LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1436, 20 December 1886, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

At the B.M. Court this morning, before Mr R, Alcorn, J.P., and Major Steward, J.P., a prohibition order, to have effect in all the licensing districts in Ashburton County, was made against J. W. Primmer. The Lyttelton Times has authority for stating that the Minister of Railways has been able to effect reductions in his department amounting in the aggregats to £BO,OOO, and that there will be substantial reductions in other departments. The Agent-General has advised that the next shipment of nominated Government immigrants, comprising about 200 adults, would be forwarded by the ss. Ruapehu, which was to have left England on the 18th of the present month. The Waikato royal Bengal tiger has been seen again. This time it was ran to mother earth, and proved to be—a spotted dog I Three publishing houses have already mads overtures to Prince Alexander for a story narrating hie experiences in Bulgaria. The looal Star is given to understand that a Hastings syndicate has bought the patent rights of Hooker’s gaslight for the whole of Hawke’s Bay. The price is said to be £4500. The Victorian Assembly, by one vote only, rejected a proposal to put £IOOO on the estimates for the Prison Gate Brigade of the Salvation Army in that city. Inspectors of Police throughout the colony ate gazetted as Justices of the Peace: We learn from the Wellington papers that the Property Tax is being paid more promptly this year that at any previous time. Mr Joseph Maokay, formerly well known in Otago' as the proprietor of the Brute Herald, has, we see, turned up at a place called Fernmount, on the Bellringer river, in New South Wales, where be has started a new journalistic venture under the name of The North Coast Times, The first number contains a sketch of his own life, its ups and downs.

A contemporary noticing the marriage of a deaf and dumb couple, wittily and gallantly wished them unspeakable bliss. According to the Taranaki News a man named Hallsnd met with a peculiar accident at New Plymouth a day or two ago. Ha was digging potatoes in his garden when be came across something like the ferrnle of an umbrella. His curiosity being awakened he picked np the article and began to examine it minutely. He afterwards pricked it with a pin, when an explosion immediately followed, and the top of his thumb and top of a finger were blown off. He bad bis wounds dressed by Dr Leathern. It is supposed the article he picked up was a dynamite cartridge, but bow it came to be there is a mystery.

It may not bo generally known, but the Post says it is true, that the celebrated religious novelist Miss Yonge gave £2OOO which she received from her well-known children's story, “‘The Daisy Chain,’ towards the building of the Missionary College in Auckland ; and that she devoted a larga share of her profits from the “ Heir of Bedcliile ” to the fitting out of the Melanesian Mission schooner Southern Cross. The latest freak of fashion in London is for ladies to have a different dog for different costumes. The inconsolable widow in sable weeds is accompanied by a Landseer Newfoundland, while the maid who wears a golden brown silk carries a fluffy Skye of the same shade. As grey is now the ultrafashionable color, the blue Skye, which is an exquisite shade of grey, is the reigning favorite. The Otago Daily Times remarks that the Midland railway is about to be started in real earnest, and tenders are now being invited for two contracts from the junction with the Nelson and Christchurch lines to Arnold creek.H The new company has adopted a device for its coat of arms intended to typify the union of the East and West Coast industries, namely, a miner and a shepherd shaking hands.