LOCAL AID GENERAL

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXIX, Issue 7728, 23 February 1909, Page 2

LOCAL AID GENERAL

When tho question of granting a carriage and driver's license to William Porter was brought before the Borough Council, for consideration on Monday evening, ■ three of the Councillors entered their strong disapproval of such licenses being granted. In reply to a question, it transpired that the town clerk had already formally granted the licenses referred to. In any case, tho Council by a majority confirmed'the granting'of the licenses. A mils': i-oom measuring forty-one inches ia circumference and weighing x'ound by Master Eric Appleby m a paddock at Annat, is now on view m Christchurch. The mushroom is very shapely, and m splendid condition, notwithstanding its train journey as a box parcel. A Press Association telegram from Wellington states that the Minister for Justice (the Hon Dr Findlay) and the Commissioner of Police (Mr W. Dinnie) are busily engaged at present j" revising the police regulations, which date back sonic twenty-five or thirty years. One immediate eifect**of the revision was the promotion of a chief detective (Mr McGrath) to the position of subinspector. "I promise to treat the two branches of the service as one," said tho Minister m conversation with a Post reporter. "If a chief detective had the necessary qualifications his promotion to a sub-inspectorship will be as possible as the promotion of i a man m the other branch of the service." "I am not saying," he added, " that the practice previously m vogue of treating the detective branch as a separate entity entirely imposed any hardship. Ido not know whether any hardship resulted, 'but it is only fair to the Commissioner to say that he himself recognised the fairness and advisability of this course being taken," A large amount of business is being transacted m connection with grain buying among local merchants. Farmers who have threshed appear to be very anxious to sell their wheat, and grain is daily railed, both north and south, m fairly large quantities. Several Borough Councillors, - who were groping their way along Havelock Street m the dense darkness that prevailed last evening, were heard saying "that it was about time steps were taken to light up the street lamps." ft" the Borough! Councillors had had occasion to walk about the streets on several evenings during the past week, as many people were" obliged to flfi, perhaps tho question of lighting the street, lamps would have been considered at last night's meeting of the Borough Council. On several nights of late people have had to use matches to light their way along some of the streets of the town, Tho Nursos Regulation Act provides that a course of instruction m invalid cookery must bo arranged for tho pupilnurses, during their term of training, by a qualified teacher approved of by the Registrar of Nurses, and that a certificate! of having passed a satisfactory examination m this course, must also bo produced with the application to sit for the final State examination jn nursing,

Mr William Nosworthy, M.P. for Ashburton, was married to-day to Miss Wright, daughter of the late Mr E. G. Wright, of Windermero. The marriage took place m tho Windormore church, iv tho presence of relatives and friends. Mr Robert Bell left Ashburton for the north yesterday to attend the annual meetings of the United Press Association, Ltd., the Newspaper Proprietors' Association of New Zealand, and the Federated Master Printers' Association, which are being held m Wanganui this week. At 9 o'clock this morning all rivers m the Ashburton county were reported to be either clear or fishahle. The St. Mary's (Anglican) Young Men's Society, Timaru, appear to have been singularly fortunate m their lecturers for tho coming session, among them being J)r Hceken, of Dunedin, the Very Rev. Dean Fitchett, of Dunedin, the Hon. T. MeKenzie, M.P., Mr Robert McNab, late Minister of Lands, the Bishop of Christchurch, and the Yon. Archdeacon Harper. Business m the painting line is so slack m Tiiunni at the. present time, that some export tradesmen have left tho town to go harvesting, says tho Herald. As we. noted the other day, a similar thing has been done m Ashburton. Sufficient rain fell m the upper districts this morning to cause a temporary delay m harvest operations. Wheat crops that have been threshed m the Riverside district have yielded much below expectation, SO bushels per acre being obtained from some of the earliest reaped crops. Captain Edwin telegraphed to-day as follows: Northerly strong winds to a gale and the glass will fall soon. On Friday and Saturday next, at the Oddfellows' Hall, Richards' Company of up-to-date and clever vaudeville entertainers will appear m two complete change programmes The star turn of tho evenings is that of the two Arnolds, a pair of jugglers, who arc ,<=a'd to bepast masters m their act. The prues are popular—3s, 2s and Is. The hearing of the libel action brought against Francis Augustus Jones, proprietor of the North Auckland Times, by John Stallworthy, M.P., proprietor of the Wairoa Bell, m which £100 damages was claimed for an alleged false and malicious statement published m the defendant's newspaper, was concluded on Saturday, plaintiff getting a verdict for £50. The Post says that various branches of tho Farmers' Union are meeting with the troubles that sooner or later afflict all bodies that stand chiefly for principle and exist wholly by annual subscription. The latest indication of this comes from Palmerston North, m the form of a renort that at a meeting of tho local branch of tho Union one delegate spoke bitterly of tho poor attendances, and sur"<-ested, sarcastically, that a prize fight should be run as a side-show, to induce attendances at the meetings. Another delegate humorously suggested a "set-to" between sides composed of paid-up and non-paid-up members. The Athenic, which arrived at Wellington on Saturday, had on board 678 passengers, of whom 596 were m the third class. Of these, 296 were assisted immigrants, whoso capital ranges from £25 to £100. The Ikt includes 40 farmers and 49 domestic servants. The Athenic left Plymouth on January 9, and had "a'smooth passage excepting three or four days of fog. The passengers are booked to the various ports as follows: For Wellington, 254; for Auckland, 146; for Lyttelton, 100; for Dunedin, 55; for Napier, 28; for Westland and Grey-mouth, each 22; for Gisborne, 13; for Wanganui, 11; for New Plymouth, 9; for Timaru, 8; for Bluff, 5; for Picton, 3; for Nelson and Oamaru, each 1. Taranaki sheep-breeders have every reason to feel dissatisfied with this year's prices for stud rams, reports the News. Two-tooth rams that three or four years ago would readily average up to six guineas are hard to quit at anything over one guinea this year. Several well-known breeders m Southern Taranaki, who have on hand more rams than there is demand for, have expressed their intention of boiling the animals down for tallow.* It is expected that by this method the animals will average about 16s. The Minister of Railways was asked on Friday whether he could explain the dismissal some time ago of a number of railway employees from works m the neighbourhood of Timaru. "'We have permanent gangs for the various classes of works," the Minister replied, :i and if aiv gang is not complete local men are temporarily employed to assist them. When that work is completed, and their services are no longer required, the casual hands are paid off. On other occasions men belonging to the permanent staff may be transferred from one" gang to another, thereby obviating the necessity for employing casual labour. In the instance referred to, all the men discharged were casual." Tho Presbytery of Wellington has, on the motion of" Dr. Gibb, resolved to appoint a committee to consider the question of starting an orphanage for destitute Presbyterian children of the Wellington and adjoining provinces. It also resolved to enjoin congregations within the bounds to take up 'a collection on behalf of the fund for relief of the destitution and misery now prevalent among the manual toilers of the Homeland. A vigorous motion was also carried protestingagainst tho continued desecration of the Lord's Day by Sunday amusements m Wellington, and especially calling attention to the mischief done by the City Council m this connection. A somewhat unusual form of cruelty to a horse was described m tho Magistrate's Court at Timaru on Friday, a man named Thomas Loach being charged with ill-treating a horse by tying the halter of a draught horse to the tail of the hack which he was riding. It was stated that every time the draught horse pulled back, the other horse suffered considerable pain. _ The defendant was discharged with a caution, It is not generally known that the expansion of the railway northwards from Domett, along the route of the South Island Main Trunk, has not been authorised beyond a certain point, which is practically level with McKenzie township, or a distance of three and a-half miles from Domett. The formation work on this section will soon be completed, and the plate-laying should occupy only a few months. The number of men on the works is being gradually reduced, not by dismissals, but simply by the process of not replacing the men* who leave. Should a further extension of the line not be authorised during next session, the work on the railway will be stopped as soon as tho present section is finished. Judging by the remarks made last evening at the Borough Council regarding the action of the Fire Brigade m not complying with the Councils request m respect to the auditing of accounts, at least two members of the Council appear to be anxious to have a complete settlement of accounts with the Brigade and a thorough understanding. One councillor, speaking on the question, said that he did not suggest for a moment that anything was wrong with the Brigade's accounts, I but it should be remembered that the j Brigade was a public body and was maintained by public money, and this I fact surely warranted the Council m desiring to ascertain how the money had been expended.