LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1766, 14 February 1888, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A .speolal general meeting ot the Tradesmen's Racing Club will be held on Monday next. The following gentlemen were to-day nominated as a Licensing Committee for the Upper Ashburton Distriot, and being the \ number required, were duly elected : —Messrs T. Bullook, D. Thomas, T. Scaly, B. Friedander, and J. G. Res tell. This is how the "Auokland Star" prints its gaol returns :— One hundred and seventy three gentlemen and forty-eight ladies were m Her Majesty's Temperance Hotel, at Mount Eden, on Saturday last. The gross receipts on the New Zealand railways for the ten months wbioh ended on the 81st alt. exceeded those for the cor* responding period of laßt year by £15,000, while the expenditure was less by £5000, consequently the net profit has been greater by £20,000.

Himiona, the East Coast prophet, has made arrangements for the postponement 0' the eruption of Tarawera till the end of July. The cause is that his people may gather m their crops. The natives still maintain Himiona's authority and his correctness. They are holding prayers — morning, noon, and night. I They say it is a poor rule that don't work both ways. A young man and a young woman of Liverpool made a wager upon the fate of a certain gentleman's candidature which made the forthcoming election a Bnbjeot of grave concern to them. If tbe can* didate m question won, the girl agreed to marry tbe man ; if be lost, the man agreed to marry the girl ! Max O'Rell says America has a President for use and one Franoe for ornament. People are leaving Auokland at the rate of seventy a week for Sydney.

During a recent examination of a olass of youngsters the teacher asked :— " What is a monarch ? " and was immediately answered by a little boy : " A country governed by a King." • " Who would rule if the King Bhonld die?" "The Queen." •• And if the Queen should die ? " •♦ The knave." Following the report as to tbe capital sales m London of Manaia Dairy Factory cheese comes the report of the first consignment of butter to the Old Country, made by Mr E. Milton, of Manaia. It will be remembered that that gentleman bought three tons from the above company, the first being shipped early m Ootober, tbe report of whioh is now to hand. It states that the butter arrived Home m first-class condition, and superior to first Cork, but the price realised has not yet transpired. Tbe " Dunedin Evening Star " says that the Attorney.General has telegraphed to Mr Pyke, M.H R., that the contract for the Otago. Central Railway will be ready for signature immediately on his return from Viotoria. A well-known East Kent agriculturist has just taken a large farm m Essex at a rente] oi Is an acre. The land is considered among the best for corn growing m Essex.

Observations are being made on the Frenoh coast and m the Channel, by Frenoh Govern* ment officials, with a view to laying down a new cable aorcsa the Ohannel, m order to establish telephonic communication between London and Paris.

The recent utilisation of Pranaini's akin to cover card cases has reminded the Parisians of the old human skin tanneries at Straaburp i and Meudon, where the skins of the viotims of the guillotine were made into book leather. Works m this binding may atill be seen m the catalogues of book sales. " The number of persons who arrived m the colony during January waa 1593, and the number of departures was 1395/' At leaßt so says a Wellington exchange; bnt tbe fact is these statistics are utterly worthless and on. reliable, for while the numbers arriving m the colony are always correotly ascertained, the number of departures is as oonstantly under rated. This is- necessarily so as only thoEe who book their passages oan be counted, while as a matter of fact a large number of passengers by steamers pay their fires aboard, and are thus not acoounted for Under the heading of " Signs of Prosperity," the Auck'and correspondent of the •• Daily Timeß " telegraphs :— The balancesheet of the Auckland Savings Bank for the past year shows surprising resulta.oonsidering tho dullness of trade. The inorease of deposits was £50,780, the total oredifc of depositors £438,530, Tbe average aocount of two-thirds of the depositors is £20. L»rge sums have bee repeatedly refused by the trustees from persons deßJrous of availing themselve of the interest allowed by the bank. The number of female depositors shows an increase. The penny bank has a credit of £4976 to youth, ful depositors. Several persons, says {he " Greytown Standard," have paid a visit to Maryborough to see the remarkably ema'l infant concern, ing whioh our Martinborough correspondent wrote some days ago, but the parents, though Maoris, objeot to fie ohild being exhibited. Two or three friends drove over from Feather* atone the other day to interview the little curiosity, but the child's mother did not receive them very graoiously. One of the party, a young married lady, put on her moat winning graces,' and said she would so muoh like to ccc the " dear little thing." But the native mother was proof against flattery, and replied, " You go and get a baby of your own.'