depufcy-Disfrjct Grand-Master for Canterbury, E,C, Bro K> D, Thomas, and his officers will be present. The proceedings will be of more than usual interest, and visitors are cordially invited, The District Gr*nd,M*ster, Bro F. Cunningham, was expected to be present, but hw been called away to the Noith Island, . ; The Christchurch City Council have discussed the question of lighting. The Electric Light Company tendered to light the City for £2100 per anuum f«r aeyen years, £2000 per annum for the neyc seven years, and £1900 a year for the following six years. The Gas Company offered to light the City for three years at £1.57^ per year, five years for £1379 per yeat, or soven years for jt'llß2 per year. The lighting committee recommended the acceptance of the Qaa Qonipany's tender for either five or seven years, "built, the matter was deferred to a special meeting to be held neyt Monday. At the TißwaJd saleyards oj^ Tuesday* Mr Leicester Matsen, who for some tin>e was assistant auctioceoi? tn Mr David Thomas, but who has now, in conseq^enoa of tho lamented death of his eldest brother, removed to (ifhristGlvupch, saul a few words of farewell to the farmers, dealers, butchers, and others attending the yards. Mr I^eioes|E6i? AJateon was very much Uked by everybody whom he met i» business, in athletics, and in private life, ar,d he will be a. good deal missed from Ashburton.. We wish him every success in his new Bphere of laljor— he takes up his late brother, Mr J. T. Watson, junr's, department as general assistant and aucitanogr to hia father in the business of Messrs H. M'ata&# apd Co., associated with' tl?e National Mortgage Agency !Co., Lliniped',' Christchurch. Mr Leic^st^p Matson's b^otbep David has joined Mr D. | Ihomas" staf in Ashbupton, Meners Colemane and Sons' Eucalypti Extract (manufactured at Mittagong and Cootamnnrtra, New South Wales) has attained a reputation as a specific lor flections of the chest, lungs, consumptions asthma, diphtheria,'and. a yanety of other complaints. It numbers among its patron, E»irl Jersey, th<j present, and Lord Uarrlngton, late, Governor of Now {south Wales, while In Great Britain during the influenza epedimic scarcely a house or oiiice was with, out it. Messrs Colemane and kpns whole, sale depot is in ChrUteburoh. Sharland mi. Co. are wholesale agents fop the Hon | Jela.P'l

There was on exhibition at the Tinwald Paleyards on Tuesday a stone-gatherer and rut-filling machine shown by Mr J. Anderson, of Rangiora, the inventor and patentee. A large number of practical farmers were present while it was being worked, and expressed their thorough satisfaction at its capabilities. The machine is useful for collecting surface stonea and also for filling up ruts on the roadway. It can also be used for collecting turnips sown broadcast, for cleaning water races, and sluggish or muddy rivers. It is a local invention, and is the sole property of the inventor. It is a machine so far as is known in the colony that has never been exhibited on our planet before. Its parts are extremely simple, and on this account there is very little chance of the machine easily getting out of order. The draught is light, two ordinary horses being sufficient to work it. Your readers vv ill remember (writes the Melbourne correspondent of the " Otago Daily Times'") that the Acting Railway Commissioners of this colony are on terms of decided disagreement with Mr Allison Smith, the locomotive superintendent. It was stated in the newspapers some time ago that during an interview Mr Kibble, one of the Commissioners, had used very ungentlemanly language to Mr Smith. Correspondence has now been laid before Parliament in which the \ctual language used is given to the world for the first time. This is Mr Smith's version:—" Mr Kibble called me a liar, a disloyal scoundrel, a dirty blackguard, a hound, and other epithets which I will not recall, besideß declaring with emphasis that he could and would, work me ont of the Government service." The Commissioners on their part admit that Me Kibble used the words—" You are a miserable, disloyal, treacherous hound." There was a fairly good attendance at th c Presbyterian Church on Tuesday evening on the occasion cf the service of song—" Uncle Tom." The service comprised the reading of a very much abridged and condensed version of Harriet Beechsr Stowe's celebrated story, with choral illustration. The part songs and solos introduced are selected from iba various Sunday School hymnals, Sankey's collection, Philip Phillips', the American Songster, etc., and have been fitted in very appropriately throughout the story. There is nothing original in- the music of the service, the whole having been selected by the editor, the now well-known Tipton, who has compiled a large number of services of this kind for the use of Sunday Schools. Mr Fiizzell, of Hampstead School, was the reader, and Mr J. C. Lane, the conductor of psalmody for the churph, conducted the choir, Miss Grubb being organist. The sacred pieces were sung by a chorus of girls from the Sunday School classes, aided by the choir, the male voices of which did very good woik throughout. The choruses went with steadiness from beginning to end, and the simple little songs which comprise the service were sung very sweetly by the mixed choir. With a trifling exception, the solos, which were of necessity short, could not have been much improved upon. The Rev A. M. Beattie, M.A., returned the thanks of the Sunday School to the audience for their attendance at the service, the proceeds of which go the funds of the school library.