INSTRUCTIVE.

Mataura Ensign, Issue 165, 21 July 1896, Page 2

INSTRUCTIVE.

An interesting series of returns, compiled by His Excellency the Governor and presented to both Houses, .is just to hand. Tho returns set out the consumption per head of articles in common U3C in the colony from 1878 to 1895 iuclusive. Under the heading of " spirits " we find that the consumption for 1878 was the heaviest noted. The adult male population stood at 139,354, and theso, assisted to a smaU extent no doubt by the adult female population, managed to get outside of 059,233 gallons of one sort of ardent spirit or another, tbe quantity per head being 4-73 gallons. Sinoe then the consumption has fallen away to 2-24 gallons, in 1894, and 2-20 gallons in 1895, the last named being the lowest recorded. The consumption of tobacco in 1878 was 7'64lbs for every male, falling as low as 0-441bs in the years 1890 and' 1894 respectively. Last year the tally was 0-801bs, the highest since 1891. Cigars, cigarettes, and snuff were used at the insignificant rate of 0-031bs by adult males in 1878, the minimum being reached in 1880, when 0.441bs were recorded. The amount for 1895 was 0'731bs — a not very alarming state of affairs surely. The combined adult population (over fifteen years) disposed of 070 gallons of wine per head in 1878. From 1888 till 1893 tbe figures hovered between 0-26 and 0-29, but after that there was a decided " slump," aud 0-22 gallons were oonsumed in 1894, a still further fall to 0-21 being registered last year. Ale and beer (imported) have shown a steady decline for the wholo period, and the . figures for the combined adult population ranged from 1-75 gallons per head in 1878 to 0-45 in 1895. Tea (for the total population) stood at GOSlbs in 1878, and after undergoing considerable fluctuation in the interim was stated at 6'o4lbs per head last year. The greatest consumption occurred iv 1879 (9-481bs), and the smallest (o'SSlbs) iv 1889. Cocoa, cdffee and chicory, too, show a falling off in popularity. In 1878 there was the greatest demand (l-431bs per head) for these three articles, this having fallen away to the lowest on reoord (0-Gslbs) in 1895. With a shrinkage in the consumption of most articles, it is pleasing to observe one in which a decrease is not noted, and that too is one of the least harmful of all those mentioned — sugar. Tbat tho colonial of to-day possesses a sweet tooth of large proportions is evidenced by tbe fact that 04-01bs per head were used in IS7B as against 88-51bs in IS95 — the latter constituting ft record. On ad valorem goods of daily use, duty to the extent o£ 15s 4d per boad was paid in 1878, against 12s Id last year. The quantity of New Zsaland brewed beer used in 1878 was at the rate of 14-ls gallons p?r head of the adult population. In 1888 it was 10-5 gallons ; in 1894, 109 gallons, and in 1895, 11-1 gallons. If the foregoing set of figures go to show anything at all, they indioate that year by year we are becoming more abstemious and temperate in the use of the necessaries and luxuries of life. Although we may not be as severely simple in our mode of living as some zealous individuals would desire us to be, it is evident that wo are slowly evolving up to that stage of existence when we will need no material food or drink at all. Iv that advanced age, all th \t need be done by the person who feels hungry or thirsty would be to go outside into ths sunshine, remove his hat and absorb from the atmosphere around him the fatness and ! good things necessary for his soul's rejoicing. A peculiar acoident happened to the train j from Wellington to the Hutt ono day last I week. When reaching the soapwoiks on the town side of Kaiwarra, the engine picked up a crowbar, which got jammed iv between the whejls and the frame of the engine. The crowbar, which was twisted round the wheels in a mist extraordinary manner, locked the wheels, and the train came to a standstill. The morning service was consequently delayed 40 minutes.

The marked absence of any excessive gaiety * at''- Mataura- this winter will probably be snf- v* ficicnlly compensated for by a fancy dress t ball to be givon by tho Matau a Cycling Club j on Friday evening next. > Preparations for . the event have been going fjrward for some - . ■time, and, from all present appearances, the _ enterprise of the cyclists in their efforts to •, dissipate the social stagnation, should be , rewarded by a large attendance, and an en- . joyable ovening's amusement. j , The death is announced fcom Christchurch , of . Captain Kiddcy. The deceased was an , ex-publican and secretary of the Canterbury Licensed Victuallers' Association. He had been a perpetual thorn in the side of the Prohibition party for several years, and was a powerful factor in all militant opposition offered to most of their demands. As the Bey. L. M. Isitt is to one party, so was Captain Kiddey to the other. The Hon. Robert Pharaz'yn, M.L.C, died died rather suddenly at Wellington on Sunday morning. He had been ailing for a week or so from angina pectoris,, but no serious results were anticipated. He was fairly well in the morning, and was walking in the garden, but soon after Mrs Pharazyn found him suffering from a severe attack, and he died shortly after ; aged 61. The charge against Carl Matson and Hannah Bertha Clark of having murdered Mary Matson was continued at Lawrence on Saturday. Dr Nicoll, in cross-examination, said death might have been caused by strangulation, drowning or anything. Dr Sutherland said there was nothing in the body as he saw it or in the history of the case as he had heard it, to enable him to say what caused death. This concluded the evidence. Matson was then committed for trial, and as there was nothing to connect the "woman Clark with the deed she was discharged. One has to go Home to pet vows. In a leading English country journal, a contributor talks about a " dried consignment " of fruit from New Zealand which, " looked as though it had been plucked but yesterday." The nationality of the contributor is not disclosed, but he has at any rate added to the " bulls "of journalism. More than this, he states that the fruit arrived " by the Peninsular and Oriental steamer, Ballarat," and was " shipped at Tasmania." The man ought to be commissioned forthwith to write a Comic Geography. At the Taieri Ploughing Match last week J. King (with a Gardiner plough) was placed first in the champion double furrow, winning several specials besides. Messrs W. C. and W. G. Ladbrook also competed in the match. A telegram in our yesterday's issue, reports the ' Poverty Bay Herald,' brought good news to Mr lan Simson, who has " struck a patch" through the successful flotation in London of the Retreat Goldminiug Company, in which he holds a three-fifths interest. As the vendors receive £35,000 in cash and shares, Mr Simson will pocket a few thou.' as the result of the transaction. Of the sensational sale of the ram President at Sydney last week, one of the city newspapers gives tho following account: — "Mr Maiden said President was the best ram he had ever submitted to auction. Ho- said never before had he seen such a sheep offered for competition, and he had been over twenty years at the bnsiness. He called for bids, and some one whitpered 200 guineas, but a loud voice 500, then 000, 700, 800, 850, 000, 1000— (ch?ers)— 1100, 1200— (renewed cheers) —1250, ' 1300, 1400,— (applause) —1425, 1500 (renewed applause). This last offer made tho auctioneer so confident that he suggested a couple of thousand was nothiug for a ram like that, at which somebody advanced 10 guineas, and by leaps of 10 guineas the figure went up to 1000 guineas, and all cried a go to Messrs Grub and Lawrence, of Tasmania. So the ram goes back to his own clime. By the time the sale concluded there were nearly a thousand people present." Mr J. H. Kelly, a f,u-m3r in ths Waikato, is suing Messrs Clifton and Ross, Inspectors of the Stock Department for £65, lo3s alleged to have been sustained through the action of defendants in laying down poison for rabbits on his farm. A meeting of the General Committee of the Waimea Plains Ploughing Match Association was held in Enright's Hotel, Riversdale, on Saturday evening, Mr Jas. Paterson (president) in the the chair. The secretary submitted a rough balance-sheet showing receipts £31 15s, and expenditure £23 3s 4d. This was considered highly satisfactory, and it was resolved that Messrs Hall and McKay be relieved o£ their guarantee to pay last year's deficit, and that the secretary be paid an honorarium of five guineas — tbis would clear all liabilities aud leave the Association free of all debt. Votes of thanks were passed to Messrs Mackay, Reid, and Stevenson for canvassing and to the president and vicepresident (Mr W. Hall), after which tho meeting closed. In this issue Mr George Hunter, of South Wyndham, offers £1 reward for the return of a young grey collie dog, which ho has missed since the day of the Wyndham Ploughing Match. As the dog is highly prized by Mr Hunter, it is to be hoped this notification will bo the means of it being restored to him. The Gore Brass Band has secured the use of the Town Hall for the purpose of practising for the quickstep competition in view of the projected bands contest. This band is making satisfactory progress, and should render a good account of itself when the time comes. A resident of this district, who haa to support herself by her own earnings, has licensed out to her a couple of Industrial School children, for whose support she is paid 0s per week each. A few days ago one of the children became dangerously ill, and its guardian for the time being applied to the authorities for an. increased allowance so as to permit of a nurse being employed to attend the sick child. After the usual delay incidental upon all transactions . in red tape, the authorities, bnrsting with generosity and brimming over with charitable intentions, granted an extra allowance of one shilling per week for the applicant lo engage a nurse. A lovely piece of Bumbledom this, in all conscience. Captain Huttou, curator of tho Christohurch Museum, has been compelled, owing to losses made through holding shares in tha New Zealand Loan aud Mercantile Agency Company and the Bank of New Zealand, to file his bankruptcy petition. He had about 700 shares in the Bank, and 150 shares' in the Loan and Mercantile Company. Last year he paid a Bank call of £2400, and it is through inability to pay another of the like amount that he is obliged to seek the protection of the Court. At a meeting of the Otago A. and P. Assooiation, ou Saturday, it was resolved that the Minister for Railways be respectfully asked to make a uniform rate for the carriage of frozen meat on the New Zealand railways, and that he take into his consideration the advisability of materially reducing the present rates, and thus assisting a most important industry. Mr J. Doig, the miinstay of tho Gore F. C. back department, leaves for Dunedin on Thursday. Even stnee taking up his resi- I dence in this district, Mr Doig has identified himself with most of the athletic pursuits, shining with great brilliance in cricket and football more particularly. In these two branches of athletics, as well as in many other ways, Mr Doig's absence will be keenly felt in Gore. '

fcThe engineering staff and other employes nt the' Mataura Freezing Works have under- • : taken; the contract for cleaning out and repairing the water race damaged by tho recent floods,- and, having put on. a largo body of of men, hope to have everything in readiness ._ for a resumption of freezing operations in a s week or ten days' time. '/ I\ Messrs Eodgers and Gallot, perfumers, Paris, state that the substance found on the Taranaki beach somo time ago by C. Beckett and Ainsley, and sent to France, is _ ambergris. Beckett states that the weight j was about 481 b, and he estimates its value to t be at least £3000. Great preparations are being made by the j Temporance people of Goro for the annual . Convention taking placb to-morrow. The morning will bo devoted to executive business, J aud the feature of the afternoon proceedings ' is to bo a paper on the " Revenue aspect ol the Prohibition question," by Mr Ayson. The customary soiree and social gathering i will be held at the Town Hall in the eveniDg. i At a meeting of Christchurch dairymen . tho other evening resolutions were carried that the proposals mado by tho City Council in regard to the inspection of dairies and dairy cattle are calculated to unnecessarily harass and annoy owners, and that the proper course would be to place' the inspection in the hands of the respective local Boards of Health. In" the event of the City Council proceeding with its proposals, it was resolved, to petition the Governor-in-Council not to accede therto. The annual concert in aid of the Maudeville school funds eventuates on Friday evening in the Mandeville Public Hall. An attractive programme of songs, recitations, dances and tableaux in character by the children, besides several items by Gore and Biversdale porformers, has been prepared, and will, no doubt, have the*effect of gathering in a considerable number of the shekels lying about. At the recent poultry show held in Wellington there was exhibited a pen containing four birds of peculiar breed. The general build o£ the birds was duck, but they have not webbed feet, though they have duck's toea, which were thin, tender, and useless to scratch for food with. There was a good deal of duck in the plumage, but also nn small quantity of fowl. Tbe under mandible was that of a duck, but the upper ono was oniy lamellated just where it joins the head, the remainder being hard, horny, and pointed in as fowls. Tbe upper mandibile was only half tho length of the other, not even reaching as fir a3 the lip of the tongue. The peculiarities of the neck and shape of breastbone confirm the opinion that the birds were hybrids between fowls and ducks. Mr Butterworth, who shows them, obtained the rggs from which they were hatched as ducks eggs from a grocer who got them from some farmer in Poriru?. Sale reductions, for cash only, at the Granite House, Gore. One pound cash will go as far as two pounds credit. The Gore Meat Works arc paying s^d per pair for rabbits. Collie dog lost. Reward for information leading to recovery. Great slaughter at Beady -money Domigan's great gift sale and annual fair, which starts on Saturday next. Mr Hockie preaches in Oddfellows' Hall to-night. Temperanco Convention soiree in Town Hall to-morrow, at 6 p.m. Gore Brass Band social in Town Hall on 31st July. Fruit, potatoes, garden seeds and plants at Spear's Teviot Fruit Store. A meiting of shippers by s.s. Port Albert will be held in Gore on Saturday. Brewer, Trembath and Co. "sell horses at their Bazaar on Saturday. Additional entries for Brewer, Trembath and Co.'s Waikaka sale on Friday. ' Contest for second-class brass bands takes place in Gore on' 23rd September. James Beattie, draper, inserts a notice for the benefit of strangers coming to Gore. H. S. Valentine announces his intention of contesting the Wallace seat at the forthcoming general election. E. J. B. Yule, dentist, visits Tapanui and Wyndham during August.