LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1445, 15 January 1887, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

» The Ashburton Rifles and Cruarda will parade at the Drillshed on Monday evening at 7 o'olook for the first Government inspeotion this year. A full muster is expected. i The Ashburton Caledonian Society hava ! determined to produoe, at the Oddfellows' Hall, the well-known operatic drama " Rob Roy Macgregor," which is now m active rehearsal. Some excellent scenery has been specially painted for the occasion, nnd suitable dresses are being made by a professional coatumiere. The oast is a strong one, and the performers are already well up m their parts. The play is a r ally good ono, interspersed with songs, duets, <feo, and no expense has been spared to plaoe it on the stage m first-class style. No doubt the Society will be rewarded with full houses at eaoh pertormanoe. The ordinary monthly meeting of the Ashburton Hoßpital Board was held at the County Gounoil Chambers yesterday afternoon. Present— Messrs W. 0. Walker (ohairman), 0. J. Harper, A. Harrison, D. McLean, and T. Scaly. A letter was read from the Town Clerk, Mr C. BraddeU, stating that the incoming Mayor, Mr T. Scaly, would take Mr R. Friedlander's (ex-Mayor's) seat on the Board. Mr T. Scaly was eleoted treasurer, vice Mr R. Friedlander. A return of patients for the month of December was laid on the table. The Arohiteots, Mesßrs Fooks and Son, reported that the two contracts for repairs and additions to fever ward are being oarried oat satisfactory, and will be finished shortly. According to the request of the Committee they carefully went through the specification with Mr Harrison with a view to reduotion, but besides the} omission of the hot water supply, they found that to carry out the work efficiently nothing could well be reduced, except that one or two items m the painting work might be modified. The amount provided for contingencies would not, however, be trenohed upon. The Arohiteots asked the decision of the Committee as to the oharaoter of the drain from the sink. They had pro* vided for a pipe drain, but it has been suggested that an open one would be preferable. It was resolved, on the motion of Mr McLean, seconded by the Mayor, that the drain from the fever ward be a closed one. A letter was reoeived from the Christohuroh Hospital Board enclosing accounts for maintenance of three patients. It was deoided not to ac* knowledge the claim as regarded two of the men, bb they did not belong to this district; Accounts were passed for payment, and after the transaction of routine business, the Board adjourned. About ten p.m. last evening as Mr J. Oliver was proceeding along the main road from Ashburton to Tinwald with his traotion engine, when opposite the residence of Mr Homersham, the near wheel of the engine slipped into a long narrow gully, running parallel |with the road, and all attempts to get it out were for the time futile. This morning, after a great deal of trouble, Mr Oliver sufioeeded m getting it on the road again. A correspondent writes to us with regard to the matter as follows : — lt is a wonder that some aooident has not happened at this spot before, as the plaoe is very dangerous especially so since the heavy coat of boulders whioh has reoently been plaoed on the centre of the road, has diverted traffio to the sides. A man^jwing to dreadfnl mUifortuneg resolved to~cbmmit suicide But as" He~aicT not wish it to be known, lest it should leave a stain on his family, he left a note on the table to the following effect: — "I hope you will not think that I committed suicide. My death is the result of an aocident. The pistol went off as I oleaning it." George Hazlett and Miss Sadie Allen, of Buffalo, went through the Niagara rapids and ' whirlpool on Nov. 28 m the torpedo-shaped barrel, used by Hazlett and Fons last summer. They were m the rapids and whirlpool fiv« minutes, and wera taken out of the eddy on the Canadian side, juat below the whirlpool, three-quarters of an hour later m good con* dition. Miss Allen is a reßpeotable girl, 18 years of age. A man named MoGuinness was arrested yesterday at Lake Heron fiy Constable Bemer on a oharge of embezzling the sum of £9 the property of Mr J. Ivess, the proprietor of the Timaru Htaald. MoGuinness was brought into Ashburton to-day. Petroleum has, it appears, been found m a colliery m South Durham, England, and the result of soientifio experiment shows that the ahale is of very high order. There is said to be 1,000,000 tons of the raw material at command. Trout appear to be thriving m the rivers of the West Coast. A Westland exchange informs us that splendid fish, six to seven pounds weight, have been seen m the Reefton branch of the Inangab.ua, A private letter reoeived m Adelaide states that Mr Henry George, author of " Progress and Poverty," will probably visit Australia at the end of this year. John W. Young, elder son of the late Bingham Young, was at New York on Nov. 25 with a Boheme for selling all the Mormon possessions m Utah, and moving to Mexico. The statue of Burns, wbioh arrived by the Bimutaka and is now landed at Dunedin, is of bronze, and is the work of Sir John Steele, R.S.A.. The statue is a second replica of one now m New York, the first being m Dundee. Writing of the reoent torrid temperature the Wairarcupt Star says that " at least one lady m Masterton has been able to wash without plaoing a fire under her boiler, the heat of the sun on the metal bringing the water to a nearly boiling temperature." Tb.it is, no doubt, a figurative way of saying that it has been desperately hot. An exchange says that an unusually large area of rhubarb has been grown m Taranaki this year, and it is said that it is being oultivated with the idea of sending it to Sydney later on. It is also stated that a southern agriculturist lately visited the Taranaki distriot with the objeot of aeleoting a piece of land on whioh to Btart gardening on a large aoale for the aupplyjof the Sydney vegetable market. The projeot for the utilisation of tb« vast water power of the Niagara Fallßjis about to be oarried into execution. A tunnel will be driven from a point about a mile above tha falls to a point below the falls. The length will be about two and a half miles, and the head obtained will be 120 feet. Turbiuea will be put down to drive mills, eto. Lookporfc, New York, will benefit largely by this enterprise. Land has been scoured and surveyed on the line of the tunnel, and laid out into mill aites, with ample streets and railroad faoilities to accommodate 208 mills of 500 horse power eaoh, or an average of 110,000 horse-power, whioh is the engineer's estimate of the oapaoity of the power obtainable from the tunnel, whioh will be 16 feet m diameter at the inlet, 18 feet and 20 feet on intermediate sections, and 24 at the outlet. . by do American Hop Bitters cure bo muoh? Because they give good digestion, with blood and healthy aotion of all the organs