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Ashburton Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 1049, 15 September 1883, Page 4

The Alfa, of ,San Francisco, states that cowardly threat it is'that of a member of the. Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood at New York, who says that Chief Justice Coleridge, of England, has been marked fotf assassination. Coleridge is coming to this country during the present summer at the invitation of the New York Bar Association, add no fate can be too severe fod the'vile miscreants who are plotting against his life. ! Of one thing they may be assured —they will not be suffered to proceed in safety with their preparations for the murder of the nation’s guest. Our laws have not yet sunk to such a state of irhpotency that when conspirators are known to be plotting murder it is necessary td'wait until they have consummated the Crime before the State can act.”

! iThe discovery of a hedgehog at Pleasant Ppint, remarks the Timaru Herald is a decidedly interesting occurrence, for it his ' not been publicly known that this animal had been imported, and it certainly isnbt indigenous. It stands to reason, W 0 think, either that the hedgehog found at Pleasant Point '.ai '•o-n o-t n<. a pet, and got loose, ureisa that hedgehog "have been imported, perhaps accidentally, among, straw or packing of some BOift; and have bred in the colony. They are Very hardy animals, and though almost omnivorous, can go for a long time without food.. We have often wondered why the Acclimatisation Societies did not turn their attention to these useful and 'harmless little creatures. Hedgehogs Care the beat known destroyers of small.vermin, from snakes down to black beetles, Wirewprms, grub and other pests of the farm, they are specially partial to and skilful in dealing with ; and they make short work of rata and mice.''not' because they care for a meat diet, but on general principles of utility. They do no mischief of any sort, that we are aware of but may safely be encouraged in the field, a id they make comical and dooile domestic pets. Our Pleasant Point friends tell us that Mr Anderson’s hedgehog must have been tamed, because it readily stretches itself out and feeds and makes itself at home. But we do not think; 'these- are necessary proofs of its hktm' been tamed. Hedgehogs make friends immediately with anybody who is kind to .them. They'Object to dogs, and they hold /strong ’opinions as their own as to .small boys .with big sticks. But there isiouthing twiid or timorous -about : them, and 'if they are fairly treated, they accommodate themselves readily to human sooiety and soon become quite familiar and even affectionate. We shall be glad to yeoeive any information as to the “ whence," as the Scotch day, of the welcome! rlittle stranger at Pleasant Point, and in the meantime we hope every care will be taken of him.