The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 80, 1887. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1676, 30 September 1887, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 80, 1887. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

It is hardly true that republics are always ungrateful. The United States ia now paying m pensions a larger sum than it costs to support the standing army of Germany numbering nearly half a million men.—" Port Huron Times." The citizens of Wellington have been served with their first Poor-rate notioes. This faot will form an item m the history of the colony, indeed m the history of Australasia. The struggle against the inevitable : | has been long and persistently maintained. Wellington has been the first to give m. It is only a question of time for Poor-rates to become general throughout Australasia. And why not ? The poor are always with us, and why should the burden of their maintenance be borne only by the charitably disposed, the very people who aa a rule are the least responsible for the existenoe of poverty. — " Bruce Herald." A remarkable phenomenon is reported from Merthyr Tydvil, where huge blowers of gas have been atruok at the Vale Colliery. The gas has been diverted into pipes and brought to the surface of the mine, a distance of a mile and a quarter. When the gaa is ignited at the pit mouth, it burns with suoh brilliancy as to illuminate the whole district. The quantity of gas escaping from the blower is estimated at 2000 ft per minute, and it is Stated that the colliery company are now taking steps to purify the gas for domestio purposes. Raskin, In speaking of the wife, says :— " A , judioioua wife Is always nipping off from her husband's moral nature little twiga that are growing m the wrong direction. She keepa' kirn m Bb.ape by pruning, If you say any thing silly, she will style you bo. If you deolare that you will do some absurd thing, she will find oat some way ot preventing you from doing it. And by far the chief part of all the common sense there is m the world belongs unquestionably to women. The wiseßt things a man commonly does are those which his wife oounsels him to. A wife is a grand wielder of the moral pruning knife. X Johnson's wife had lived there would have been no hoarding up of orange peel, no touohing all the posts m walking along the B tree t, no eating and drinking with disgusting velooity. If Oliver Goldsmith had been married he never would have worn that memorable and ridioulous ooat. Whenever you find a man whom you know little about oddly dressed, talking absurdly, or exhibiting ecoentrioity of manner, you may be sure he is not a married man ; for the oornere are rounded off, the little Bhoots parel away m married men. Wives have much more sense than their husbands. The wife's advioe is like the ballast that keeps the ehvp steady. Certainly the most effective MEDICINE m the world is SANDER and SONS' EUCALYPTI EXTRACT. Test its eminent powerful effects m Coughs, Colds, Influenza, etc. ; the relief is instantaneous". Thousands give the most gratifying testimony. Bead this certificate :— •• 24th April, 1885.— Measrs Sander and Sons,— lt is with the greatest of pleasure that I testify to the excellence of your Eucalypti Extract. Having had inflammation on the bone of the leg, which came on after a severe attack of low fever, I was attended by Dr J. Boyd, who had made Btrenuous efforts to save my leg, but without suocees. He then found it necessary to amputate my limb. Having heard m the meantime of the wonderful cures worked by the Eucalypti Extraot, I obtained a bottle, and tho extract had not been applied more than an hour when I began to feel greatly relieved. After applying the extract every four hours or nine or ten days I was out cf all danger. I would persuade all who may be afleoted with any such disease to give the Euoalypti Extraot a trial, and I am convinced that they will find it the most wonderful of medicines. — Yours etc, E. J. Curnow, Wattle street, Sandhurst."— (Advt

A magnificent meteor was observed about two o'olook this morning travelling with great velocity from west to east, and exploding m the form of an immense rocket. Although there was brilliant moonlight at the time yet the glare from the meteor far exceeded this, and the traok of the tonal visitor was strongly marked m the sky for nearly a minute. Full investigation has been made into the oonduot of the constable who was reported to have interfered with certain of the electors at Mr Ivess' recent meeting at Napier, ,»nd the ! Commissioner of Police has reduced the offending constable to the bottom of the thirdclass list. Sir Robert Stout, Mr Reynolds, Mr Riohardson, and Mr Larnach left Lyttelton by the Tarawera for Wellington on Thursday night. At Christchurch a small crowd of sympathisers took the horses out of Sir Robert Stout'a and Mr Richardson's carriage, and drew it to the railway station, where a considerable number of people oheered them on their departure. A large crowd at Lyttelton oheered Sir Robert Stoat bb the steamer left the wharf. A Sydney telegram m the " Melbourne Argus" states that the discovery of gold at Mount Darnook, on the Manfred station, is causing great excitement m the district. Diggers are flocking to it from all quarters, Menindie is the nearest river station to the field. The gold was found by an old digger who was rabbiting on the station. Ha was struck by the formation of the country, and prospected, and at a depth of little more than 10ft came upon igneous rock, showing good gold to the naked eye. The latest political joke comes from Wellington. Mr Robertson, says the " Press," was expatiating upon the advantages of the Viliogu settlement oohemo, and rcoonntiug how much one settler had made out of ten acres of land. " He had one acre under wheat, and was grazing ten milking bullocks — ." He was interrupted at this stage by a tremendous burst of laughter, and immediately prooeeded to oorrect himself, remarking that he had been caught up before he fell. What he really said (or meant to say) was 11 mill bullocks." It was some time, however, before the merriment occasioned by this veritable " bull " subsided. Bijou, the pet elephant who has for two years been on exhibition m Boston, was killed by poison a few days ago. This animal was older, and had been m oaptivity longer, than any other elephant ever on exhibition. He had m Amerioa sixty years, and was ' known to be eeventy-five years old at least. i Reoently he bad suffered greatly from old age. The excessive dampness and cold of the Southern Hemisphere, as compared with the Northern, is illustrated by some reoent studies of mountains m Australia. On the highest mountain m Australia, Kosciusko, patohes of never-melted snow are found m lat. 37 deg. 8., 1500 feet lower than m the Alps of Europe, *n lat, -17deg. N., and at about the same level as the European snow-line for lat. 52deg, Everywhere m antarotio lands snow and ice are much more extensive than m the Northern Hemisphere at similar latitudes.

The fears that grass and clover will be killed by frost if the seed be sown too early are almost imaginary. It very rarely happens that even olover is injured by frost, though the growing plant is extremely teuder. If Bown when frost is on the ground, clover seeds are of course dormant until it thaws, when they are slightly covered by the mud that lies -on a newly thawed surfaoe. This proleots the seed from the direot rays of the sun, and it will not sprout until the soil is warm enough for roots to strike into. If it falls on a hard, dry surfaoe, the seed swells with the moisture of rains, and contracts when a cold day stops growth, but without serious injury. The Czar is the head of the Russian Church, and by the {last accounts is going to take advantage of bis position. His financial advisers have suggested that m the churches and convents of Holy Russia there are a good many valuable jewels that are not used for daily ritual, and that it would be a good stroke of businesa to borrow, or, " what the wise do call, convey " them for the benefit of the State, m return for thred per cent, bonds. The general civilisation of Russia has of late been likened to that of England during the reign of our Henry VIII., and this is pushing the parallel still further. We wonder whether the prießts will do as " Papa " bids them, or make a struggle. One can hardly fanoy a Russian bishop making a sort of reply that the gngligb eoclesiastio made to James 11., " My Lord of Rochester (was it Roohester?) says you are the breath of his npßtrile, and it is, therefore, jonly right that you should take his money, but for my part I don't remembeK every Baying anything of the kind." HoiiLOWAT'S PlfcW AND OINTMENT.— The attention of all Bufferera is drawn to these well-known remedies, for the possess conspicuous advantages as a safe and reliableaid m all those emergencies to which travellers, emigrants and sailors are so especially liable. They have been largely patronized by way. faiers by land and Bea, and m faot, by all olasseß of the community, to their very great advantage. The Pills are beyond all doubt one of the most effeotive remedies ever discovered for oases of obstinate constipation, confirmed indigestion and colio, complaints j?h^ch are engendered by exposure and ir. regular feeding. The Ointmett will be four d of the greatest servids m caBO of piles-,, abscesses, erysipelas, and [all kinds of I local liberations,