LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1778, 1 March 1888, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Lieutenants Cuthbertson and Paul, of the Ashburton Guards, have received intimation that they have passed the reoent officers' examination.

The annual ram aud ewe fair, under the auspices of the Canterbury A. aud P. Association, will be held on Maroh 22nd. Entries will be received till March 15th. The Bailway Department will run a cheap excursion train from Ashburton to Timaru, on Maroh 9, one of the days of the Timaru races. Fares will be da 6d first-class ; 4s second. I The Resident Magistrate this morning men. tioned that he understood an order had been < issued by the Minister for Justice m regard to judgment summons cases, whioh would have the effeot of materially influencing the decision of the Bench m future as to the inoaroeration of defaulting debtors. The following is a list of letters received at the Ashburton Fost Office, from plaoes beyond the colony during the month of January, and remaining unclaimed on Maroh 1, 1888 : — William T. Buckley, Thomas Chamney, F. O. Dermer, Patriok Joy, James Maokay, John Picken, James Stevenson and W. T. Wilson* At a well-ati ended meeting of the Vestry and Ladies' Work Sooiety of St. Andrew's Church, Tinwald, it was decided to hold the annual bazaar and gift auction on Easter Monday. The Curate reported that permission had been obtained from the Minister of Justice to raffle on that day. A hearty vote of thanks was passed to Mr Thomas for kindly offering the use of his sheds on the ocoasion. Mr Heseltine produced a letter from Mr E F. Wright promising to send down last year's gift of a truck-load of coal, as soon as the day for receiving it was fixed upon. Mitß-tUaii^Eith her, usual kindness, offered to canvass the~alstrict tor contributions to the gift auotion, which offer was gratefully accepted. . j An exceedingly narrow esoapo from a I shocking accident occurred Issfc night on tho arrival of the train at the Hinds. A Miss Smith endeavored to jump off the train while it was still m motion. She fell between the platform and carriages and was dragged nearly two carriage lengths, being twisted round by one of the steps. The attention of the stationmaßter, Mr Bowles, was drawn to the occurrence, and catching hold of the girl's hands he extricated her from her perilous position, very much frightened, but to all outward appearance not much hurt. Sir G. Grey's island of Kawau has been sold to a Victorian capitalist, the price paid being £12,000. The purchaser intends to make the island his home, and it is said Sir Or. Grey will visit England. At the end of the last year there were m the colony 228 private schools, attended by 12,497 pupils. . As might be expected, the majority of these pupils are Roman Catholics, their numbers being 8263, or about two-thirds of the whole number. Canterbury heads the list so far as private pupils are concerned, the number being 2769; Auckland cornea next with 2618. The number of private schools m these two provinces is the same, namely, 64. Otago has 46 private schools, attended by 2090 pupils ; Wellington 42, attended by 2018. Of the 8263 Catholio pupils 7574 attended sohoole having more than 50 pupils each.

The butohers m Buenos Ayres must be reaping large profits, for, although cattle are selling at 12s per head, the price of beef, thanks to the operations of a butchers' " ring," is Is to Is id per Ib.

According to the Roxburgh correspondent of the " Tuapeka Times," the fruit growers of Roxburgh and Goal Creek must be doing well this season. The crops of all kinds of luscious fruita grovn m this distriot have been most abundant this season. The stone fruits, whioh are now being sent to market m large quantities, are of the finest quality, and command the highest prices.

The Dunedin morning papers report that ferrets have made their appearance m the North.East Valley, and during the past week have made Bad havoc among the hen roosts of residents m that suburb, some of those who keep poultry finding on several occasions half-a-dozen hens or chickens dead m the morn* ing. The ferrets are supposed to have made their way into the Valley from the Waikouaiti district, the animals having apparently abandoned the rabbits for the poultry yard. A heavy steel oasting has just been com. pleted m Sheffield, whiob, is said, is probably the heaviest ever made m England. The

diameter of this casting is 62 inches, and its weight 70 tons. T he beating operation lasted over GO hours, and when the glowing mass glided out of the furnace the ingot with porter-bar and balance-weight made a total weight carried by the crane of at least 120 tons. The ingot was pressed into shape m a 3000 ton forging press.

Another pest (says the "North Otago Times ") the dodder major (Cuttata Europea) has made its appearance m the vicinity of the town, and Mr John Thomson, grooer, Reed street, has cut a bunch of broom and sweetbriar (infeoted with tha pest) from his paddock fence, which he has left at Brownlow and Co. 'a Beed shop, for those curious m such matters to inspect. The parasite has encirolod the broom, and it very Boon kills out the briar ; it is a mass of long fleshy threads, with whitish pink flowers. Mr Thomson intends to out and burn the places attacked by the dodder. This is, we believe, the best plan to get rid of the pest.