LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1335, 7 September 1886, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The ordinary fortnightly meeting of the Ashburton School Committee will be held this evening. The sole business that came before tfae R.M. Court this morning was one civil case, Quinton v Campbell, in which the amount claimed was £2 3s. Judgment was given for plaintiff for 18s. and costs. Mr H, C. S. Baddeley, R.M., occupied the bench. It is reported (that Judge Broad Has been appointed Judge of tha whole of the District Courts of the Middle Island, and will hold sittings at Westport, Greytown, Reefton, Hokhika, Ashburton, Waimate, Timaru, Oamaru, Queenstown, Lawrence, Invercargill, and Nelson.

For some time past the dog nuisance in Ashburton has been almost unbearable, and in addition, the worthless mongrels have of late been working great destruction among sheep. The Borough Council has determined to stamp out the evil if posssble, and with that end in view, has given the police power to proceed under clause 13 of the Dog Registration Act, which provides that all unregistered dogs may be destroyed. At last night’s meeting of the Borough Council, n letter was read from the Upper Ashburton Road Board declining to reconsider its former decision not to pay expenses incurred by the Fire Brigade at Quinton’s fire. After a lengthy discussion the Council decided to give the Road Board another opportunity of reconsidering its decision, and in the event of its failing to do so, to notify that the Brigade would not in future attend fires within its boundaries.

A meeting of the Committee of the Ashburton Racing Club was held on Saturday evening, at which the decision of the Stewards with regard to the Rocket case was upheld. The Utica (N.Y.) Herald chronicles the fall into Spring Pond, near St. Regis Falls, of a huge aerolite, which, it says, nearly filled the pond. The body of water usually contained in the pond was nearly all spattered out, and the supposed smoke seen was steam, generated by the water running back round the heated mass. Mud was thrown into the tree-tops, and trout were scattered promiscuously around the pond, literally covering the banks. The news soon became circulated through the neighborhood, and scores of boys and men were seen all day engaged in picking the fish up, and bushels of them were drawn away. The fish nearest the pond that flopped back into the still boiling water were completely cooked. An inquest was held recently at Gavelly Hill, Birmingham, on the body of Edward Arthur Geary, a boy aged five, which disclosed an extraordinary case of accidental poisoning. Deceased on the previous Friday ate a quantity of sorrel which he gathered at the back of his father’s house. During the night he felt giddy and rose to get a drink. He swallowed a quantity of soapy water which was lying in the jug on the dressing-table, and soon became unconscious and died. Medical evidence showed death to be from poisoning by oxalic acid, which was

tormed in decaased’s stomach. This was caused by the action of the alkali soap acting on the sorrel, and producing oxalic acid, which is commonly known as salt of sorrel. Certainly tha finest example of Native industry in connection with chromo-litho-graphy which we have seen for some time is the very elegant assortment of Christmas and New Year cards prepared for tiie coming season by Jfr A. D. Willis, of Wanganui, some of whose work in this direction, it will be remembered, reached Ashburton last year. The cards, which will bear comparison with the best productions of London and Paris, comprise beautifullyexecuted views of New Zealand scenery, among which arg specially noticeable Lake Wakatipu by moonlight, Akaroa Harbor, Lake Rotokakahi, the Manawatu Gorge, Napier, Queenstown, Grahamstown, the North Shore, Auckland, Coromandel, Waitakeroi Falls, and Te Aroha. Many of the cards are elegantly bordered with designs worked out in the foliage, flowers, and fruitage of New Zealand plants, the wild clematis, supplejack, pink manuka, and titoki, especially rendering excellent service in this direction, and show-

ing that the Native flora affords no mean opportunities to the artist and designer. The cards are, indeed, not only a credit to Mr Willis, but to the colony, and those who desire to send to friends at Hope some souvenirs of the festire seasons of Christmas and New Year could not do better than invest In these really choice little works of art. Mr Willis has also issued a very fine chromolithograph, 20 x 15, of Mount Tarawera in eruption, as it appeared on the fatal night of June 10, and conpanion views, 15 x 7, of the destroyed Pink and White Terraces from photographs by Mr C. Spencer, Tauranga. These are well worth framing. We have also been shown some neatly designed playing cards printed by Mr Willis, introducing designs taken from Maori carving. The cards and pictures are on sale at Mr H. M. Jones’s, East street. Mr Willis, it may la mentioned, obtained first prize for this class of work at the New Zealand .Exhibition held ip Wellington last year,