The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas et Prevalebit. SATURDAY, MAY 5, 1883.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 935, 5 May 1883, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas et Prevalebit. SATURDAY, MAY 5, 1883.

The Debating Society will meet in the Arcade Chambers on Monday evening. The date of the meeting of the Mount Somers Licensing Committee has been abtered from the 7th to the 9th June.

The only case before the Police Court this morning was a charge of drunkenness while in care of a dray, brought against John Caldecott, who was fined 10s. The Mayor presided. The Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association have resolved to memorialise Government recommending measures for the prevention of the introduction of cattle disease.

The usual week of special services, in accordance with the appointment of the Primitive Methodist Conference, appears in another column. The services are to be of a very interesting character, and we hope they will be largely attended. A number of quail, obtained through the Acclimatisation Society, were yesterday liberated in the Longbeach district, and it is confidently expected that they will thrive well there as the climate is suited to them.

The New Zealand Shipping Company’s steamer lonic, which sailed last Saturday from Plymouth for Wellington and Canterbury (not Port Chalmers as at first announced), brings a number of immigrants —single women and married couples. Now that winter is coming on the drapers of Ashburton are opening up goods suited to the colder weather. Mr S. W. Alcorn is to the fore this season, as it will be seen on reference to our advertising columns that he has just raceived a quantity of goods from England by the Himalaya, of which he requests inspection.

A number of people collected at the racecourse between nine and ten o’clock this morning to witness the match arranged between Nimrod and King Philip, but the former horse did not put in an appearance, and after considerable delay the latter was cantered round the course to enable him to claim the stakes.

By dint of working day and night, the necessary repairs to the Ashburton bridge have been completed so far as to allow trains to go over. The passengers by the express had not to undergo the inconvenience of disembarking on this side of the river and walking over, as they have had to do during the past few days. The train from Dunedin was about an hour late last evening, partly owing to a break which occurred at Purakanui.

The enquiry into the stranding of the Monarch, was concluded at Dunedin yesterday. The evidence of John Louden, signal master at the Heads, was to the effect that just as the Monarch went out two or three heavy rollers came in, and for three-quarters of an hour after there were not such heavy seas. He thought there was a little risk in taking the Monarch over the bar that morning, but had he been the pilot he would have run the risk. Had he hoisted the danger'signal, the pilot would not have taken the Monarch out, and witness would have been blamed for detaining her when there was no occasion. Pilot Paton cave the following evidence : —As the Monarch came down the cross channel, I recommended to the signal-master that the danger ball be hoisted. Captain Louden declined to hoist the balls, saying that the harbormaster would censure him if he stopped the vessel. I gave it as my opinion that with the low tide and the “jobble” on the bar the ship would be better to stop inside. When I wont on board the Monarch and met Pilot Kelly I told him that it would just be a toss up about his going out clear. He asked, “ Why did they not hoist the balls ?” and I told him that Louden had refused to do so. We consultod, and agreed that there would be trouble if we stopped the ship, as there were no danger signals up. I said that there would be trouble any way, as he knew there would be trouble if the vessel touched. I came to the conclusion then that I would not advise Pilot Kelly to either stop the vessel or cross the bar. During my conversation with Pilot Kelly, he spoke about it having been reported that the pilots were getting old and unnerved, and that, to some extent, influenced Pilot Kelly in taking the vessel to sea. It was the low state of the tide that gave me the doubts. When I saw the rollers come in I was quite astonished. I had not seen such rollers from the Heads. If there had been no rollers the Monarch might have grazed, but she would not have struck heavily. It would not hurt any vessel to graze. After hearing other evidence from the captain of the tug boat and the harbor-master, the Court stated they would give their decision' next Thursday.

The case between Studholrae, Motrin and Co. and Major Kemp and his people with regard to Rangipo block has been amicably settled. The accounts were gone into, and a large sum has already been paid, and the balance is to be handed over to Kemp and his people as soon as they have held a meeting. All parties are satisfied, Kemp has signed a lease of the Munmotu block.

An enquiry has been held at Auckland into the stranding of the City of Cork, before Mr Seth Smith, R. M., and Captain Fraser, Nautical Assessor. The Court considered that the master had shown a want of care, but as he had excellent testimonials of sixteen years as a master mariner, the Court would not interfere with his certificate, but ordered him to pay L 5 15s, costa of the enquiry. At the Wanganui Supreme Court civil sittings, the case of Barclay’s trustee v. The Matemateronga Native Land Company cami! on. This was an action to recover a large sum for surveying a block. The trial lasted two days, and a verdict was given for the plaintiff for L 59. The Ohirf Justice thought that the case should have gone to the District Court, and reserved his decision as to certifying for coats. This terminated the present sittings. An old prisoner named John Gately,

who has spent most part of his life since 1868 in gaol, was to have been released on Thursday afternoon. The “ruling passion” of theft was too strong, however. He had been working in the Dunedin Botanical Gardens, and secreted in a tree a bundle containing some prison clothing, garden tools, and some valuable plants. He had a quarrel with a fellow prisoner, who “ peached,” and Gately has to submit to durance vile for another two months.

A Wellington telegram saya : —Some anxiety is felt here in regard to the outbreak of typhoid among the Oxford emigrants, reported by the Agent-General, the majority of those on board having relatives in the district. Unfortunately the Government possess no information as to the names of those who have died, the Agent-General having omitted to mention this important detail in his despatches. It is understood that in addition to the investigation which Sir Dillon Bell is making into the special case of the Oxford, he is engaged in preparing some important recommendations for transmission to the Government in regard to the treatment of emigrants generally, his inquiries having convinced him that there are important ends to be achieved in this respect. A large number of respectable but short-sighted people who lent their favor and gave their money to the mischievous burlesque of a religious movement called the Salvationists have now (says a Horn paper) come to their senses. The Earl of Shaftesbury has denounced the whole business in terms of the strongest reprobation. The clergy are painfully aware now of the havoc this service has wrought among the humbler members of their congregations. The minds which are captivated to religion by noise and the language of carnage, by the symbols of murder and incendiarism, are ill-balanced, and the after-effect is as painful as the getting sober to a man or woman who has been drunk for a lengthened period. There is hope that the worst is over. The funds are failing, and even the offer of 5 per cent, here below and salvation up above has not brought in the sinews of war to the General’s satisfaction.

The enquiry into the cause of the drowning of J. M. Bertram, passenger by the Huia on the way up from Wellington, by falling overboard when the steamer was off Mana Island, was held on Thursday before Mr London, Collector of Customs at Wanganui. The evidence showed that the deceased, who had been drinking heavily in Wellington, was refused a drink in a cabin by the second steward. Bertram went up on the bridge to interview the chief steward, and while leaning against the rail thejsteamer lurched to port, precipitating the deceased overboard. The Huia was then going ten knots, and a heavy sea was running. A life buoy was thrown out at once, but it was useless to lower boats, as they could not live in such a sea. Bertram was never seen or heard. The steamer spent half an hour about the spot searching. The night was very dark and a southerly gale was blowing. Mr Lundon transmitted the evidence of the officers and crew to the Marine Department. A rather unusual civil case came on for hearing at the Wellington Magistrate’s Court yesterday. The plaintiff in the action was her Majesty the Queen, and the proceedings were for the recovery of a sum of pa -lie money unaccounted for by the defendant, Mr James Hay, at present residing in Auckland. In the year 1881 the defendant was the officer appointed under the Regulation of Elections Act for the purpose of conducting the election in Welington, and as such received two imprest advances—one on the 22nd November of that year for L2l, and another on 24th December following for L 39 2s 3d. The defendant had sent in two accounts, which had been allowed, but the aura of LI 12s

3d was not accounted for, I* was to recover that amount that the present action had been laid. Criminal proceedings could have been taken against the defendant, but under the circumstances of the case it was deemed advisable to commence a civil action for the recovery of the sum mentioned. The case had been brought in its present form in order to obviate a heavy penalty provided for in another part of the Act. Mr Izard explained that the defendant could have been rendered liable to the imposition of a fine of LIOO. His Worship entered up judgment for the plaintiff. Mr Parnell is a very curious study (says the Spectator.) An Irishman with hardly a grain of the Irish temperament in him, a leader of a violent and loudmouthed faction, who has hardly anything of the temperament of the agitator in him, a politician much more naturally in-

dined to the acrid and bilious than to be daring and dashing, and yet one from whom all his followers expect daring and dashing words, there would be something almost pathetic, if one could feel any genuine sympathy with him, in the way in which he occasionally doles out a care-fully-prepared denunciation, and then subsides with a sort of relief in the frigid reserve with which “ willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike, he hints a fault and hesitates dislike.’’ It is impossible to forget, to use a metaphor applied, we think, to the Land League by someone during the debate, that Mr Parnell stands in a most perilous position between the devil and the deep sea of Irish unpopularity, and that it is almost impossible for

him to avoid falling into the latter if he wishes to escape in any degree from the clutches of the former. Therefore, we incline to think that his language must be construed with a good deal of reference to his very painful position He knows that it is very dangerous to denounce heartily the outrages of the outragemongers, since the Land League would never have attained the power it did attain without these outrages; and therefore, while disclaiming all responsibility for them, he carefully avoids speaking of them with detestation, or even with the least shade of moral disapproval. But he does not really like the outrages ; ho would, we believe, have been very thankful if the outrages could have been put down without the stern machinery of the Crimes Prevention Act, and yet, well knowing that that machinery has practically put a stop to assassinations, he denounces it bitterly one day, only to draw the feeblest of indictments against it the next. The truth undoubtedly is that Parnell’s heart is not in his position. On the whole, we not only blame but also pity Mr Parnell.

The entertainment in aid of the Catholic school funds, which was announced to take place on Monday next, has been postponed. Arrangements have been made to obtain the Town Hall, and the performance will be given in that building on the evening of Monday week.'

Mr Wakefield addressed the electors of Brunnerton yesterday afternoon, so as not to interfere with a concert in aid of the Forest family to be given in the evening. The object of the meeting was to afford the candidate an opportunity of replying to certain statements emanating from the other side, and calculated to injure him in the eyes of the electors, and which had been circulated during his absence in Canterbury. The miners took so much interest in the matter that a large number declined to work that afternoon, though they recced notice to do so, coal being wanted. The meeting was consequently crowded, and was much larger than former meetings. The candidate dealt in the frankest and fullest manner with the statements referred to, and at every break in the speech he was loudly applauded. No sign of a hostile feeling was manifested at all. Any questions asked were put in a friendly spirit. Almost every hand in the room was held up for the vote of thanks and confidence. No hand was held up against, and no amendment was preposed. Mr Wakefield’s committee is working with great earnestness, the interest taken generally being very keen. Holloway’s Pills. —The sudden changes, frequent fogs, and pervading dampness sorely impede ti e vital functions and conduce to illhealth. The remedy for these disasters lies in some purifying medicine, like these Pills, which is competent to grapple with the mischief at its source, and stamp it out without fretting the nerves or weakening the systeml Holloway’s Pills extract from the blood al, noxious matters, regulate the action of every disordered organ, stimulate the liver and kidneys, and relax the bowels. In curing chest complaints these Pills are remarkable effective, especially when aided by friction of the Ointment on its walls. This double treatment will ensure a certain, steady, and beneficent progress, and sound health will soon be re-established.—Advt.