LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1483, 15 February 1887, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The raoohorses Gipsy King, Sextant, Silver Prince, Itepo, Fog, Hermitage, Rubina and Rose and Black were _taken through to Dunedin to-day to fulfil their engagements at tht Autumn meeting. Yesterday evening Trooper Remer arrested a man named John Gilohrist on charges of drunkenness and cruelty to a hors«. Gilohriet, who was severely punished for oruelty to a dog some time ago, was brought up at the R.M. Court this morning before Mr H. Friedlander, J.P., and remanded till Friday, bail being allowed. From the annual balance sheet of tha Presbyterian Ohureh, Rakaia, w« oull the following particulars, which will be of interest to many of our readers :— The receipts from all sources during the year, including a I balance m band, amounted to a total of £297 7s 10£ d. Of this amount Rakaia contributed m subscriptions and offertories, £91 8s 2d ; Laurißton, £42 14s lid ; Ohertsey, £30 19s 9d ; Pendarves, £18 15a 6d ; Doric, £10 14i 6d; and a bazaar and tea meeting realised £63 17s Id. After defraying the various expenses incidental to the carrying on of the , Churdn, there remains a balance of £52 13a 10£ d to begin the present year. Altogether this branch of the Church appears to be m a very flourishing condition, and the managers and friends may be congratulated on the prosperous outlook for the currant year.

Mr C. Benson, of the Netherlands Stats Railway, has devised a means for using up old wooden eleepsrs. Sleepers generally fail where the rail reite, leaving a pound length of about three feet m the centre- Two suob pieces are joined end to end. by a piece of channel iron. Th« rails rest on the channel iron, which thus prevents it from wearing into the sleeper. As thess compound sleep jh have four end faces they offer more resistance to lateral motion than ordinary Bleepers. The usual fortnightly meeting of Lodge Star of Ashburton, U.A.0.D., was held last evening at the Arcade Chambers. There was a good attendance of members, and after the usual routine business had been transacted, the question of suitably oelebrating the anniversary of the Lodge was taken into consideration. A large Committee was appointed to make arrangements. The Lodge resolved itaolf into harmony, and a pleasant evening was spent. Poor's Railroad Manual for 1886, just published, shows that the number of miles of railroads oonstruoted m the United Stateß m 1885 waa 3131. The aggregate mileage for the whole country completed at the close of the year was 123,967, the rate of inareas« during the year being 2-4 per cent. The mileage equalled 123,110, against 113,173 for 1884. The capital stock of all these railroads m placed at 3,817,697,832 dollars, and the earnings for the year 772,508,833 dollars, against 770,684,904 dollars for the previous year. Kidney and urinary complaints of all kinds permanently cured with Hop Bitters. Genuine made by Amerioan Co. Read

The two youngest daughters of tbe Prinoe of Wales frequently take a run of 50 miles ronnd Sandringham on a trioycle, , The movement m favor of agrarian legislation for Wales on the lines of tbe seoond Irish Land Aot is acquiring extensive proportions. To-day the Ashburton Town Hall was submitted for sale by public auction by Mr FC. Tabart (on behalf of the liquidators). The bidding started at £900, and advanoed by £50 and £35 bids to £1525, at which figure tha property fell to Mr W. Andarson. The heat yestarday waa quite exceptional being 105deg m the ahadi radiation 153deg). Tiie figures were recorded at Alford Station. During the past two or three evenings the letting of tht sun hai been followed by a brilliant aftsr glow of a restate hut, such ai waa bo oimmon shortly afttr the Krakatoa eruption. A new telephonic transmitter patented by Mtisn Rabbig* and Dilbsrg hai been tested at Christehuroh. Conversations were carried ' on with case with Duntdin, a diitanee of two hundred miles. It oan icaroely b« held that the Gentile was tbe party who stored m the following brief conversation , " Did you not know," said he to a Jew, " that they hang Jews and jaokasßei together m Portland?" "Is dot so?" retorted Solomon, " den it is veil you and I ishnotdere." The Monmouthshire Oourt (Lord Raglan) of the Ancient Order of Foresters have just pawed a rule, formulated by themselves, not , to allow any eiok pay to any member who receives injury by playing football. By a printer's error the Wanganui Bet aid heads a recent leading article with the line " The Rev Shirkey Baker." The Rev Shirley , baa, so far, at anyrate, shown no disposition to. shirk either his responsibilities or hii troubles I as the Prime Minister of Tonga, though m I view of recent oiroumitances he might be [ excused for bo doing. ; It is proverbial that " it's an ill wind that : blows nobody good," and the war preparations 1 which are going on m Europe promise to : create quite a "boom" m the meat preserving 1 trade. Large orders are being reotived m all ! directions. The Gear Company, m Welling- ; ton, are the recipients of some of thess, and ! we learn from the Oamaru M*Al that Messrs j Thompson and Finlayaon have received [ advioe by oable to supply some 900 tons of f preserved meat from their works at Eakanui. > Tht same paper states that it is informed » that the whole of tbe London stook of the l Eakanui Meat Preserving Company, which 1 had grown to large dimensions owing to tha , dullness of the trade at Home, has been [ parohased; and it believes that tbe works I will be m full operation with an augmented . staff before long. 1 A northern exchange remarks:—" It is a 1 funny climate that we live m, m this adopted 1 aountry of ours. Early on the morning of : the Bth inst. there was frost m Wellington. ! This, m tha middle of summer, when the > thermometer mounts to the terrible height of > 91 m the shade m the day time I " » The petroleum and- natural gas region of Pennsyhacia oontains about 22,000 pumping and flowing wells. The area of the oil producing section ii about equal to the State of Hew Jersey, with a population one-third as r nnmeroui. I M. de Lei seps, aoting as President of the . Suez Canal Company, has just paid a sum of , 400,000 dollars to the Egyptian Government for tha pnrchaie of additional land along tbe, . banks of the canal, required m view ot the I widening of the present waterway. To restore nerre and brain waste, nothing r equals Hop Bitters. Believe this and take i none but Amerioan Co.'s. See I Hollowat'6 Ointment and Pills. — Coughs, Influenaa.— The Boothing properties of these medioament3 render them well worthy of 1 trial m all diseases of the respiratory organs. ' In common colds and influenza the Pills, taken internally, and the Ointment rubbed 1 over tbe ohest and throat, are exceedingly efficaoious. When influenza is epidemio, this treatment is the easiest, safest, and I Bureet. Holloway's Pills purify the blood, ; remove all obstacles to its free circulation , through the lungß, relievo the over-gorged air-tubes, and render respiration free, with--1 out reducing the strength, irritating the I nerves, or depressing the spirits; suoh are the ready means of escaping from suffering , when afflioted with colds, coughs, bronchitis, and other ohest complaints, by which the health of so many is soriously and • permanently injured m most countries.