LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1717, 23 November 1887, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The excursion to the Mount Somera coal " pits have been arranged for Deo. Bth. \ A special meeting of the County Council, whioh was to have' been held to-day, for 2 the purpoie of eleoting a chairman, lapsed \ for want of a quorum. The matter will come . up at the next meeting. The very unsettled weather for the last , month has seriously retarded shearing operat tions m this distriot, and the looal sales ) advertised for 25th instant will, of necessity, 3 be postponed. Comparatively little wool has i oome forward, but should the weather con- > tinue propitious the opening auotion will, we . understand, be held about a fortnight henoe. f The " Trial of John Barleycorn," (hat was | to have oome off last night, has been poat- , poned on aooount of the weather ; it will be ! produced on Wednesday next, Nov. 30th. > The Robin Hood Combination open m tha 1 Oddfellows' Hall this evening at popular . prices. • A ball will be held m the Oddfellows' Hal 1 thia evening, immediately after tha Robin Hood Combination performance, music for whioh will be provided by the Summer Assembly Band. Seventy-one nominations were reoeived for the O. J.O. Welcome Stakes, 1889. The New Zealand Stud Company's nominations number 26, and the Middle Park Company's 10. The Poat and Telegraph Department yielded a profit of £13,167 19s lid last year. The "Pall Mall Gazette" has warned the Chief Seoretary for Ireland that his life is m danger. The Comte de Paris, grandson of the late Louia Phillippe, offers his services as King oi Franco. England ia expeoted to annex Tonga be an aaawet to tho German encroaobment &1 Samoa. Last year the Poatal Department reoeived and dealt with 38,884,592 letters and 836,260 telegrams. The Gaikwar of Baroda, an East [India Prince, is about to visit England aooompanied by several ladies of his harem. The English co-operatives have a banl whoae transactions amount to £16,000,000 c ye&r. They have 1400 stores and a business of £3,000,000 a year. Their 900,000 memberf Maeive an annual profit of £3,000,000. In a Pittsburg theatre the other night a titizen rose from his seat and violently hurled a potato at a dude who was examining hil (the citizen's) wife through an opera glass, and thereupon three or four hundred persons vigorously applauded tbe husband. The Presbyterian Sabbath Sohool m the oity of Damascus is attended by 350 children and the day sohool by 750. Between tout and five hundred natives attend the Sunday servioes, An ordinary elephant produoea 160 pounds of ivory, worth £60. England consumes 650 tone (of whioh Sheffied one-third), for whioh it ia necessary to kill 12,000 elephants yearly, Acoordiog to the report whioh has boen prepared for the International Statistical Congress, Europe has at present a population of 337,000, living upon £,233,000 square miles Of territory. Cotton enough to supply all the factories of Europe may be raised m Bokhara, and tlreadry the preliminary steps have been taken for the establishment of ootton mills along the line of tho Samaroand Railway. Tho syndioate that purchased the Blue Spur Mining Company (Otago) intend to offer a portion of the amount to the publio. A motion to abolish tho offiaa of AgentGeneral for Tasmania was lost on division ia the Parliament of that oolony by 20 votes to 5. Alexander J. Lee, for defrauding Chinese at Melbourne, by issuing bogus summonses against: them, has been sentenced to eighteen months ia gaol. A tost-oase against tho Bulli Company, under tha Employers' Liability Act, ia to be commenced shortly m the interests of tho women widowed by tho recent aooident. The meanest man, so far on reoord, lives is Paddington, His wife aßked him to give her a pet, some animal that would stiok to her, and the next evening he brought her home a leech. Itia stated that Mrs Auffray, the " Escaped Nun," while up at Townsville the other week, recognised the priest on aooount of whom, she alleges aha, nineteen years ago, ran away from the convent m Jersey City. Tho member for Avon, Mr Blake, unites the metaphorioal with the praotioal observes »ho " New Zealand Times." In the course of his speooh on Friday night he said, alluding to the Government's general indications of retrenchment, " If a man asks you to oome and see him any time, you never know when to go and have dinner with him, but if he taya, • Come up to-morrow night,' you know there will be some dinner for you." The aptness of thia simile, from Mr Blako's point of view, was oapital, and tickled the House | immoaaoly;

For domestic wear around the house ara pretty dressing saoquea and blouse waists of speoklod, dotted, striped, and sprigged linen lawns and peroales, intended for wear with colored wool or cotton Bkirta. The cuffs of these garments are eoalloped and buttonhole. Btitahed with colored cotton—rod, blue, pink, or lilao —to matoh the dots or lines of figures on the lawn or peroale of the waists.