The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. FRIDAY, JULY 15, 1887. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1610, 15 July 1887, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. FRIDAY, JULY 15, 1887. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

At Ncwcastle-on-TyDG a Chinaman of mandarin rank is resident who is wedded to a young English lady of high culture. He speaks a little English, and is learning more, and the lady is picking up Chinese. An Oamaru contemporary has seen the account sales of 180 saoks of potatoes sent as a trial shipment to Melbourne. The lot was Bent more as a means of ascertaining how Oamaru potatoes would take m the Melbourne market than of making a profit out of them, This was ascertained, but at a loss to the shipper. One hundred and twenty bags realised £3 ss, and 60 bags £3 per ton. The charges, after being put into the steamer here, totalled £30 7s 2d, and the net prooeeds were £20 16s. After the charges at this end were paid, the shipper had as a result £1 2s 6d per ton. It is reported iv Berlin that the Duke of Edinburgh, while paying his last vißit[|to Germany, entered into a formal agreement to ronounca hia own right of Bucoegsion to the throne of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha m favour of his eldest son. The "Pullman veatibuled train," whioh will run between Ohioago and New York, is gorgeous and beyond question the finest m the world. The " vestibuling " consists m joining the sides and roofs of tho cars at the platforms m suoh a way as to enable the passengers to walk from one end of the train to the other without being exposed to the weather or being m danger of falling off. During the last 50 years, £100,000,000 has been spent m England on hospitals, and various sanitary arrangements, the effeot of which has been to increase the average of life by three years. During the same period tho average allowance of meat per head of population has risen from 661ba to 1061bs, and of wheat from 2551bs to 3561b3, while the annual allowance of sugar has jumped up from 181bs to 701ob. Messrs Nelson, Moate, and Co. pay oneseventh of the whole duty upon tea m New Zealand. A German legend says :— •• First the Lord mado man, then he made woman, and he fe.'t sorry for the man and made tobacco." The "New Zealand Timeß" eaya:— -Tttl Hon P. A, Buckley, Colonial Secretary, is, we regret to say, confined to his bed with an attack of Boiatica, He was somewhat easier laafc night than he has been, and bis medical adviser, Dr Cahill, thinks that he will probably be about again m a few days. Numbers of Chinese coolies emigrate to Cuba and Peru, where they are ill-treated. Cuba imported 116,000 m the years 1866 73, and refused to let them return to China on tho expiration of their contracts ; 67,000 died. The number imported into Peru m the year 1871 was 38,650, of whom many were put to death. In 1880 iv one provinoe 2000 were massacred. There is a ohurch at Bergen, Norway, made of paper, which oan contain nearly one thousand persons. Its interior is of oiroular form, while its exterior is ootagon shape. The relievos without and the decorative statues within, as well na tho vaulted roof, nave and Corinthian capitals, are made of papier viaohc, whioh has been made waterproof by soaking m a solution of quioklime, ourdled milk, and the white of eggs. On an island m Terra del Fuego there is a fair division of labor between tho men and the women, but one curious custom exists. The men make and fit up the canoes, but the women are tho rowers. The result is that the women are good swimmers, but the men cannot swim at all. The reason Is, that often on the coast there is not a Bingle tree to whioh to fasten the canoes. The women, therefore, after landing their husbands, have to row the oanoes to a spot where the sea- weed has been massed together, m order to moor the oanoes thereon ; after which operation they are compelled to swim back. So, also, when the canoe is Wanted, the women have (o swim out for it and row baok for their husbands.