LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1629, 6 August 1887, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

■ ♦ A strange story has been reoeived from Krasna, a town m a remote district of Russia. The hero of the story is the latest descendant of an Engliihman who belonged to the family of tho Lords Leslie, and who settled m Russia some 300 years ago. The descendant of the Leslis family, living m a modest condition of fortune, has just received intelligence from England to the effect that the elder branoh ef the family having become extinct, he is heir to a fortune of J.O millions sterling and a peerage. Ht Leslie, it appears, has no desire to sit m the IJouse of Lords, and would prefer to realise the fortune whioh has fallen to him and continue to reside >n Russia, an arrangement difficult to carry out, as family estates Jn England are generally inalienable, English lawyers are taking stops, by hit; instruotipng to ascertain if it would be possible to obtain the naoessary authoriiation for Belling the Pcoporiiy.

The friends of Mr F. Baok, who left New Zealand to take charge of the Government railways m Tasmania, will be pleased to learn that he has proved a great success m hia new sphere of labour. The " Launceaton Examiner " of July 22, m the course of an article strongly attacking the publio works administration of the Government; speaks very favourably of the way m which the railways are managed. It says :— " The existing Government lines have been well managed, and great credit is due to Mr Back for the balance sheet that,, despite a dead loss on the Fingal line, he has presented for the past year. He has not merely increased the receipts, but has reduced the rates for both passengers and goods, and effeoted a substan tial reduotion m the working expenses." At Christohuroh on Friday night a meeting of working men, mostly unemployed, passed a resolution m regard to the Labor Bureau Board of Advice, protesting against the conatitution,. affirming that capital and labor should be represented on it. About 200 were present. , At nine o'olook on Friday evening a middleaged woman named Elizabeth Thornton threw herself into tho Avon, near Oashel street. A young man named William MoOormiok pluckily sprang m and brought her out. She was perfectly sober. The body of a girl was found m the Waimakiriri, near .Sheffield, on Friday afternoon. She was seen [going towards the river earlier; m the day, and is supposed to have committed Buioide. Her name is unknown. The " Cromwell Argus " states that a clever capture of a thief was effected last Saturday morning nt Quartzvillo by Constable Bamussen. The delinquent— a Chinaman— appears to have been m the habit of helping himself pretty freely for months past to meat from the slaughterhouse of Mr James Horn. The constable proceeded to Quartzville, and lay m wait for the thief for four or five hours. When the moon went down John appeared on the soene and entered the premises by means of a duplicate key. He found more than he bargained for, though, when the constable met and arrested him. He was brought to Cromwell and safely lodged under look and key. He afterwards attempted to esoape by using the handle of his tub, whioh he wrenched off, as an augur with whioh he bore a hole m the door, but the constable discovered his attempt m time to prevent bis esoape. John was brought up before the looal justices and sentenced to three months' imprisonment. The Queensland people are advocating the imposition of £100 as a poll-tax on every Chinaman m the colony. The Queensland Government intend to invite tenders for the looal construction or Beventy-five locomotiveß, whioh it is thought will supply the requirement for the next five years. New Zealand may be congratulated (says the "European Mail") on tho fact that the Otago, the Timaru, and the Napier harbors loans have all advanced from 103 to 104 J. Thia 6urely shows that really solid investments are being keenly looked after just now. The Committee who have charge of the fund raised ' (or the relief of those who suffered by the terrible disaster at the Bulli mine m New South Walep, are without any ' definite information with regard to some of those killed, and as the fund was raised for the benefit, of all, they are now making inquiries. In the case of ten of the men killed they have no information at all (observes the N Otago Daily Times ") beyond the nameß, and as it is possible that these men have left families or other persons dependent upon < them, anyone posieeßed of information on thia point would do well m communicating with the Committee. The nameß of these men were :— John Adamson, John Bracroft, James Curbis, Samuel Carrj Geo. or Henry Graham, John King, Hana Olsen, Frank Askew, alms Geo. Smith, George Smith, William or John Thomson. In the Victorian Legislative Parliament, during a discussion of the action of a St. Eilda bench of magistrates m sentencing two boys to three months' separate confinement and one to a week for stealing toys, Mr David Gauspn, member for South Melbourne, made, m a most irrelevant manner, a violent attack on Justice Windeyer, of New South Wales, who sentenced those guilty of the Mount Eennie outrage. Mr Gaunson declared that a bigger scoundrel did not disgrace the judicial bench of any country than Judge Windeyer. Violent uproar ensued m consequenqe of Mr Gaunson'a remarks. Greater significance was attaohed to them from the faot that several members of the New South Wales Parliamen* were [present m the strangers' gallery. Mr Gaunson'a oonduot is generally condemned. We understand that there are m Dunedin at the present time a great many oases of horses suffering from inflammation of the mouth, and some of the oases have come under the notice of the inspector of the S.P.O.A. A veterinary Burgeon has given the opinion that the disease is inflammation of the mucous membrane of the mouth, and possibly [caused by a diseased state of the etomaoh. As it is m all probability infectious, ownere of horses should not let their animals drink at the publio troughs.—" Otago Daily Times." The «' Oamaru Mail " has the following :— "A commercial man m thia town having made inquiries of a firm m Hobart what would be the charges for landing certain goods m Oamaru and Dunedin the Hobart * firm, m giving the rates, exoußed the higher rates for landing the goods m Dunedin m the following words : — " You ara aware that Dunedin is a very much more expensive port than yours, and henco the higher prioe ; and there is also not so good a chanoo for vessels obtaining an outward freight." The Worka Committee of the Melbourne City Council recommended the aooeptanoe o E. G. M'Lean's tender of £7401" for the ereotion of a portion of the Town Hall. New Zealand stone is to be used. Objootion waa made to this material when the stone oould be got from Stawell. It was pointed out that the New Zealand artiole would be £1500 oheapor than the other etone recommended by the committee. The report was referred baok to give the tenderer an opportunity pf stating his lowest offer for using Viotorian stone. Two of the councillors said they were informed that the New Zealand stone was inferior, and was not generally used for building m that colony, the stone required for the most important buildings being got from Sydney. The " Hawkea Bay Herald " says that on Saturday a young man called upon Inspeotor Bullen at the police offioe and eajd that he wished to be taken into custody. He "stated that Lib name was William Dunbar Birrell, that hip age was 19 years, and that he aesijre'a to surrender himself p,n a charge of forgery upqn the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney. B,y searching the police records Inspector Bullen found that a warrant for the apprehension of a person of the same name was issued by the Molong (N.S.W.) Benoh of Magistrates, charging hjm with embezzling £640, the property of the Commercial fiank. The New South Wales authorities have been communicated w£* h j