INTERESTING EXTRACTS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1413, 22 November 1886, Page 2

INTERESTING EXTRACTS.

TOE MARCH OF IMPROVEMENT. The Corporation of the City of London, says the City Press, has. daring th>- ]«st entury, expended on public Improvement no less a anm than £10,000.000 a. number of open spicks, within the last f<>w vei's, no ably Epp ng Forest and Burnham Beeches, have been acquired at h co t i.v*r £3'0,000, while n artisans dwellings n o e t lan £IOO,OOO have been spent since 1064. THE QUSEN AND LORD BEACONsFIELD. The relations between Her end her favordelPrlme Mln'a ; or, Lord > e cons field were always a stT>j -3t of sarca-ti: remark, and a good maoy stories are related about hia lordship’s remarkable condescension to the Queen The latest of these comes from a Liverpool j lurnahst—wh by the way, j* also a member for a He fch constituency. Lord t'e -oomfie d, see r rim; to ids authority, is reported t<> h»ve 'old Her Majesty that when ho was In w nt of literary cm sola ion ’here w r> otdy three books he could read—the Bi- ie. Shakespeare, and Her Majesty’s W..rki ! GENERAL GORDON’S BIBLE.

In one of the great picture galler'es at Windsor Castle are several precinct caskets among ether exquisite objeca de vertu The Queen entered one d .y with a small book in her hand, end asked the keeper of these treasures which was the most rare and valuable of all the caskets. He showed her o e made of pure rock crystal, ornamented with gold and enamel. In this casket the Queen placets the small book—General Gordon’s pocket Bible, annotated and marked by his own hand, and in this precious casket will remain this most precious relic of one of England’s greatest heroes. PHOTOGRAPHY on the RACECOURSE. According to a Queensland exchange this is bow they are going to tell when a dead heat is run at the race metings ;—. Toe Queensland Turf 0 ub have engaged the services of a photographer, who will take his lens in front of the Judge's box, opposite the winning post, so as to take an iostaneous photograph of the horse or horses first past the post As they pass the jndge presses a spring, who»e action exposes aod re covers the lens in a fraction of a second, and the photograph thus obtained will set at rest all doubts and questions as to dead beat verdicts, which rarely give satisfaction.

O v LY A DEAO DOG. The New Zealand Herald has the folio nr - 1 In,?, Tee saurian sensation has reached Huotly. On Saturday the whole populace were thrown into a state of excitement by the report that the monster was coming down the river. Every available boat was immediately got ready and manned, and a harpoon was improvised. The banks wet a crowded with spectators expecting to witness the capture of the amphibious larrikin, “ the greater number,” says the veracious local chronicler, of the men from the mines being present” Sure anough som<-tniog was seen fl sting down the river, and w-iS orompily harpooned and dragged ash ru. Bat—the truth must be written— it proved to be, not n saurian but a large dead dog. Thus enterprises of great pith and moment oft come to a moat lame and Impotent conclusion. A CASE OF CLAIRVOYANCE The Lyttelton Times is responsible for the following account of an extroardinary prophetic dream. A Jady in Christchurch, a Mrs Walker, had, a few weeks ago, a dream, in which she saw an absent brother, to whom she was much attached, dying on a bed, round which were several men and a woman. Her brother’s head was bound with white bandages, which appeared much blood stained The room in which the scene occurred appeared to be a small one, and rudely famished. Next morning she told her husband about the dream, and that she believed her brother must be seriously ill < r injured, for the dream had had a dep easing' vffoct upon her., He, however, only poohpoohed the notion. Bat this week’s Australian mall broqght the news fretp Queensland that her brother was dead, from the effects of a cot on the head, , caused by a fall down a well which ha was assisting to sink. He wag engaged - on • iheep station In the Inferior of tut ■

o' *ny. At his death, wh ch occurred the day following hie fall, there where aent his wife, a shepherd, and two ter web sinkers. The letter, in short, how out the description of the dream ajMirataly.