LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1586, 16 June 1887, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

An interesting little romance, with a tiny heroine eight years of ago has just reached a satisfactory denouement In Vienna. Nine years ago a Moravian baker's assistant went seek his fortune m Paris' He married a I Parisian girl, who died some time ago, leaving her husband with one child, a little maiden named Berthe. The father took to drinking, and was sent back with his child by the Frenoh authorities to his own country. He is at present m a precarious. Btate, tho result of drink, m a Moravian hospital. The child remained m Vienna, and was offered for adoption through the medium o( one of the newspaper^. Applications came from people of all parts of the country and of all classes* Mdle. Berthe was entrusted to one of the numerous competitors, a wealthy Vienna manufacturer, who has undertaken to provide 'or her future. The origin of the Primrose League—by the by, it is not generally known— arose from a. mistake. To Lord Beaeottsfield's burial tha Queen contributed a huge wreath of primroses, with the inscription on them — " His favorite flower." In the Royal mind " His '" always signifies something belonging to the) Prince Consort, and it was so m this case ; but the fashionable world jumped to tho conclusion that she. meant the late Premier, and at once began to remember how passionately fond he used to be of primroses. There is one mention of them m his works and I believe only one, m which a noble lord is made to say that he has a rospeot for the< flowers m question because he has heard that at a pinch one oan make a salad of (hem., j But anything more out of character with" Lord Beaconsfield, whose favorite bird was: , the peaoook, than a preference for the simple* primrose, cannot be conceived. I onee> j heard a remark that bis true favorite Bhouldl Lave been " Crown Imperial," but it ww& made at a London dinner-table, where no o oe bad ever heard ot the flower, to the wit w fts lost upon the audience. , "Rough on Cobnh." — Asfe?for WelJTfl "Bough on Corns." Quick relief, complete, permanent cure. Corne r wart*, bunious. At obemistf and, druggists ' g

The " Milling World " tells its readers how the Hindoo reaps with an iron blade, six incheß long, an inoh wide, and curved like a sickle, oosting him four cents. He squats on his heels, outs ajiandful, lays it down, and without rising off his heels waddles forward and outs another. In twelve days he cuts an aore, and receives five oents a day, boarding himself. When he wants to thrash his grain he drives a stake m the ground, spreads' I his grain around it, ties a ropa to hia bulls horns and then to the slake, and drives them around and around till the straw is tramped very fine into what they oall "bhooaa." This is fed to the cattle after the wheat is separated. Englishmen have introduced thrashing machines, but^the Hindos will have none of them. They think their cattle would not eat the straw because it breaks it instead of trampling it flat. They dean their wheat by holding it up m the wind m a scoop made of reeds, or, if tbe wind is not blowing, two Hindoos make wind by waving a blanket, while a third dribbles the grain from the scoop,

This is how a Fijian pressman describes a fireworks entertainment there ; — The rookets, with a fierce rush, appeared to penetrate to the region of the stars, where they exploded Into comets, constellations, and falling meteors, quite eolipsing the fixtures of the firmament, The blue fire, m its inoandesoent brightness, lent effulgence to the moon, and shot a gigantic halo of rays far out into the comparative gloom.

An important find has been made m Eng-

laud, near Baling, of tho site of. an old pre* historic workshop, a regular armoury; for within 40 feet square no less than 600 flints worked into spear heads, faatchetn, awls, spokeßhaves, knives, Baws, and chisels were obtained. The continual ooourrenoe of such dißooveries as this is steadily foroing upon all reasonable men a fixed conviction of the great antiquity of man, although the first propounders of the idea thiry years ago were j sufficiently reviled.

A Greymouth telegram to the Ohristohuroh 11 Press " states that oomplaints are coming m from*some of the men employed on the Midland Railway by the sub-oontraotors. It is alleged that the truok system haß been introduced on some contracts, and men who do not deal at oertaln shops are discharged. The men state that while the wages are eight shillings per day they do not average more than (four days a week, and that provisions are at such a price that a man cannot very well keep himself on less than eighteen shillings a week. The latest novolty m swelldom at Boston (U.S.) is a Greek dinner. The tablo was decorated with garlands of roses, and the centre ornament was a Grecian lyre with

golden Btrings. The floral decorations of the

rooms were garlands of roses, and the walls were hung with rugs. Couches were plaoed at intervals throughout the room. The gueßts sat on great chairs covered with rugp, and eaoh wore a wreath of laurel tied with purple ribbon. The menu was written m Greek, and among , the dishes were wild boar, roast kid, and bare. An intermission of half an hour took plaoe at about the middle of the dinner, when burning Oriental drinks were served m silver tankards.

At the Auckland Supreme Court yesterday Jas. Lawrie was arraigned, ohargod with attempting to murder his wife, Annie Lawrie : there being also a scoond count oharging him with wounding her with intent to do her bodily harm. He was found guilty on the second count and sentenced to two years' imprisonment with hard labor. A Sentence of four months' hard labor was imposed m the case of Jas. Lcmndea, who is Raid to have been another mate of Gaffrey's and was found guilty of breaking a man's jaw. Henry Erneßt Perry, for indecent [assult, was sentenced to two years' hard labor. Thomson BlcCallum, charged with a similar offence, did not appear, and hig Honor Mr Justice Ward ordered his recognisances of £25 eaoh to ea treated, remarking tho amount was scandalously small and that tbe matter should be brought under the notice of the Minister of Justice, m order to ascertain how far Justices should be allowed to exercise their discretion m this direction He said there was a disgraceful miscarriage of justioe m this cause. Hugh Storey, for a violent assault, was sentenced to twelve months' bard labor.