LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1846, 21 May 1888, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The population of Australasia at the begin, ning of the year was 3,426,562, the increase for last year having been 120,155, or 3*39 per oent. Somebody asks : " Does it pay to be good ? " It does when the business beoomes fully established; but you've got to sick money m the start.— "Puck." It is said that there are not more than one hundred negroes m the oeDtre of Paris, and throughout France very few persons of African blooa are to be found, | AEussian correspondent of the"St. James's liazotta." -sayn^thnt Rjaßsift!a_ixr«paratiDna-ior.. War are uninterrupted, and that hostilities may be expeotedin May. '• The " London Times " speaks of the Prince of Wales as having " an unfortunate weakness, wbioh has led him to patronise Ameri. can cattle -drovers and prize-fighters." Sir Roger Tiohborne, the olaimant, and wife and baby have sailed for England. Tichborna will lecture and make another attempt to secure the Tiohborne estate. February 12, 1887, Lizzie Long, of Waverly, 0., went into a trance and announced that ahe.'wonld die exaotly one year later. February I 12, 1883, Bhe died. " The man who is his own lawyer has a fool for a olient." Is this bo ? How about this? The only prisoner acquitted at the late Dubbo Assizes, New South Wales, was the only one who defended himself 1 The Auckland City Oounoil has determined to let the cleaning of the city streets by contract, and a notice to effect this has been passed. In Dunedin, as well as m many boroughs, the system is said to work well, In London the proportion of children under five years of age is nearly double that of Paris, but the proportion of London population between forty and sixty is only about two-thirds that of Paris. The other day mamma took her little four-year-old girl down town to get her a pair of shoes, and she asked for kid shoes, whereupon the ohild said : " I don't want kida' shoes : I want girls' shoes." The friends of Prinoe Basetchikoff gave as wedding presents to his bride, M'lle Luoohi, formerly " prima ballerina " at the Eden Theatre, Paris, 120 silver drinking cups fashioned like dancing slippers. On " Primrose Day " this year all Lord Beaconsfield's novels, with the exception of "Lothair " and " Endymion," are out of copy, right, and it is expected that England will be flooded with cheap editions. A novelty m the way of daily newspapers is announced by the Republique Franoaise — nothing less than an evening edition published m London of a new Paris morning paper, the copy to be supplied by telegraph. Joseph Willari, proprietor of Willard's Hotel, Washington, is worth £2,600,000, and hia two brothers are not far behind him m wealth. They wore once porters m a hotel that stood on the Bite of their present hostelry. Wellington's exhibits at the Melbourne Exhibition number 339 ; value, £20,000. The space applied for is 28,204 ft. Auckland has sent fifty-two exhibits through the Chamber of Commerce, inoluding a fine collection of oil paintings. Preceding his sermon at the Wealeyan Church yesterday morning, the Rev J, N. Buttle urged all members of his congregation, who wero ratepayers, : to reoord their votes at the Looal Option poll, to be taken on Wednesday next. Whatever were the defeots of the present Licensing Act, it was a vast improvement on'thqae which preceded it. It afforded them the right to Bay whether" thpre should be any inorease of licensed houses m heir respective distriots, and the people of ( the colony were agitating for an extension of thia privilege, bo that, by a poll periodically taken, they might deal m like manner with existing licenses. If Parliament saw that the privileges now possessed by the people were not taken advantage of, it might point to Buoh apathy as a reason for refusing further oonoessions. Mr Buttle said they knew his opinions on the liquor traffic ; he was not so oonversant with the views of the Ashburton public. Let every man who possessed the franchise go to the poll, and record bis deoisibn one way or other on the subieot, and then those who looked at it' from his standpoint would bo abje'to estimate the' strength of the evil against which they were waging war. The rev gentleman then proceeded with his discourse, m which he advooated the entire suppression of the drink traffic, cony tending that this could be brought about by a oombined use of the law of the land and the Gospel. The text was taken from Proverbs, xiv., 34— (> Righteousness exalte th a nation ; but sin ib a reproaoh to any people." Young and feeble mothers with frail children will both become strong by the use of Hop Bitters. Use only genuine. Read "Rough on OobNb." — Ask for Wells' " Rough on Corns." Quiok relief, complete, permanent oure. Corns, warts, bunionsj All obemiflts nod druggists, 3

The social gathering m St. Stephen's Church announoed for next Thursday is postponed until Tuesday, May 29 th. We are m reoeipt of the first batch of billa to be considered by Parliament this session. There are 24 to start with, not inoluding the big Electoral Bill, bo that our Legislators have pabulum for debate for some time to ooma. It is istimated that there are 324,558 males and 278,803 females— total 603,361 persons - m the colony at the present time. Taking the Maori population at 22,840 malea and 19,129 females— total 41,969 persons— there is a total population of 645,330 m the colony, Lady Soratchley, widow of the formei Commissioner of Now Guinea, is one of the luoky ones at Broken Hill. Her brother, Mr Brown, invested £100 on her acoount, and has just, it is stated, sent her £18,000 as a result of the speculation. Miss Willard, who has been largely interesting herself m temperanoe work m the United States, is expected to visit Australia and New Zealand shortly. The object of her visit ia ohiefly to further the work of the World's Petition to the various Governments to suppress the liquor traffic Arrangement have been made by a Weilington firm to send an experimental shipment of horses to. India by the Tekapo, speoially ohartered for that purpose. It is probable that 150 will be taken from the South Island and 100 from the North Island. Samples of preserved meats will be' sent, with a view of establishing a trade. On Thursday next, the anniversary of Her Majesty's .birthday, the Post and Telegraph Office will be closed except from nine till ten m the morning and from seven till eight m evening. Mails will be reoeived and despatched by the early morning trains, and oountry mails will olose at 6.30 a.m. There will be no delivery by letter carriers. The South Canterbury Battalion, oonsisting of Waimate Rifles, Timaru Rifles, Temuka Rifles Geraldine Rifles, Ashburton Rifles, and Ashburton Guards, ia ordered to parade at Aahburton on Thursday nex^ the Queen 1 a birthday. Colonel Bailey will be m command, and afeu dejoie will be fired. The Timaru Artillery and Navals will fire a Royal Salute at Timaru. * At a meeting of farmers held at Ghristchuroh on Saturday a committee representing the various distriots of Canterbury was appointed to draw up a proapeot.ua on a basis upon whiph a co-operative dairy factory should be established. An influential committee was appointed and it is proposed to hold meetings m eaoh distriot to ascertain the amount of support a faotory would be likely to receive. The grain returns m the Wairarapa distriot, aooording to the local " S:ar," are very satisfactory this year. At Opaki, Mr T. E. Chamberlain and Mr James Welsh reporb a return of from 35 to 40 bushels of wheat per acre. Mr W. Anketell, at the Upper Plain, reports 42 bushels, and Mr Walter Perry has the splendid return of over 50 bushels of wheat per acre. We have received from the publishers, Messrs Oharles Begg and Co., Princes street, Dunedin, a copy of the "White Wings" waltz arranged by Miss A. E. Wilson, of Dunedin. The arrangement is a very pretty one, and the waltz is sure to be very popular. The lithographing and general finish of the music ia most oreditable to looal industry. The Anglian Synod of Newcastle, New South Waleß, are m a peculiar position. Bishop Pearson is so mentally affected that he oannot resign his See, and yet he has not been deolared absolutely insane. The synod, m considering the matter, decided to endeavour to obtain his official resignation and to deduot £300 a year out of his successor's salary for the benefit of the retired bishop. The question of self-government seems to excite great interest among the sons of Cambria m the old land. At a public meet* ing of Welshmen held m Paddington, London, under the auspices of the " Oynlas " branch of the Cymru Fydd Society, a resolution was passed regretting the action of the Welsh members of Parliament m moving for a Grand Committee for bills relating to Wales; inaamuoli as" this would tend to injure the cause of Welsh national self-government. The " Daily Times " thinks it reasonable -that U>ooo,-who.an n nffor3-themachfea'laxuries m the shape of amusements, should be asked to contribute a few pence to the poor, while spending an equal or greater number of shillings on their own amusement. It would not be worih while however to impose a tax on amusements unless it was likely to yield a sum really worthy of consideration. Regarding the tax on totalisator tickets the " Times " considers 2 per oent far too little, and the impost should be 5 per oent at least. '-"•An extraordinary case is reported from the neighborhood of Alreaford, Hants (Bog.). The wife of a laborer had for a considerable time been suffering from a -disease which had reduced her almost to a skeleton, medioine being of no avail. Her medioal attendant, Mr Marcus Eustace, on being summoned at midnight, found the poor woman m a sinking state. As a last resource he extracted four ounces of blood from his own body and injeoted it into that of the patient. The operation was successful, and the woman is now m a fair way of recovery. The " Wellington Press " Bays :— Mr Sydney Taiwhanga, M.H.R., it is said, sees no hope for the claims of his race exoept m another deputation Home to the Imperial authorities. His proposal is to raise funds for the sending home of this deputation, of which he is to make one, by a head subscription from all the Natives m the colony. He estimates that about £10,000 will be raised m this way, and that that amount will about do for the expenses of the trip. " And so say all of us ; " but it is thought that the Natives won't tumble to Mr Taiwhanga's little plan ; not again I A Committee meeting of thß Ashburton County Hunt Club was held at Henry's Hotel on Saturday, 19h inst., Mr J. O. N. Grigg m the chair. It was resolved to ask Mr Denshire to take the Mastership of the Club. Mr Denshire consented to aot. The Chairman thanked Mr Denshire on behalf of the Club. Mr R. MoOwen resigned his seat on the Committee, stating that he was leaving the distriot. It was rosolved to aßk Mr Smith to take the seat thus vaoated. A vote of thanks waa passed to Mr McOwen for his services to the Club. Meets were then fixed for the month of June. A vote of thanks to the Chairman terminated the proceedings. From Saturday's " War pry " we extraot the following?— The ABhburton Archers received a reinforcement last Sunday m tho Bhape of Colonel and Mrs Taylor, who led them on all day, Crowds attended the meetings, both afternoon and night. A notable feature was a splendid open-air on the main street. We had a select audience on the hotel balcony, m addition to our usual crowd on the side- walk. Some straight talking was done, and the word went home. Mrs Taylor held the people wonderfully m the afternoon meeting, and many wept on acoount of sin. The troops are m good fighting condition. Captain and Mre Harvey are full of faith, so keep believing formighty viotories shortly.