LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1738, 17 December 1887, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

In view of tho present attitude of Ilussia referred to m our cablegrams tho following remarks were, according to tho "Paris Figaro," recently made by a cousin of tho Czar, the Granl Duke Nicholas: — "Franco makes ready for lior levengo, and sho does well But she bliows her great good aenso m rofuaitjg to bo moved by the continual vexations of her neighbor. May eho oontiniio to prepare ftndt) perfrot hor armament, nnd to majte her soldiera heroee, like fhoso whoso exploits aro famous m history. On her side Russia docs not remain inactive. Sho labors everywhere to destroy German influenoo. All our family, as everyone knows, lova Franoe. All tho efforts of tj>o Czar aro directed to diminish moro and inoro llio Ocrcaau influonco wbioh. at one time was great among our dignitarjos. Soon our whole Government will contain only men who love Franco. Till then, I repeat, let not Frapco disturb herself, for at the present moment It will bo difficult fo obtain our effective allianco m oaso of war. Jn a short time all obstacles will have disappeared, #n<3 I mil be the $rst m case of war do range myself m Ihe ranks of tho Fxonoh array, which I love with all my heart. My oxampla, you mgy be cure, wjll tie] follow^ by rgany j

The Railway Department announce a cheap excursion to^Dunedin, Invercargill, and the LakepT A cricket match was played yesterday m lie Domain between teams representing ABhburton and Timaru. The local team were the victors by an innings and 55 runs. The detailed scores will appear m next isßue. Taking advantage of tho holiday yesterday tho Ashburton Presbyterian Church choir hold a picnio at Laghmor, tho use of the Btation having been kindly granted by Mr Donald MoLoan, Tho day's outing was much enjoyed by all the party, who numbared twenty-live nil told, and they returned lato m the evening well satisfied with the day's enjoyment. A telegram received from Christchurch this morning says :— Tho fourth and last of tho series of entertainments by the Greenwoods took plaoo last night at tho Theatre Eoyal before a largo and appreciative audience, who wore so satisfied that they encored nearly every item. Tho Company loavo for Ashburton to-day, and will appear at tho Oddfellows' Hall on Monday and Tuesday evenings. Messrs James Smith and H. P. Barnes, advanoo agonts for the Lynch Family of Bellringers, arrived m Ashburton yesterday to make the necessary arrangements for their opening here on Boxing night. Mr W. Zander has a very fine tray of trout on view to-day. They were caught m tho Ashburton rivor yesterday by a party of four of our looal lißhormoD, and show that only skill is required to make a good haul of these lino fish. Tho largest is about 51bs m weight, and tho whole catch totsjup over SOlbs. Tho principal theatre m Brussels La Monnaio has been provided with a water curtain, or, m other words, with an ingenious piece of mechanism whereby a shower will descend, m case of flro, from tho summit of the proacenium, and will constitute a rauoh more efiicicent protection than an iron curtain, which soon becomes red-hot and warps and shrivels. Ten staircases furnish immediate means of ogress to the largest audience that oan assemble within the walls of the theatre, and there are besides four means of exit for the orohestra, a& well .as speoial esoape-doore for the company. The " Taieri Advocate " says : — Barbed wire has its usefulness, but it has its bad qualities also. When conversing with a Dunedin saddler the other day ho told us that owing to the damaged condition of tho hides, B through the bullocks being injured by "barbed . wiros, ha was afraid ho would be oompollod j 2 to oease purchasing New Zoaland leather and : fall back entirely upon the Victorian article. Barbed wire makes euoh horrid boots and , rips m the bides that a largo amount of ' leather has to be cut to waßte. Tho "Wairarapa Star" says:— -"A well. r known settler m the district has confided to us a method by which he believes the rabbit ~ peat can be reduced to a very harmless extent, and, at the same time, utilised. His method is to get young pigs and roar thorn m confino.maut. .rendering them tamo and thoroughly s domesticated, till fchoy are about threo months d old. Thon their education as rabbit huntere if oommeonos. If proporly attended to the >, young pig will follow tho owner like a- dog c It is to be taken out to a rabbit burrow ; the r burrow ia to be dug out to about six inohes of c the neat ; a young rabbit is then withdrawn S and given to tho pig, which having devoured s it, follows up by making a square meal of the ;, family. Next day it ia takon to a now burrow. - This ia partially dug |out (not so much as '- before), and the pig is allowed to do the rest c of the work. Having required a relish for - young rnbbit flesb, Mr Pig will readily do the 5 work, and uo go ouf nnd rnnt nut tho poat on S his own account. Oar informant says that t with a pig so trained he has seen burrows 3 torn opon, and ilax bushes uprooted m tho S operation with a rapidity that is simply amazing. By this prooess the rabbit llosh ia c transformed into pork, whilo land ia cleared n of the poet at the same time. At his request !i we give tho suggestion to our country suby scribers, and thoso who may try the experi. t mont are invited to furnish their experioncoa."

There ia nothing more remarkable m the history of railway entorpriae that the developmont of tho traffic that has ooourred on Indian railways within the last ten yoara, to go no furthar back. In 187G (saya "Bradstreol'a Journal ") tho total quantity of goods traffic carried on all the railways of India was 5,750,000 tons. In .1886 the quantity was about 19,000,000 tons. In the year 1876 tho mileage opened was 6833 miles, so that the volume of goods traflio carried per mile was about 800 tons. In 1886 tho mileage open waß 12,370, so that the average volume of traflio carried per milo was over 1500 tona. Tho aggregate volume of traffio m the interval had fully trebled, and tho average traffio oarried por mile opon had almost doublod. Notwithstanding theao remarkablo resulta, the traffic which haß been developed on the rallwaya m India is leaa m proportion to tho' population than that of any country m the world. This is especially the caso m regard to goods traffic, which only ropresenta o'os of a ton per head of the population, as compared with throe tona per head m Canada ond over seven tona por head m tho United Kingdom; But tho goods traffio of India is likely to developovery rapidly m the future, and especially m agricultural produoo, of which only about 4,000,000 tona aro now annually transported, as compared with 75,000,000 tons m the United States for loss than a fourth of the population.

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