The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. SATURDAY, APRIL 9, 1887. LOCAL AND GENERAL

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1528, 9 April 1887, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. SATURDAY, APRIL 9, 1887. LOCAL AND GENERAL

A coursing matoh will bo held at Longbeaoh on Monday. The Cherteey Annual Sports and Races take place on Monday. An attraotive programme has been provided, and doubtless there will be a good attendance. Lady Colin Campbell paid Sir Charles Russell 1000 guineas as a retainer and 170 guineas per day refreshers while engaged on her oase. In the course of his address at Danedin the other night Mr W- D. Stewart, M.H.R, said it was all moonshine to say that only two Ministries ooald be formed m the present House. He ooald pick out four Ministries! each of which would be as able administrators as the present Government or their predecessors, There is a prisoner m Darlinghurst gaol 101 years of age. Bin consequent of an unavoidable difficulty which has unexpectedly arisen, the Com* mitteo of the Tinwald Bazaar desire to notify that the Bazaar will be held m Mr Gates' abed, instead of at the place previously announced. The Bazaar will be opened at 12.30 p.m. on Monday next. ; The dairy-farmer of Southland, memoria* Used the Minister ;of Public Works for a reduttion of the railway tariff on milk, but m reply received the cold comfort that the matter will reoeivoj consideration m the " sweet by-and-by," It is stated that Admiral St. Hilaire has written to the French Admiralty recommend* ing that the Bhips on the Pacific station should m future make Auokland their dooking port, instead of Melbourne or Sydney, In what is termed the Hyde arson case, the Rev H. H, Britten has been discharged. The ury at fche Central Criminal Court returned a i terdiot of " not guilty " without hearing evidence for the defenoe. It seema that the indignity of a prosecution resulted from the hostility of a parishioner who is also a Magistrate. On Mr Britten's retarn to his parish be was the hero of the hour, so {strongly did the people resent the oonduot of the man at whose instigation the poor piiest had been degraded. The young ladies of England (according to " Vanity Fair ") are subscribing to bay a large rose diamond to present as a gift to the Queen. It is on riew at Streeter'u, m Bond street and is valued at £10,000. The Jubilee offering of the women of England will be an equestrian statue of|tbe late Prince Consort whioh at the desire of Her Majesty will be placed m Windsor Park. Tho " Lyttelton Times " aaya that Messrs Scott Bros, have] completed and put together the frames of the ten locomotives they are constructing for the Government. The whole of tho small fittings have also been finished, four of the boilers are complote, and four others are ready for rivetling. The other portions of the work are also m a forward state. Tho success of the Alhambra, according to the World, is almost without a parallel m the history of dramatic enterprise. The receipts of the past half-year amount to over £'17,000, leaving a profit of £15,583. Tbe directors will declare a dividend of 46 per cent, carrying some £2000 to the reserve ac« I count.

We agaia dra"w the attention of our Methven readers to the entertainment to be given next Tuesday m the Schoolroom by Rosalie Bros.' Surprise Party. The repnta. < tion of the Eoselle Brca. as gymnasts and c aorobate is well known, and assisted, as they J will be, by the best of Ashburton amateurs, J should eeoare the attendance they deserve. ! The first quarterly meeting of the Mount , Hutt Licensing Committee will be held at the 1 Road Board office, Methven, on Wednesday 1 next at noon,— The South Rakaia Committee ' meets on Friday next, at noon, at the Court- . house. — The meeting of the Committee for ( the Licensing District of Ashburton (subur- | ban) will be held at the Courthouse, Ashbur- ( ton, on Saturday at noon. 1 The other day Mr H. J. Harrison, of* South ' Rakaia, while driving near Kyle had occasion ] to leave his horse and trap. While absent something startled the horse and bolted, • upsetting the trap and damaging it to a < considerable extent. ' Replying to the " Lyttelton Times' " article on the boorishneas of Auokland m not return- i , ing the salute of the Frenoh man-of-war Duchesne, the " New Zealand Herald " says that the fault must be laid at the door of the Government, as the batteries at the North Head •' had no powder 1 " The " Gloucestershire Chronicle " of Jan. 29 tells of a prolific ewe belonging to Mr T. C. Elwell, of Rangeworthy Court, Falfield, whioh had given birth to five lambs, four of whioh are doing well. At Wakanui on Thursday evening Mr Ivess addressed a well attended meeting of electors at the Sohoolhouse. Mr James Brown was voted to the chair. At the olose of tho address, m reply to- qu«Btions, Mr Ivess stated that he would only be m favor of extending the franchise to women who held freehold property m their own right. As the law stood at present a property qualification was required, and he failed to see why a woman, who might be the owner of a property worth a £1000, should not have as good a right to vote for a member, who would have a voioe m the expenditure of the taxation she contributed to the State, as a man |who owned a property worth £20, and whioh contributed nothing m the shape of taxation to the revenues of the colonies. As the oost of' education waa yearly increasing, and as the limited vevenue would not much longer be able to sustain the strain, he would be m Itvor of making the secondary system more Belf-eupporting, and apply tho savings towards the primary Bystem. Mr 0. Hill, sen., moved a cordial vote of thanks to Mr Irees for his address and renewed confidence m Wb favor as a member for Wakanui. The motion was seconded by Mr Leddy, and carried unanimously. An elector from Rakaia, whose name we did not oatoh, moved "That Mr Ivess be requested when the Representation Bill came on for discussion to exercise his utmost endeavours to prevent the Wakanui eleotors being merged into the Ashburton." The motion was seconded *by Mr J. Cole, finS on Jbeing put to the vote only ten hands were raised (m its favor. Mr Ivess said that out of a meeting of between fifty and sixty persons he could not aooept that as a fair expression of opinion. However, as he advocated retrenchment he would fed bound to support a motion m favor of a reduotion m the number of members, but as it was a question which entirely rested with the eleotors of Wakanui he would advise them to hold meetings m order that the question might be fairly tested. If they should be desirous of oonserving Wakanui, he would not oppose their wishes but, m the absence of any decided expression of opinion, they might anticipate how his vote will be given when the division will be called for. A vote of thanks to the chair terminated the proceedings. There is one farmer m the Clutha district who, from 40 acres of land planted with potatoes, averaged something like 15 tons to the acre. The potatoes are of excellent quality, and as they are worth we suppose* about £2 per ton,|a considerable margin over expenses should be left to the grower. Fifty thousand tons of soot were take n from London chimneys last year. Its value was set down at £40,800— as a fertiliser. California has 1,000 winegrowers, and at least 160,000 acres are planted m vines. This represents an investment of 60,000,000 dollars and gives employment or support to 160,000 persona. By instructive parallel columns the Toronto 41 Globe " shows that while the United States debt has diminished from 2,603,151,211d015. m 1867 to 1,274,728,153d015. m 1886, the Canadian debt has steadily risen from 98,046,051 to 281,314,532d015. The " South Amerioan Journal " says that ostrich forming m California continues to be profitable. A vessel witn a cargo of fortyfour ostriohes arrived reoently at Gal vast on, Tex. This is the second cargo within twelve months. The birds are for ostrich farms m California, and oame from Natal. The first direct consignment of Texas meat lately arrived m London. It comprised 4,575 oaroases of ohilled mutton, 740 quarters o' beef, 390 turkeys, 48 fowls, 70 oanvasbaek ducks and 8 casks of tongues. The meat arrived m first olass condition, and was eagerly bought up by London householders. The captain and crew (Englishman) of the Tongan Government vessel Sandfly, have it j is said, one and all left, declining absolutely to work m what they call a " slaveship," where they themselves had been half-starved and had to witness the oruellies practised on the Weßleyan natives.