LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1816, 16 April 1888, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The latest English musioal prodigy is a boy often years old who is said to be " immense " as a perform on the o arienette. It is reported that the big gas wells m the north-western part of Ohio are losing their pressure and turning to oil wells. A pneumatic gun, which his to throw a shell containing 6001 bof dynamite four miles, ia being constructed for Italy m Philadelphia. The amount collected by the ladies of Wellington towards furnishing a Children's Ward at the -Hospital is £415 instead of £145, as reoently telegraphed. He, before the wedding, anxiously : " You are sure you won't be nervous at the altar ? " She, four times a widow, with the utmost confidence " I never have been yet." The six-inch artesian well lately sunk m Napier, is reported to yield 16,000 gallons per hour at 7 feet, and over 20,000 at 3ft above the ground. It cost only £250. There are now 200,000 acres of tea planted ; m Ceylon, and the industry gives employment to 1200 European managers and superintendents, and 30.000 British subjects, We learn from a Northern exchange that the Hawke's Bay Woollen Faotory has joined the majority, and will " lie m abeyance," as the resolution puts it, till things look up a little. Lady Soratchley, widow of the former Commissioner of New Guinea, is one of the i lucky ones at Broken Hill. Her brother, Mr 3rown, invested £140 on her account, and has just, ii ib stated, sent her £15,000 aa a result of the speculation. The United States steamship Albatross is furnished with a full complement of electrio lamps for fiahing, The glow-lamp is encased m a wire netting, which aota aa a trap. The fish, being attracted by the light, swarm into the net, which is then olosed and pulled m. The " Southland News " says :— As showing that capital as well as population is leaving the Colony, it may be mentioned that three passengers by a reoent steamer to Melbourne carried away between them a sum, of £5000. Our Mount Somers correspondent writes : — " We have bad of late an unheard of succession of gales, but' the one we experienced on Wednesday was the severest of them all. Much damage was done to the stackß, and the roofs of some sheds and houses suffered greatly. There was no sohool as the ohildren found it impossible to face the gale." Aletter fromßritish Burmahaays : — As for oreature comforts, they are enormously dear, and not alway3 to be had, even at a high figure. Real mutton (not goat mutton, which is always to be had) sells for 2 rupees a pound. Potatoes, 2 rupees for 31b ; coffee, 5 rupees a pound; and, notwithstanding Buoh high prices, hospitality is universal. The " Industrial Journal " sayß that there seems to be no limit to the uses for whioh wood pulp is adapted. Among the lateßt practical developments of the industry is the utilisation of this material for making pipes, That is to say, m Amerioa they now make a tubing out of wood pulp that has many ad« vantages over iron for gas and water pipes. A meeting of the Committee of the Ashburton Racing Club was held on Saturday evening when a considerable amount of routine work was gone through. The Stewards were appointed to certain duties on the days of the raoing. It was decided not to allow betting or laying of totalisator odds on the course. The Secretary was also direoted to notifr that the rules having reference to the scratching, and starting of horses will be striotly enforced. " An Old hand " writes as follows m the " South Canterbury Farmers' Co-operative Society's Journal " : — " In reply to ' Farmer ' as to how to utilise the straw from rye-grass threshed out, let him stack it properly, and, during the prooe&B of stacking, spread broadoast over each layer of grass or straw, some common coarse salt, about 2owt per ton of straw. All his stock will eat it greedily and thrive upon it. I have done this for years. Salt, £2 per ton. A gentleman who visited the Rankleburn last week informs the " Courier " that he witnessed five ferrets destroying a sheep. The sheep got on its baok, and while m that was attaoked by the vermin, and m a very short time destroyed. The ferrets took very little notice of the sportsman's approach, and would pot desert their prey. No doubt m the lambiog season the ferrets will work havoc with the young lambs, as they are said to be literally swarming along the river banks. Worth, the renowned Costumier, gave an interviewer the following facts oonneoted with his trade : — " At the time of the ooronation of the present Czar of Russia we had girls working night and day for six weeks on a Coart train for the Czarina, whioh was covered with magnificent embroidery m real silver. The train alone cost 25,000 franos. and it will be preserved m the State Museum as an historical curiosity. Some years ago a Peruvian heiress paid us 210,000f. for a single gown, 118,000f. being the cost of the laces Blone. A few weeks ago we sold a oloak for 45,000f., of which 44,000f. went for the fur." As an instance of how our streams are being depleted of trout the Tuapeka paper narrates the following incident whioh came under its notice recently : — " A large shag was observed to rise from a creek, and after flying a little, a toout was seen to drop from its beak on to the graßS. It descended and once more tried to bolt the fish, but again it failed ; and while it was debating m its own mind how it could best dispose of the precious morsel, it was knocked over by a person standing near by, and who had been watohing its operations. On being opened, the shag was found to contain as many yonng trout as it could possibly retain m its inside ; and the fish which it failed to negotiate on being weighed, was found to turn the Boale at nearly fourteen ounces." For the past 20 years the Duke of Edinburgh has had an allowance of £1800 a year from his unole, Duke Ernest of Saxe-Coburg • he receives a grant of £25,000 from Parliament ; his salary as an admiral is £6000 a year ; his wife has an annuity of £12,000 per annum, and on their marriage she received a dowry of £400,000, which would represent £12,000 a year more, This woqld give his Royal Highness a total income of about £57,000, or almost as much as that of the Prince of Walos. In addition he has Clarence House rent free. The revenues of the duchy pf Saxe-Coburg, to which he is heir, amount to about £30,000 a year. The Prussian Government have, for a long time, offered him an annuity of £60,000 a year if he would give up hjs olaim to the Kingdom of Hanover. The Duke, however, forseeing the possibility of a republic m Germany, Slicks out for a lump sum of £2,000,000. The first of a series of Sixpenny Saturday Evening Concerts came off on Saturday last m the Oddfellows' Hall, when, despite the exceedingly inclement weather, there waa an audienco of some 120 parsons. Major Steward, who ocoupied the chair, m a few introductory remarks, stated that a number of gentlemen had conceived the idea of providing a series of cheap and attractive entertainments so as to afford a harmless and pleasant means of recreation during the long winter evenings. It was intended to give these Saturday evening concerts every fortnight if possible, and although promoted by temperance people, it was not proposed to'give muoh of the time to speeches, this part of the programme Would be limited to one short address on eaoh evening. A number of ladies and gentlemen had _ kindly given their assistance m the musical part of the programme, and he felt sure they would all be pleased with the entertainment provided. A pianoforte overture was then given by Mrs Pennington, followed by the' song (Mr Kneon) " I'll oonquer or die." "Dream faces'" (Miss Wildsmith), "Lord Lovell " (Mr Jessop) encored, 'and ap excellent song by Mr Gamble, preoeded tf vory telling address on *' Moderate Drinking " by Mr J. W. Sawle, apd the first part of the programme was olosed by «ie well-known duet " The Larboard watch '> (Messrs Pickford and Yates). During the interval whioh followed two of the audience Bigned the pledge-book, after whiph the second part of the programme was qpeneij by a B,ong by Mr Yates. Miss Wildsmith greatly amused the audience with a comic ditty detailing the inconveniences of a bad sold, and then Mr Minnis gave an admirablo recitation of " Horatius " from Macauley'a " Laya of Anoient Rome." The duet "All's Wevl" /Messrs Piokford and Yates), " The Tempest " (Mr Wood), and a comio song by Mr Knoon were next m order, and a very enjoyable 6'onqert was ploped by singing the ode ** Come friends afod bre'thtra' all upite,"

The "Lyttelton Times" says that St Fobn^ Hall does not intend to address hi 3 lonstituents, on the ground that there is no mportant question requiring to be referred to irising out of the proceedings of the past ession. Aooording to an Auckland paper Mr Seddon we presume the member for Kumara) has jurohased the Rotoiti Sawmills, and intends jutting a steam launoh on Lake Rotoi:i to ;rade between Eotorua and Ohinemutu, and or the tourist traffic. A specimen of the Californian thistle [Carduus Arvensis) is on view at this office, where it may be inspected by any ona ntereßted. The sample is from Mr Aston'a property, a patch existing on some land recently purchased by that gentleman m the Sewlnnds district. Various expedients have aeen tried to kill the thistle but without avail, md Mr Aston is now going to try the effeot ji covering the patch with straw. Last week a resident m Tanored street, after pumping some water, noticed specks of & yellow metal m the bucket. He had previously seen similar specks, and m order to determine what they were, he took a few to Mr Murray. The latter gentleman is of opinion after examining the scales of metal that they are undoubtedly "gold, but owing to tha quantity handed to him being so Bmall he was unable to subject it to the proper chemioal teßts. — A few months ago Mr T. Wilson, of Seafield, discovered a lead of what is known as ruby sand on his property, showing soaly gold, but under the present systems the lead could not, as far as has been asoertained, be profitably worked. A sample of the sand is on view at Mr Murray's shop m East street. A meeting of gentlemen interested m coursing was held on Saturday afternoon at Mr W. Zander'B rooms. There was a good attendance and the chair was ocoupied by Mr Healy. Mr G. Bisaet explained to the meeting that a large number of gentlemen m Canterbury were anxious that the interests of the sport should be conserved and he was of opinion that if a united Canterbury Club were formed it would be a great success, Coursing meetings, at which good stakes would be competed for, could be held at convenient locahies m North and South Canterbury and at Ashburton On the motion of Mr Zander, seconded by Mr H. Milner, it was resolved that a Club be formed to be called the United Canterbury Coursing Club. The annual subscription was fixed at 10s 6d. Mr Zander agreed to aot as Secretary, After some matters of detail had been arranged the meeting adjourned till next Saturday afternoon, SANDER and SONS' EUCALYPTI EXTRACT. — Cure of Skin Diseases. Invercargill, N.Z., 3rd of July, 1880. Messrs Sander and Sons, Sandhurst,- Gent'emen,— Having suffered from eozenja {a skin disease which is very prevalent m this colony) for about nine years, I had consulted numerous medical men bere and m Australia, and had taken arsenio, strychnine, iodide of potassium, etc, internally, and had used preparations of zino and lead externally. In fact, I bad tried all the remedies known to the faculty, and what between travelling, dootorsY and druggists' bills, had spent a small fortune, almost, if not wholly, without results, except to injure my constitution. During a recent visit to Hokitika I was recommended to try your Extract of Eucalyptus Globulus by a brother who had experienced great benefit from it m alleviating a very severe cold, and no less to my surprise and satisfaction, I found the disease whioh troubled me so long was conquered, and the skin resumed its normal condition. This was effected by the external ÜBe of less than two two-ounce bottles. You are welcome to make any use you please of this letter, and I subscribe myself— Yours, etc (Signed), John H. Kerb, Manager Union Bsnk of Australia Limited. — (Advt. 5