The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. FRIDAY, JUNE 15, 1888. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1868, 15 June 1888, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. FRIDAY, JUNE 15, 1888. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

« The polios force now numbera 487 as againßt 602 last year. A roller-skate factory has been started m Adelaide. The new Bank of New Zealand notes are now being oiroulated. In New South Walea last April 27,000 kangaroos were killed. : ' There are 6000 aborigines end 7900 balfoastes m New South Wales, Miss Yon Finkelstein, the leoturess, has Created a great sensation m Adelaide. Some men and women m Sydney have been committed for trial for fortune telling. The Australian "rubies" are said to be a new mineral, a cross between rubies and garnets. ■ ■•■ The stock of 7,000,000 rounds of military ammunition m New South Wales is considered •: ample for all reasonable requirements. The dhinese at Port Darwin have subscribed over £600 towards a hospital, and now want' the Government to donate the requisite landand supplement the subscriptions. ; Mr Lanarch intends leaving the colony for' good m August, but, m deference to the wishes! of some of his constituents, he will keep his. seat, returning here next session. ' ' A whale about 25ft m length and 16ft girth,' was stranded on Sunday last on the Ocean; Beach, near the residence of the Hon.! William Itolloston, Geraldine. j Lovera of poultry are all agog about a breed' i of lowTb EQOV7Br*R?rtlfrTJ[ino¥o»^- The heßef are said to lay on an average 200 eggs annu-, ally A club has been formed to promote ' the spread of the breed m Scotland. j During the progress of a drioket match at Glen Innes, New South Wales, a boy, while watching the game, was struck on the head by the ball and received concussion of the) brain, from which he died the- following day. : Mr W. Zander, of Ashburton, was 4 pasßenger by the last Bteamer to Melbourne) where will make a short stay. He has reoeived an oiler to enter into a thriving business there, and has left with a view of, eeeiog whether the ohange will be a benefioiat one. • Out of fifteen witnesses examined on the subjeot of immorality, m Wellington, no fewer than thirteen, including several officers of the Salvation Army, recommended the adoption of the Goptagiouß Diseases Aot as a compulsory measure m the larger towns of the colony, and many of them thought the pro* vision should apply to men as well as women. A comparison of the Tariff as originally brought down with that appended to tho I Customs Bill Bhows that several concessions have been made, and the Freetraders claim to have materially influenced the Premier m his alterations. In the original Tariff the duty on hollands and calicoes was 20 per oent, All under the value of 5d are now free. Cotton sheetings, corduroys, moleskins, and cheese cloths have also been added to the list of exemptions from the Tariff. The " Hawera Star " cays :—." If Mr Seddon, M.H.R., would refine and purify the gas with which, he is surcharged, all would be well. For he frequently contributes valuable matter io a debate ; but its good effect is wasted by its admixture with windy nothings poured forth apparently beoauee the refining and purifying apparatus within his gasometer is either out of order or was forgotten by the £ontraptpr who first launched Mr Seddon forth as a political light." Thero is on exhibition jn Mr Henry Zander's show windows m 2§ast street a silver tea and coffee set of four pieces intended for presentation to Mr Maclean Dunn, who, until recently, was a well-known and Respected resident m Aehbuiton. The service is a chaste and massive one of the Queen Anne pattern. It is expected that the presentation will take place early nest week, Mr Dunn nA-vjmg been asked to come specially from. Ohristchurah ion the purpose. The engraving sets forth that the service js presented to Mr and Mrs Dunn as a mark of esteem from tbei* Asbburton friends. — The •• Post " says :— The new Tariff affordß a strong argument m favor of abolishing the San Francisco-mail service. Commercially, that service nas never been a success. The interchange of produots between New Zealand and America has never assumed any large or important proportions; We have lent very Uttlo away, and we have reoeived very little by it. Th'o Jjttle that has been brought to us from San JL'rftnofcioo by the mail steamer has .consisted mainly of canned fish and fruit, the importation of which will now bp gftjatly decraajed by the imposition of the heavy new duties on Jthoss #rtioles. There will bo there' fore less reason tfrgq gyer for maintaining this expensive service.

At the R.M. Court this morning, before Mr A. Harrison, J.P., a female inebriate was cautioned and discharged. An impression is abroad that the esoaped oonviot Jonathan Roberts is at present m this district, and as is usual m suoh a case the rumors of meeting with him are many and various. Several detectives and members of the police force arrived m Ashburton yesterday and to-day, their objeot doubtless being to eoour the country for the esoaped Jonathan. The result is to hand of a trial made m Munßter to ascertain from what process the roost butter oan be made m twelve months with the same quantity of milk. The milk was allowed to stand on ioe before ohurning, it was ohurned immediately after being taken from the cow, and also after standing m pans for a certain time. None of these trials came up to the separator method, whioh yielded 401 b per cow per annum better than the other systems. The small bird nuisanoe should soon be a thing of the past if farmers took combined aotion m the manner Mr E. King and his son adopt. Eftoh provides himself with a lighted lantern after darkness sets m, taking opposite directions, and going alone the lee side of the gorse The birds are easily pioked from their perches and bagged, making no attempt to esoape. The oatoh averages 100 birds m two hours for eaoh man or lad employed. MrjKing thinks this average could soon be -greatly reduced if combined aotion were taken.— " Southland Times" oorrespondent. ' A ourious anresthetio used by the Chinese has recently been made known by Lambuth iri his third annual report of the Sooohow Hospital. It is obtained by plaoing a frog m ajar of flour, and by irritating it by prodding it. Under these circumstances it exudes a liquid whioh forms a paste with a portion of the flour. This paste, dissolved m water, was found to possess well-marked aniosthetio properties! After the finger had been immersed m the liquid for, a few minutes it could be prioked with a needle without any pein being felt, and numbness of the lips and tongue was produoed by applying the liquid to them. — " Scientific News," The increased tea duty will fall with undue heaviness on the consumers of oheap tea. The prioe of tea varies bo much that the best sorts are worth five or six times as much ag the inferior kinds ; yet all are taxed alike. | This involves considerable inequality m the inoidonco of the tax, which falls moßl severely on those who oan least afford to pay it. It would be muoh fairer to have a graduated tax, either on the ad valorem prinoiple, or ranging from Id or 2d per lb for the cheapest classes to 9d or lOd for the best classes of tea. It is asserted that m this way a materially increased revenue could be obtained with muoh Igbs strain upon the consumers of tea. — "New Zealand Times " retrenchment party, who intend opposing the salaries of highly paid officials wnen the Estimates come on for consideration, are likely to find that their intentions are misconceived. The Inspector of Lunatic Asylums iB one of those whose salary is to be attacked, but as he has an engagement till next year at the rate of £1200, no reduction can be made m his case: Under-Seoretary Cooper ; s another instance. Last year his salary was reduoed to £750, and, if he is further retrenohbd, he will doubtless leave the Service, as he is now entitled to a pension of £600 a year. Mr Gavin of the Treasury Department, is similarly situated ; while Mr Blaokett, of the Publio Works Department, is entitled to an even larger pension. The probability is that when the Works Department is abolished Mr O'Connor or Mr Blair will be retired. The Registrar of Friendly Societies is opposed to the investments of Booioties m buildings and other real property. He says New Zealand socioties have lost heavily by the building mania, as it has been rightly named, and yet their bitter experience does not seem to deter othora from risking a great portion, and sometimes the whole, of their accumulated funds m this mode of investment, trustees being found even foolish enough to become personally liable for sums advanced on mortgage of the property. Very few exceptions, chiefly m large townß, may be instanced where the value of the land and buildings have considerably increased, and produced, or helped to produce, a flourishing State of the finances : but this fact does not Afford any relief to those whose savings* have been recklessly frittered away. The •• Wellington Post " states that a reoent arrival from Home, who is an expert m buttermaking, and who has had some comparatively large transactions m England m New Zealand butter, has informed an exporter m that oity that his experience convinces him that until merchants at Home oan depend on reoeiving shipments of uniform quality, the Colonial trade will never assume large or profitable dimensions, and this he states, is only to be attained by the establishment of oreamerie3. Small shipments of butter, of varied quality, it iB asserted, go far to give a bad name to our butter m the London market. The gentlemen alluded to maintains that the Danes are the best makers of butter intended for exportation, inasmuch as they possess the seoret of making butter so that it will keep for months, no matter what climatic ohanges it may have to experience. A very successful trial of the Juiien eleotrio tram motor, the rights of whidfc have been secured by Mr Edward Prifobard, took place at Sydney last week. The oar, which was a oar and motor combined, can seat 50 persons. The new motor was tried over a gradient of 1 m 18, although it is said to be capable of running up 1 m 10. The rate of speed was about 10 miles per hour, but it is claimed that whqn m order 15 miles oan be aooomplished. The accumulators are stored m lookers under, neath the seats. One oharging of the car is sufficient for 80 miles, or seven hours' actual running, and a similar time is occupied m storing a fresh supply of eleotrioity m the accumulators. To take out the exhausted cells and substitute new ones m the car is, however, the work of only a few minutes. No definite information as to cost was nsoertainod, but m England it is said to be 6d per tram mile. The "New Zealand Herald" has obtained the following information respecting the rooks just taken possession of by France m the Channel : — Some of the best and finest fish taken on these coasts are caught at the If inquiers, the general name of a bed of rocks arid shoals lying on tho south-wost of Jersey, and more than five- leagues m length, east and west,' and nearly three leagues m breadth. On one of these, called Le Ityaitre'jle, whioh stands about dOftft above high water mark— a perfect oasia m the desert waste oftEboean— , there Btand about a dozen hutß for the shelter and protection of the fishermen who resort to this dangerous spot. The rook is not an acre m extent. This plaoa is about, halfway between Jersey and St. Malo. About 20 or 25. years ago prance wanted to build a lighthouse on the Maitre-ilo, but the English j Government would not consent. Then the French placed a lighthouse outside of tho roef, m order to guide ships going to St. Malo or coming out, Tho aeoond meeting of the Ashburton Musical and Debating •* Sooiety was held last evening m tho Presbyterian Ohuroh. The Rev Mr Beattie presided. An original paper by Mr A. Orr was read with the quaint tittle " All Thumbs." The paper wbb a well written one, and contained many passages suitable for discussion, though what oonneotionihore ,wa? between the heading and the subj'eot' matter was" not v e py apparent. A brief but rather irrelevant and then several musical items' were given, Miss Leggott sang, m rather a sweet manner, " You and I," but was unfortunate jn kinging to have a faulty aooompaniment. This was not due to the lady who presided at the pianoforte, but to the instrument itself. The same fault was apparent when Mr Lamb sang "The Young Brigade." Mr Beattie'a unaccompanied musioal contribution was very well' received, and the violin solo by a muo^Uly jnolined" youth— Master Cullum— was also a Vfell epauted piece, considering the yeab pi' the yioljniat. An jnsfcrutnfmtal duet— piano add yioiiri-i-by 1 Messrs Baxter and tyjfajro waq'go well received' that" a 'recall was given, to whjofc fhe gentlemen kindly responded. Next evening Will be fleyptod tp tho discussion of a paper by Mr Arthur on the old but ever fresh subjeofe of " Matrimony." A number of new members were proposed and admitted to membership, and the meeting dosed m the usual way. Skinh* Mail,--" WeHs 1 Health Renewer,* j restofe^ and vigor, ourefl Dyspepsia, impotence, SexualipebjiUty. At i^xerciets and druggists. Kempthoruej Prossipr, and. ' $q; flgoute, QUrifjtQbvmjli. c ' ' '~V