ASHBURTON.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVIII, Issue 12, 16 July 1886, Page 17

ASHBURTON.

(From an occasional Correspondent.) A stobm has arisen in a teacup here in connection with the Hakatere Town Board, and two of the candidates have resigned. A ratepayer is intending to telegraph to Kimberley for a consignment of fresh alligators to serve in their stead. Doubtless some people will be anxious to learn the cause of the fuss, and what has brought about such proceedings in a newly-elected Town Board. "A name." Well, there must be something in a name after all, as John Sims said when he called his daughter Maria Dignacious Omara. But has not the Hakatere Town District a name already? Certainly, but some of the inhabitants say this is a Maori name, and want something historical, say Hampstead, from " 'Ampstead 'Eath," to remind them of the days of Dick Turpin and his bouny black mare.

People are jubilant here at the thought that the worts upon the great enterprise which is to connect the East and West coasts of thii Island will soon commence, We trust the unemployed will then have a field to invest their labours in, and that while comfort is being restored to many a home, the day will be drawing near when we will have fresh markets opening for our produce, and new outlets for the persevering and enterprising part of our community. On Sunday last the Rev. Father O'Connor from Melbourne was here, and preached (after 11 o'clock Mass) an instructive and edifying sermon to an appreciative congregation. After the sermon, he appealed to the parishioners' generosity for a collection on behalf of the church debt. The appeal was responded to in a manner which is highly creditable to the Ashburton Catholics. Considering tie present state of affairs and the numerous demands on their resources, the givers of nearly £100 deserve to be eulogised for their charity and unbounded generosity. After the collection was made the Rev. Father Chastagnon intimated his intention of forming a project which will, he hopes, be instrumental, to a great extent, in wiping off the Church debt. The rev. gentleman never says much about his intentions until he is prepared to put them into operation, therefore I will give you a more elaborate account another time about tlis matter. There is a characteristic feature in connection with our collections here which plainly shows the implicit confidence existing between priest and people. This state of affairs has been brought about by the good management and zeal of our parish priest.

cleanly —[Advt,] Messrs. Nelson and Moate's famous teas continue to command the approbation of the public and are acknowledged to be without a rival. It seems, according to the Lancet, that the little toy balloons or India rubber bladders wiich children inflate with the breath, may be readily reversed by inspiration, and even drawn into the air passages. In two instances recently death has occurred by suffocation, a balloon of the sort being drawn into the opening of the glottis. This is a matter of danger which ought to be recognised. The Boston Pilot siys :—lt is no exaggeration to say that millions of hearts will be saddened by the newa that Father Ryan, the poet-priest, is dead. He died of an organic heart trouble, at Lonisville, Ky, on April 22, in the 46th year of his age. Father Ryan was pre-eminently the poet of the Southern Confederacy. A Virginian by birth and a poet by nature, every instinct and tradition bound Mm to go with his State : for the Virginian oft those days was a citizen first of the Old Dominion, and afterw.irds of the United States. Father Ryan, moreover, had an Irishman's leaning for the weaker side. What songs he sang for the Boys in Gray as he shared their matches and bivouacs, their hungers, privations, combats and disasters, we do not know. He has let the songs of evanescent hope and triumph die with the cause they celebrated, and preserves in his published volumes only the lament of defeat,