LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1738, 12 January 1888, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The fire m the Puhipuhi kauri forest has burnt itself out and the bush is no longer m danger. Two very large aharka wete seen off tbe end of the main breakwater at Timaru on Wednesday evening. On Saturday evening last a trout of 15. bi weight was killed m the Lower Avon, Christchurch, by Mr William Dunnage, and on Wsdneiday evening the same gentleman captured a most beautifully shaped fieh , weighing 13lbs. The latter is believed to be a Galiiornian salmon — salmo juinnat. We are informed that a poor woman, residing near the Hospital, was a great Buf > terer through the hue-and-ory mads the other day for a man who had escaped from that institution. Search was made for him through her garden and small paddook of wheat adjoining, the fruit trees being broken and the corn trampled down by a rush of men and boys who, m their quest of the escapee, seemed reokless of the damage they were doing.. The oaae is one m whioh some compenaation should be made. About two o'clook this afternoon, the graas m the plantation on tbe upper side of the Old Men's Home oaught fire, evidently through a match having been thrown down at the aid* of the road. Mesirs Andrews, T. Hayes, Gollins and others, who happened to be near at the time, promptly set to work and kept the flames m oheokjtill the Brigade arrive<J,and were it not for their excrtiona the fire might ' have been a very serious one, owing to the j high wind blowing at the time. Fortunately, however, no damage worth speaking of has beendono. , There .was another aoeident with the Eennington-Lee rifle at Timaru on Wednes* day, a cartridge exploding and bursting the breeoh of a rifle m the hands of Private Ellis, of the Timaru Bides, who waa pain* fully injured m the right eye and arm. The Secondary Sohools Conference at Nelson recommends the Senate of its Univer- j aity to give every encouragement to High Bchoolß by cheapening and localising matriou. lation and junior scholarships examinations, no that they may bo used to test the work iv the fifth and sixth forms. It has been resolved by a meeting of friends and supporters, held at Wanganui, to present the Hon. John Bryoe with a piece of s tori ing silver plate. A bandsomo sum was subscribed m the room and Committees wero appointed to oanvaas the diatriot. Tbe woman Dalzoll, the ohief aotor m the R&kaia, tragedy, still Übb m the Hoßpital m a comatose condition, hor symptoms completely baffling her medioal attendants. She has, we hoar, nevor opened her eyes, since her admission, now some thirteen days ago, and appears proof against the strongest Bhooks of a powerful eleotrio battery. She swallows food placed m her mouth, but during the day lies almost entirely motionless. On Sunday week ahe was bo still and cold that the nurses believing her to be dead laid her out, intending to remove her to tbe dead-house m the morning, but on repairing to her bedside for that purposo thoy found that the bed* olothes had been disarranged, and ascertained that the woman was still alive. The ease is a very remarkable one. A fire oocurred at Winalow laat night by whioh the houso of Patriok Grace was destroyed. Oraoe himself is away at work at 111 3 Springfield station, but his fliiter wai looking after the house during hia abienee. About half-past eleven laat night aba was Wakened by the smell of fire, and she at ones set to work to remove the children, aix ia number, to a plaoa of safety. She also managed to savo the bodolothea anl a couple j of boxes. The fire appears to have originated near the chimney. The woman does not know whether the house was insured. Tbe "Oatnaru Mail" lays it is evident that the aoare about the Canadian thistle has not •ommenoed a bit too aoon. From all parts of tbe dijjtrjqt we hear of its enoroaohments. This morning a number of the unwelcome visitors were discovered on the rifle range The emergency ia auoh that extraordinary precautions should be taken to meet it. Tbo » Cape Argus " ftUs attsntion to the fact that Johannesburg recently celebrated ita first birthday. " Tbe inhabitants," says thp artjole, "may well be proud of tbeir bantling. Twelve months ago Johannesburg had no existence beyond the ten shanties of prospectors. To-day Johannesburg is aa rauoh ft town as anything we have to show. It haa its wide streets, ita hotels, its fire newspapers, Hud \i is peopled with some of the most snergetlo and buoyant peoplo m South Africa. In no country has there ever boon an, example of a new centre of industry more rapidly establishing itself, and impressing itaelf upon *he public mind as ono of the permanent features of tho country." The sm»ll island of Davaor, near dampbelltcwn, has rapidly become the shrine of innumerable pilgrims from all quarters of Soottand. This is owing to thb discovery of a fine painting of " Christ Crucified " on the rough surface of a oave on the island— an un 4°u b f|?4 maßtprpiooe oxeouted on a craoked, damp, uneven rqek. yistyota are struok with thp gom'uo of th,e artist jn tpanipulatwg typ shelving aoroaa tbe middle of tbo figure by converting it into the folds of tho white oloth that Covers the loins ; while tbo epcar-thrust wound would eecni *a be a slight oraok m tbe fp.dk, with wator running down over the blood, whioh leavaa the jmpresoion on the mind of the onlooker that blood and wator aro still oozing out of the cut and trfokljng do^# £hp aide on tho oloth. One does not look for artistic finds of this description ja Soottish eaves.