LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXI, Issue 6620, 13 July 1905, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Cable and Commercial news will bo found on the first and fourth pages.

Road Back — For the Timaru-Christ-church road racetlio prize list and subscriptions already received totul £200, and it is anticipated thg,t when the entries and acceptances close the total will be £250.

Flaxtjourne Estate—On August loth another portion of the Flaxbourne Estate will be thrown open for settlement. Tbis will includo 835 acres of agricultural land, divided into 25 leaso-in-perpotuity ordinary farms, ranging in area from five to 187 acres, and six acres of town land in 20 allotments, ranging from 35 perches to 1 acre 24 perches.

Country Telegrams —The PostmasterGeneral declines to make a maximum mileage rate for the delivery of country telegram s,of 3e 6d for a seven mile limit. At present telegrams are delivered free up to a mile from the office of delivery. Up to three miles a rate of Is 6d is charged, and beyond three milea delivery is subject to special arrangements and actual cost of carriage. It would be impossible to provide for 3s 6d for a seven mile delivery in county districts, really a journey of fourteen miles.

The State Coal Mine.—A telegram from Westport says: Very strong dissatisfaction is expressed in fr'eddonville and in Westport at the scarcity of orders for the State coaimine coal. The miners are working a hard coal, equal to, or little short of, the best coal mined in the district, and they cannot understand why so few orders are forthcoming:. The soft coal previously mined in away £ix another part of the field altogether and is not being worked at the present time. In three weeks the miners only worked four days. They propose to send a deputation to Wellington to ascertain the reason for this unsatisfactory state of affairs.

Weathsb Fokboast. — Captain Edwin wires as follows:—Moderata to strong winds from between south and east and north-east; glass rise elowly; weather colder.

Poultry and Eggs.—Mr J. McLachlan, M.H.R., has forwarded to Mr E. G. Berryman a number of copies of Mr Hyde's, tho Government expert's, treatise on poultry

keeping. T'hoso interastod, who are desirous of obtaining copies of the work, can do so on application to Mr Berryman.

Aldington Stock Salw. —cal9R were effected at Adclirigton yesterday ou account of kvttl farmers as follow3;-Fat sbeop — Mr A, D. Mollraith, Hakiia, 55 at 24s 9.1 to 25s 4d ; Mr W. Wilkinson, Q\ ertsay, 105 at 223 2d to'23s4d; Mr B. J. Ha^riron, Rakaia, 120 at 2ls 5d to 22s ; Mr T. Dowling. F.akaia, 107 at 19s to 22s 6d ; Mi- J. Studholmo, Coldstream, ISO at 17s (3d to 2I» ; Mr T. Nee, Methven,6o at 17a 9d to 18s 9d.

Father Hays.—A telegram from Auckland says :—Acting on medical advice Father Huys will not k>are by the San Frsn» cisco boat on Friday, as was ciginally intended, but will remain in New Zaaland for several weeks for thu purpose of re ting. Hie New Zealand tour, however, will close with Thursday Bight's lecture.

Keeping as Eye on Liquor.—The conveyance in a carrier's cart yesterday of two small barrels whose estimated holding capacity was set down at ten gallons was observed by a constable, and the destination thereof noted. The sequel occurred shortly afterwards when a visit was paid by the police authorities. Oh its being ascertained that the addressee wa3 an office-holder of a lodge which was that evening holding an anniversary celebration, and that the contents of the barrels were intended for consumption by the celebrants thereat, the incident closed.

The Colony's Exports—During the month of June the produce exported from the colony was of the following volume and value : —Butter 3570wt, value £1745; cheese, 975cwt, .£2436; beef 15,887cwt, .£15,4.75 ; mutton 156,766 carcases, £111,889 ; legs and pieces mutton, 1894cwt, .£2895 ; Irtinb, 216,962 carcases, £135,612; wheat, 129,299 bushels, .£18,437; oats, 48,870 bushels, £4129; potatoes 70 tons, £472 ; hemp 2107 tons, .£47,954.

Strange's Gbeat Sale—Strange's great annual Stock-taking Sale (for whioh active preparations have been in progress for some weeks past) is timed to commence on Tuesday 2 jth July, and promises to be of a more than usually attractive character this year. Vas: | quantities of fresh and fashionable goods will be submitted at astonishingly low prices, the object being to reduce stocks, so far as it can possibly be done, prior to Strange'a annual audit. The sale catalogue (a huge affair) will be circulated shortly. 7 132

An Unusual Interview. —The perils of country journalism are numerous, but the latest experience of the Hamilton " Argus " is exceptional. A cattle sale was being held a few days ago in a yard adjacent to the newspaper office, when a cow lost her temper and tossed one man- out of the yard. " Another cow," naively states the newspaper, " entered thii office, but as we are used to being interviewed by infuriated beasts, the advent of this one did not disturb the equanimity of the establishment. After a general inspection of the premises she departed quietly, without even stopping her paper."

A Hare Drive—At the invitation of Mr Jumes Henderson, Dunsandel, the Ellesmere, Brookside and Duneandel Gun Clubs held a combined hare and rabbit drive on the Heslerton Estate and surrounding paddocks. About sixty, guns took part, and about seven-hundred hares and rabbits were accounted for. The drive extendod from Dunsandel to the Healerton Estate, and as far south as Rakaia.

Pigeon Plying Club.—The annual general meeting of the Ashburton Pigeon Flying Club was held on Tuesday evening. The balance sheet was considered very satisfactory, and the Secretary, Mr P. White, was coniplimoated on the good work done during the pa3t season. Messrs Baker, Breeze, Shearman, Anderson, Ohlson, and White were elected a Committee for the ensuing season, and Mr H. Salter Hon. Secretary and Treasurer. The Club wishes to thank the srationmasterand railway officials for kindly attending to bird?. Members have been very fortunate in not losing many birds while flying them for training purposes. One owner lost recently two valuable homers which were shot by one of these would be sportsmen in this district, and surprise was expressed that proceedings were not taken against him, so that it might be a lesson to others. The season will be opened about the middle of August. At a Committee meeting to be held next week, dates will be arranged for races.

Ppksentations—ln recognition of the amount of secretarial work he did, and the excellent manner in which he performed it, the committee which had charge of the arrangements in connection with Father O'Donnell's Silver Jubilee recently made a presentation to Mr A. J. Muller, the Secretary. In presenting Mr Muller with a slight token of the committee's indebtedness to him the chairman (Mr M. J. Burgess) eulogised the ability the recipient had displayed, and several members endorsed the chairman's remarks. Mr Muller made an appropriate reply.— Mr C. W. Witheli severed his connection with the Darfield Sohool on June 30, having been master for a period of thirteen year^ nine months. On the occasion of his departure the children of the primary department presented him with a silver pencil and greenstone pendant set in gold. The pupils of the high school, in consideration of his kindness and of his efficiency as their instruator in woodcarving, presented him with a sefc of bound volumes of Sir Walter Scott's works. The pupils also presented Mrs Witheli with a set of silver butter knives set in pearl handles. Mr Witheli is now headmaster of the Mayfield School.

ASHBTTETON DEBITING SOCIETY. — The URual weekly meeting of this .Society was held last evening. There was a large attendance of merahors, Mr R. H. Davis presiding. The Tinwald Society wrote selecting the negative side of the subject " That the policy of tho Seddon Government has been ia the best interests of the colony " for the proposed inter-club debate on the 24th, and Messrs Q. H. Carson, W. H. Woods, A. Clarridge, and C. Collins were appointed to represent the Society in the debate. The Catholic Literary Society wrote suggesting Saturday, August 10th, as a date for a debate, and asking that the Aehburton Society submit subjects tor selection. Agreed to. Final arrangement a for the debate with the Flemington Society on Wednesday, 19th inst. 3 were made. The subject for the evening, a debate on the question " That the Crown leasehold is in the interests of the colony the best form of land t( nure," was then proceeded with, and resulted in a victory for the affirmative.

Nurse Maude's Consumptive CampAs many institutions in the Ashburton County in various ways raised money in aid of Nurse Maude's consumptive camp an extract from the first annual report will doubtless bo of interest. Inter alia the report states: —" The public have liberally 1 assisted towards making the camp a financial success private subscriptions amounting to .£722 19a 2d, whilst no less than £323 7s 7d has been paid into the credit of the camp from collections made by unions, societies, concerts, bands, clubs, etc. A Government subsidy baa been granted but not yet paid. The Committee hopes that the public will come forward in tho same generous spirit as they did last year. Since the formation of the camp by Nurso Maude in April of la=t year, 63 patients have been admitted, 21 r.f whom have left cured and been able to return to their occupations. One example of those who b»ve left cured speaks volumes for the camp, viz, that of a man who had hemorrhage six times and is now hale and hearty and able to go about his duties again. The Committee wish to take this opportunity of thanking those who have given time, labour, provisions, and money by means of which they have helped to combat and stamp otitso dread a curse as consumption." The main items of expenditure were— construction account £619 ;73 2ri : maintenance account .£159 0s sd; and wages £96 6a Id. The balance at the Bank was j statedtobe^l3l ls'id. j