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Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1324, 25 August 1886, Page 2

Messrs Ferguson and Mitchell, of Dunedin, have turned.out the first blotting paper ever manufactured in this colony. . The final meeting of the Ashburton Coursing Club was held at Lagmbor to-day. Our report is held over. We remind our readers of the Druid’s anniversary entertainment to be given in the Town Hall this evening, when the comedy o* “ Race for a Widow ” and the farce " Model Husband ” [will .be [presented. Both places have been in active rehearsal for a long time past, and as the Druids will have the benefit of professionalassistanoe to-night, the success of the entertainment is practically assured, A full-dress rehearsal was held last night at which everything went ofl without a hitch. We wore this afternoon [shown by Mr Cambridge a portable electric band-lamp which he has just received from Messrs Darton and Co., of London. The lamp which [is, we believe, the first of the kind introduced [into the colony [is handsomely made, and the (light it sheds is very brilliant. The apparatus for’turning the light on and oil is of the simplest kind, and the lamp in addition to being a novelty is a very useful little article. A number of single men and widowers, who were employed on the relief works provided by Government at Christchurch, have been discharged. Forty of them waited on the Mayor yesterday! bogging for work, but it appears that nothing can be done for them ae Mr Austin, the Chief Engineer, ia absent from Christchurch. Captain Whitney, of the Auckland Cartridge Factory at Mount Eden, has been summoned to Wellington [to confer with the Defence authorities [on the subject of the supply of ammunition in the colony, rate oi supply, &o. The Agent-General has cabled to the Government that ,the Admiralty have declined to accede to the request of the Kew Zealand Government to present H.M.S. Miranda to Kew Zealand. A Dunedin High School boy named Noel Lees, son of the Manager of the Union Bank dropped dead yesterday morning while playing with a school mate. The Minister of Mines has received several applications from prospectors in the South for tree passages to Big Bay. Passages will be granted to those who wish to go there, but they will be given to understand that there ia no goldfield there, and that they go simply as prospectors, who must take their chance of finding gold or not. It is expected that 100 miners will shortly be en route for Big Bay. Yesterday the Hon W. Rolleston presented the diplomas to the graduates of Canterbury College. There were six graduates in the M.A. degree, and seven in the 8.A., lour of the latter being ladies; The bon gentleman gave an address urging the graduates to high aims in life. At various points he was warmly applauded by the students, who, however, were true to the tradition [of making the occasion one lor a noisy demonstration t The applause was mingled with salvos on bells and triangles, and in one part where the speaker spoke of great results to be achieved in the future, a cry arose of “ the West Coast

railway,” accompanied by a wild flourish on bells, a fantasia on a penny trumpet, and a solo on an instrument resembling in tone that of the whistle of one of the Union Steamship Company’s steamers. At the close of the address one or two stentorian voices were heard shouting “ Encore.”

A meeting of the Wellington Rugby Union was held last night, at which the

Auckland unpleasantness was considered. The following resolutions were passed : —(1) That the alleged grievances of the Wellington representatives should have found expression in the public Press, but the Union considers the charges made against the fairness of the Auckland umpire are of so grave a nature as to demand strict investigation. (2) That the Committee, of Enquiry consist of three members, to be selected the Management Committee, and to take evidence and report to the Union, (it) That the Union

condemn the hanging of the Auckland umpire in effigy, and call upon the Poneke Club for an explanation. The weather last night was bitterly cold and seems to have been very severe in the Hills district, as the ranges this morningwere thickly coated with snow. When the morning train arrived from Mount Somers the roofs of the carriages were covered with snow. At the presentation of diplomas to New Zealand University students at Dunedin, yesterday, by the Premier, the students present were a little demonstrative at first, and became very much sp on Sir Robert Stout announcing that unless quiet was kept a force of police would bo (brought in to clear the hall. They then resented his remarks by leaving the hall in a body, returning at the close of his speech, and afterwards when the Premier’s name was mentioned, it was re-

oeived by them with groans. A singular ease of death by drowning occurred at Springfield yesterday. A child two years old, daughter o( Mr Keenan of the Springfield Hotel, slipped into a pool of water a few inehes deep, falling on her face. Al-

though it could not have been more than « few moments in the water when it was taken out by an elder sister, all orta to restore animation proved unavailing

The “ Matrimonial Agency,” an institution established in London “ to supply settlers in the colonies with the addresses of respectable young women who are willing to communicate with bona fide tradesmen, farmers, and others desirous of meeting with useful wives,” has requested us to bring its merits under the notice of the bachelors of this district. The advertisement sent ns for insertion states

“ they (the young women) will be supplied from the agricultural districts of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, as wall as the Continent of Europe. Applicants should state their particular requirements and preferences, enclosing postal order for two shillings, to meet preliminary expenses.’’ Quite apart from other considerations onr desire to encourage local industry compels us , to decline .the very [liberal [terms offered for | the insertion of this advertisement.

An interesting letter fromDe Derby from former Ashburton resident cn route for the Kimberley goldfields is published in this issue. The Hon W. Rolleston passed through Ashburton by the express this morning.