The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit MONDAY, JANUARY 9. 1888. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1735, 9 January 1888, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit MONDAY, JANUARY 9. 1888. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The new Presbyterian Church at Tinwald was formally opened on Sunday by the Rev J. Hill, of Lyttelton, who oonduoted the services morning, afternoon, and evening. In the morning referenoe was made m prayer and m the sermon to the circumstances of the congregation, and the building was solemnly dedicated to the worship of (Jod. In the afternoon the service was adapted to the young, who sang appropriate hymns. Mr Hill's sermons were impressive and appro* priate, and the church was well filled at all the services. Announcement was made that the tea meeting, as advertised, would take place on Tuesday evening at 5.30, to be followed by a publio meeting m the church, when addresses would be delivered by ministers and others. The population of Great Britain is increasing at the rate of 100*0 a day. Auckland goldfields have turned out nine million pounds' worth of gold. In 1841 26,000,009 Britishers used 23,000,0001ba o* t.obaccp. $Tow use 35,000,0001bf1. There are how m Victoria brigades enrolled, with 2700 aotive firemen on their lists ; honorary firemen 1000, bandsmen 500 ; yalue of plant and buildings £27,000. An examination of papers and letters belonging to the late Lord Lytton has revealed that the once popular novelist was a firm believer m aetajfogj and BpiiitQftlhra. It Ajppeara that Lytton 00,0.6 o&ift the tNfp 3of Bcaconefiold, when the latter was & ye?y young man, and that it worked out true to the letter The "Sydney Daily Telegraph" m an article recently, commends the honesty of New Zealand insisting on a wide soheme of KOtrfinchment, and prophesies a risa m stock m .consequence. The Barae paper further remarks that i£ the polonies will oeasa borrowing British capitalists jrilj eejid the money privately for investment, a fapt whjujh , is evinced by last year's transactions. 1 ••BucHO-PxißA."— Quiok, complete oure, all ( annoying kidney, bladder, and urinary ' lieewes. At obemißts and druggists. Kemp. ] Shorne, Pjpaaer and Co., Agents. Ohriet- J ;huicb, 1 I

Charles Hunter, the man who made an ■ ittempt to kill himself by cutting his tbroat i >n the Alford Forest Road on Wbdnesday light, managed to escape yesterday from the Hospital, where he is being treated for the njuriea he inflicted on himself. It appears ihat he was m the Hoapital grounds m sompany with two or three of the patients who were taking exercise, when he suddenly oleared out, making m the direotion of /Ulenton. At tbe first house he came to, he requested the loan of a Bharp knife, whioh, however, was refused him. In the meantime a hue and cry was raised, and Constables Smart and O'Sullivan set out to re-capture the man, being assisted m their searoh by about half the neighborhood. Hunter was traced to a paddook of wheat near Mr J. Tuoker's, but for some time nothing further of his whereabouts could be asoertained. At last, however, one of the searobers spied the man popping up his heai among the wheat? m order to see what his pursuers were doing, and m a very short time he was safely m custody. He was taken baok to the Hospital and placed under the surveillance of a musoular laboring man, who will oheok any tendency on the part of hia oharge to take any more excursions m quest of sharp knives. Some apprehensions were felt that Hunter might make away with himself m the stream running through the Domain, but it seems that he, m common with the majority of would-be suioides, will only destroy himself m one particular way, and that unless ho oan ever hiß jugular vein he will not kill himself at all. This suicidal mania on hia part appears to be mainly the result q excessive drinking. He is a man who is m well-to-do ciroumstanoes, but latterly he has been drinking very heavily. He has a home at Sydenham. The London correspondent of the " Oiago Daily Times " writes :— -" An agent has been sent to New Zealand oh behalf of the creditors of Mrs Elizabeth Burke, of Ringaskiddy, Cork, widow of Edmond Daniel Burke, one of the two half-brothers of Mr Samuel Burke Loan (who is said to have died reobntly m Auckland, leaving a fortune of two millions sterling). Mrs Burke has become bankrupt, and her creditors are anxious to asoertain what share of the legaoiea of Mr Loan her husband would have been entitled to were he alive. A.nglo-Now Zealanders express the fear that this agent may have gone to the oolony on a wild goose obase, and Auoklanders profess entire ignoranoe as to thia wonderful fortune." The Wellington » PoBt " very rightly says j — It is to be hoped that Ministers will not bo so ill-advised as to appoint Mr Maxwell to one of the railway aommissionerships. If they do, public confidence m the Board will be undermined from the very outset, and a great obataolo will be thrown m the way of its usefulness, however good a man tbe Chief Commissioner may be. Probably Mr Maxwell's services may be found useful as an engineer m the Railway Department, but he should certainly have no voice m the management. Father : " Well, what oan you say for the young man?" Daughter: •• He's young and handsome, and has good business ability.' Father : " How do you know anything about his business qualifications ?" Daughter ; •' Why, he has shown me again and again hovt nicely we ooald get along if you would make us a preseut of a oouple of thousand pounds.' Reports whioh have reaohed us (" Press ", show that the Lower Selwyn is now m firai rate order. Several fine bags have reoentlj been recorded, the finest that we have bean * L> '""n * u -* -* Mi- TT TTimhrr whn L nn foui consecutive evenings, commencing with Jan 2nd, Bucoeeded m making the following baga :— 37lbs, 171bs, 141ba, and 311 b, or 991bf m all. In one of the Courts lately at Wellington .there waa a long and learned discussion between opposing counsel as to whether a Witness should be allowed to answer the queßtion, "What did Mary say?" The Judge gave a long and elaborate opinion fa the affirmative, and tbe question being repeated, the answer was, " She didn't say c word." An angler had a strange experience m Otamete the other day. Aooording to the •• Ensign " he hooked a fish, and played il some time, and finally landed its head only, It appears that m its struggles the gut gol twisted round its body and eventually out itt head off. As the head came to tho surfaoe the body was seen floating down the stream. A most unsatisfactory condition of things has been disclosed at Sydney m oonneotion with the public funds. It appears that the Treasury makea an advanoe for departmental work of about £100,000, under oondition that vouohera for payments to bo immediately returned — that is, returned within t«o months ; but now it is revealed that m thq vast majority of oases these vouohers have not been returned for over twelve months and with the old and second advanoe notes there is fully £100,000 unaooounted for. The absenoe of these vouobors ia viewed with suspicion.