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Ashburton Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 1009, 31 July 1883, Page 2

The prizes won at the rink tournament last week will be distributed at the Town Hall to-morrow evening. During the month of July there were registered in Ashburton thirty-three births, six deaths, and two marriages. In consequence of the inclement weather, the usual weekly meeting of the Ashburton Quadrille Assembly has been postponed till further notice. Our Methven readers are reminded that the public trial of the Randal Revolving Disc Harrows is to take place to-morrow in Messrs Gould and Cameron’s paddock. The matron of the Hospital requests us to notify that she will be glad to receive any gifts of linen, etc., for the institution, which the generously-minded may be prompted to make. We would remind intending exhibitors at the forthcoming Poultry Show that entries will close to-night. Mr S. E, Poyntz, the secretary, will attend at his office this evening up to nine o’clock to receive entries. The following are the Hospital returns 'or the month of July :—Number of patients in Hospital on 30th June, 8 ; admitted during July, 5 ; discharged, 4; number remaining on 31st July, 9. No deaths occurred duriag the month. The following notification in connection with the Ashburton Rifle Volunteers appears in the Gazette of the 26th inst.; — Lieut. Wm. Sc. George Douglas to be Captain ; Waiter Edwin Dolman to be Lieutenant, and Alfred Augustus Fooksto be Lieutenant. The annual' meeting of the Wanganui Jockey Club last night voted L 75 to the late handicapper, Mr Hateloy, in recognition of ten years’ services, and appointed Mr J. 0, Ivott, of Napier, in his stead. The vote is to bo supplemented by a donation from private friends. Tc is reported from Christchurch that the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company has purchased the extensive business and premises of Messrs R. M’Kerrow and Co, grain and wool brokers, Rakaia, and that Mr 0.. W. Turner, formerly the Company’s Lyttelton agent, .md for some time past connected with the Christchurch office, will undertake the management of this new branch. The informer James Carey has not long survived the men who were brought to the gallows by his evidence. A cablegram tells us that he has been shot dead at Port Elizabeth, and we may safely say that there are few people who will mourn the death of such a miscreant, although he was mainly instrumental in bringing to justice the murderers whose fate he so thoroughly deserved to share.

The annual meeting of the Wellington Racing Club was held last evening. Mr J. S. M. Thomson was in the chair. The balance-sheet showed an overdraft of 57. The receipts for the season were LI ; 910, and the expenditure was L 1,967. The amount givjn in stakes was L 1,451. The report and balance-sheet were adopted. Sir William Fitzhorbort, President of the Club, and Mr William Hickson, VicePresident, resigned, and Messrs E. Pearce and J. S. M. Thompson were appointed to fill the respective vacancies. Later news from Naples informs us that the terrible nature of the disaster chronicled in last night’s issue so far from being exaggerated was considerably understated. It appears now that the number of persons who lost their lives was 2,000, while no* less than 1,000 have been injured. Ischia, we may mention, is an island situated between the Bay of Naples and Gaeta, about 37 square miles in extent, and having a population of some 28,000. It is celebrated for its beautiful climate, and as it is a favorite summer resort of Italian families of distinction it is probable that many people who were simply visiting the island were destroyed by the fearful earthquake. Regarding the Nelson gaol tragedy the jury again met yesterday in order to consider their rider, and they agreed to add the following to their verdict : —I. That the delay in removing Davidson to one of the gaols in the c'olonj who e prisoners sentenced to imprisonment for life a e confined is much to bo regretted. 2. They consider that a prisoner lik3 Davidson, whoso murderous and suicidal tendencies were known, should not under any circumstances have been employed in gaol, and they would recommend for the future that the arms bo kept in a place of greater security than the so-called armoury at present in use. 3. They desire to express their admiration of the tact and bravery displayed by Mr Shallcrass under such trying circumstances. Mr Bryce has returned the following reply to the address of sympathy from the Kai-Iwi Cavalry : —“ I have received with groat gratification the address of sympathy yon have been so good as to send mo. Whatever may happen to mo in the future it will always bo a matter of satisfaction to me that I succeeded in acquiring your confidence under very trying circumstances, and that I have retained it to the end. When a man attains a prominent public position such as I now occupy, the temptation to some minds to assail his private character is evidently irresistible. The writer of the history to which you refer appears, however, to regard this not as a temptation to be avoided, but as a duty to be performed. His object seems to be to prove that his countrymen when they became New Zealand colonists, changed their nature and principles, and became all that is wicked and base. Such unveracity and slander are sufficiently congenial. I trust that the day will come when the history of New Zealand will be truly written, without morbid sympathy or unworthy prejudice. When that time comes it will be seen that the Natives of this country havo been treated ; with a degree qf justice and humanity never before displayed by the dominant , race in the history of colonisation. Gentlemen, I am sure you at least will accept the assurance that so far as I am i aware I have done nothing in any public ! capacity which my friends need be 1 ashamed to see recorded." j

At the annual meaning of membqra of the Now Zealand Educational * Institution at Auckland yesterday, a letter was received from Mr P. O’Callaghan, M. H. It. for Lincoln, flatly denying the statement made by Mr Dargavilie in addressing his constituents in May last, that “ Mr (/Callaghan, a Southern member, had obtained from the Auckland Teachers’ Association a vote of thanks for services re the restoration of the 10 per cent reduction on teachers’ salaries, tire credit of which was really due to himself.” Commenting on Mr Dargavilie’a remark that “it was evident that here, as elsewhere, a proohet had not honor in his own country, ’ Mr O’Callaghan added —“ I must say if- this is the way Mr Darga\Tille seeks to gain honor in his own country, I don’t wonder at his not getting it thete.” A letter was received from Mr Dargaville, vindicating the truth of the challenged statements. The chairman remarked that) in- apite-of-the tremendous exertions of both gentlemen, it was a fact teachers had not yet received the amount of the 10 per cent reduction. It was refolvod that a copy of the correspondence should be sent to the Board of Education, and that further information on the subject respectfully be asked.

A German, Baron Reichenbach, has occupied many years in studying the art of bed making, or, rather, bed placing, and maintains that improperly placed beds will shorten a man’s life. He says if a mere magnet exercises an influence on sensitive persons, the earth’s magnetism must certainly make itself felt on the nervous life of man. In whatever hemisphere you may be, always sleep with your feet to the equator, and let your body lie as “ true as a needle to the pole.” Tne proper direction of the body is ef the utmost importance for the proper circulation of the blood, and many disturbances in the organisms have been cured by simply placing the bolster at a different point of the compass from that it had occupied. Let such as have, hitherto been in the habit of sleeping with their head where their feet ought to bo take to heart the example of the late Dr Fischwester of Magdeburg, who died recently at the age of 109 years. The most unhealthy position, we are told, is when the body lies east and west. Some observers assure us that to sleep in such a posture is tantamount to committing suicide, and that diseases are often aggravated by deviations from the proper posture.

The Southbridge correspondent of the Lyttelton Times writes;—“ One of Smith’s party —Fulljames— has just returned from the supposed goldfields with the amalgam from their washing up. He states that they .were prevented, mot only by the lagoon being let but, but in many other ways, from doing a fair amount of work for the time they have been there; in fact, he estimates that they have not done more than an ordinary day’s work. The greater portion of the washdiH at -the commencement was got togsther without any care in selecting it. The result was that most of it was only shingle, and contained no gold whatever. However, taking the above drawbacks into considera-, tion, he (Fulljames) estimates that wages to the amount of 10s per day can bo made, after paying all expenses—that is, working the usual eight hours. This calculation is based upon the result of the washing-up, which is sdwts of gold from eight loads or tons of washdirt, half or three-quarters of which, as stated above, was no good, and really not washdirt at all. They therefore estimate that, with good washdirt, from 2 to 3dwts can easily be washed out per load. There is a rumor afloat that gold much heavier than i hat found on the beach has been discovered on the Rakaia Island. The color has also been found on the riverbed, so that there may be some truth in the report. ”

The Amsterdam correspondent of a paper called England says in a recent letter: —“Perhaps one of the most attractive sights of the Exhibition here is the Diamond Court. How the ladies seem to dote upon the sparkling gems ! Their male protectors can scarcely get them out of the place. I suppose like clings to like, for certainly the most beautiful of mundane minerals seems to have an irresistible attraction for the fair. Unfortunately for fathers, husbands, and he-cousins, tneir is a stall where, upon payment of any trifle from twenty guilders up to twenty thousand, a ‘ tasting order ' can be obtained, and any gentleman

whoso accounts with his banker are in a

satisfactory condition would be worse than a brute to drag a l&dy away from the show without buying her a sou enir. A visit to the room where L 3,000,000 worth of brilliants are on view is apt

to be an expensive one. There are diamonds of every color, form, and size, and in every state and oomoiuation ; and the whole process of the art and mystery of splitting, cutting and polishing goes on under the entrance and eye of the beholder. Here is a sprightly young descendant of Abraham busily engaged in ‘ nicking ’ one stone with another. When he has ‘ nicked ’ it he inserts the edge of a chisel into the scarcely perceptible scratch, gives it a careful pat, and lo.and behold the hardest thing known to man is split into a couple of pieces. In the other corner is another man seated at a grinding wheel, which spins around at the rate of 2,000 revolutions a minute, carefully polishing a great brilliant which winks at us fiercely from the leaden coffin in which it is confined as ha holds it up for our inspection. That beautiful but chilly gem seems in that heartless wink to be saying, ‘ When you are put out of sight, because even the love of woman cannot long endure the sight of you, I shall endure, endure, endure fqr ever, and be caressed by countless darlings for my beauty.” Wanted the public to know you can save too per cent by dealing at the Keady-Moncy Meat Mart, Bullock’s Arcade. Meat delivered to any part of the town when purchased. 7 189