LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1614, 20 July 1887, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A ferret is at largo at Trovorton. During the last few nights it has paid several visits to fowlhouees, levying toll upon the oooupante. Several fowls and ducks Uavo been killed, the Motlm operandi of the ferret boing to fasten on to the throat of bis viotira whose blood he suoka.: '■" Mr W, 13, l\ Soott, auctioneer «t Ihvercar* gill, was fined £5 and £2 8a costa for Belling a hare without a lioenso. It was contended for tho defenoe that it was not the hare thai had been sold but a box of matohes, while ( the hare had been given as a present, but this ' did not avail with the Bench.. The decision 'i to be appealed igtiatt,

Nominations for the Hunt Olub Steeple* Abases oloae to-nigh*. •' Kid-glove " oranges are grown m Florida oommonly so-Oalled booause, when peeled, i they are so dry that one can eat them while wearing kid gloves without damaging the latter m the least. The oranges are small and aromatic m flavor. We notioe by an advertisement m another column that the Committee of the Wesleyan Bazaar have deoided to hold a clearance sale of the goods remaining undisposed of. It will be remembered that the weather was very unfavorable when the last attempt was made, and consequently the ladies were not patronised as they deserved. The balq will be held this time m Saunders' Buildings, and commences on Saturday morning. We have pleasure m calling attention to a new venture advertised m our columns. The friendß of Temperance m Ashburton htve long felt that something should be done to provide a place of resort for the young men of the district, where instruction and healthy recreation could be supplied to them. With this object m view a Temperance Olub is being opened this week m Saunders' Buildings. The large room over Mr Farley's late shop is being fitted up with the necessary appliances, and is to be opened on Thursday evening with a ooffeo supper. As we believe thiß will meet a long-felt want m Ashbnrton, we tender to the promoters our best wishes for its success. The hounds will meet at Laudato n on July 23rd. The social tea meeting arranged for to-night m the Presbyterian Ohuroh has been adjourned to next week, m consequence of the very severe weather now being experienced. A Russian engineer claima 4o have discovered a process of reduoing petroleum jo the form of crystals, whioh may be easily and safely transported to any distance and then reconverted into liquid form, A Hungarian band whioh played before the Czar at St Petersburg had a novel experience? Each horn was taken to pieces and searched for bombs, and even the catgut of the fiddlers was minutely examined before the players ware allowed to appear before the Emperor. A column has been erected at Monte Pinolo, m Borne, to the memory of Galileo's imprisonment m ithe neighboring palace of Mediois. It boars the following epigraph :^~ '* The neighboring palace, once the property of the Mediois, was the prison of Galileo Galilei, guilty of having seen the earth revolve round the sun. — s. r. q. b, l ccoxxxvn." Since the last war between France and Germany immense improvements have been made m the fortifications m and around Paris. A new line of fort?, far outside the old ones* has been erected. In all, 24 forts have been built, and these contain all the improvements of modern warfare. T.he barraoks and magazines are all below the ground, and tljey form suoh a wide circle round the city that it will hardly be possible to beseige it m future. It took 800,000 Germans to enoirole the old line ; it ought to require an almost incalculable foroe to inveßt the new. The walls of Paris have been demonstrated to be useless, and the French do not roly on them m any way as a means of defenoe. Benjamin Shurtleff, of Chicago, recently sold & pieoe of land m that city for £27,000* whioh he bought m 1859 for £150, The " American Grower " makes a curious calculation as to what it costs to* smoke. Basing its calculation on revenue returns, it shows that the United States paysjvery year for cigars and cigarettes 186,500^)00" dollars," and 20,000,000 dollars for tobacco smoked m pipes. To this it adda the codt of chewing tobacoo 50,000,000 dollars, bringing the entire bill for the year up to ,256,500,000 dollars. The total loss from tires m the United. States last year was 120,000,000 dollars, so that tobaooo costs more than twice as muoh as all the fires, the great conflagrations included. The " Melbourne Argus " gives the following description of an ingenious contrivance to be used m oase of shipwreok. It consists of the mattress of a ship's bunk, whioh can be instantaneouely converted into a small boat. The mattress, wbioh is the invention of Mr Martin, of Daylesford, is made of canvas and cork shavings, is the length of a ship's bunk— 6 feet by 19 inches—and is 5 inohes m thiokness. When opened it forms into a email boat, with oars, rowlock, seat, and every other necessary appliance complete. The hull ,is so contrived as to hold a couple of gallons of water, which can be drawn off at wiil. The sides can be filled np with air, thus avoiding the possibility of overturning when the boat is put out to sea. Although eonstruoted to hold only one person, a couple could easily crowd into it, whiUt half a dozen could cling to the sides without fear of it Binking. Rings are attaohed to the Bides, the bow, and stern, so that, should occasion require, a number of the boats oan be lashed together to form a raft. The leading jewellers of Birmingham have devised a soheme for reviving their trade, whioh has been languishing so long. It has been deoided to send the Princess of Wales some of the best samples of Birmingham jewellery to seleot from, so that she might set the fashion by wearing them. She has ex* pressed her willingness to purchase some, but not to aooept the samples as a gift. A woman named Mrs Pike, aged 65, a resi dent of Dooker's Plains, near Wangaratta* Viotoria, was discovered murdered on the Bth July, She was lying on the ground with her head battered m, and a bottle oovered with blood and haira waß lying alongside, this cvi* dently being the weapon with whioh the deed was done. Suspicion attaches to deceased's sister, MraMepham, aged 50, a woman of violent temper, from whom the deceased had to apply to (he polioe for protection.