LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1884, 4 July 1888, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Mr tylover. the tomperAnoo looturer, is m papier, The Melbourne Hunt Olub has imported %1 OX hounds from England. ; It is announced that the smallpox outbreak ' m Tasmania coat the colony #80Qp. ! The Chairman of the Pioton Road Board tried to turn out reporters from a moetipg of that body, but failed. The Viotorian Bailway Department expects an increase of £125,000 ovor the estimated return for the year. Carbin/J has been Boratohed for the Melbourne Cup. Bilenoe and Lady Florin have been eorAtohed for the New Zealand Oup. George MoOombe, alias 3impßon, wop arroated At Christohurob, on Tuesday afternoon, on a oharge of forgery and uttering at Wellington on June 22nd. A good dfty'B work m slaughtering sheep was done recontly by a man named F. Hoy, at tha Boseland fellmongery. In 9 hours 30 minutes he slaughtered 228 sheep. A contemporary asserts that three members of the Government— Atkinßon, Whitaker, asd Mitoheleon — are bb full of fade as a plum duff ib supposed to be full of plums.

Mr S. B. Seymour, Surgcon-Dontiflt, who j was announced to visit Ashburton to morrow ■ is prevented from coming. Ho will, however, attend on the following Thursday. A horrible on dit from the " Waikato Times " : — There ib a proposal to make Mr Mitohelson Chief Commissioner of Eailways, with Mr Maxwell as a ooadjutor on the Board of Control. x George Kyrrison, William Batohelor, and Thomas H. Batohelor were committed for trial at Itangiora on Tuesday on a oharge of stealing 360 sheep belonging to Mr 0. Enaor and Mr G. B. Starky. One of the latest applications of electricity I is a crane, m which an eleotro-magnet lifts heavy pieces of iron and steel without the trouble of slinging them. Get them big •nough and they could life an iron ship from the bottom of the sea. A writer m the •• Atgus •» haß suggested that the first pioneers of Australia, resident m Tiotoria forequarter of a oentury, should take part m the opening ceremonies of the " Oentennaries " ; they to be divided into groups, with appropriate banners, including a group of the gold diggers of 1851. It ipoaka well for New Zealand that, not* withstanding the rabbit pest, and the vast quantity of mutton shipped home, during the past seven years sheep have increased from nearly 13,000,000 to nearly 16,000,000 a larger increase than that of the elder colony of New South Wales. In [the House on. Thursday a member, ■peaking against encouraging distillation m the oolony, said the Old Country distilled enough for all the world, and more fin Sootland they did not know what to do with their whiskey. A ohorua of members cried, •' Oh I don't they I " The Vienna journals announce as a positive faot that a peasant who had died m Bielsoh, m Moravia, had attained the remarkable age of 142 yearß. He is stated to have left a son aged 115, and a grandson aged 85, besides numerous ohildron, grand-children, and great-grand-children. The deoeased oentennarian enjoyed, it ia said, the beat of health to the last. The exhibit of oheeso whioh the Flemington Factory intend sending to the Melbourne Exhibition is on view at Messrs McOallum and Co.'B shop, East street. The consignmont consists of sixteen cheeses of 141bs each, which are to all appearances of splendid quality. The show oaßes were manufactured by Messrs MoCallum and Co. At the R,M. Court this morning, before Messrs D. Thomas and A. Harrison, John Patriok, for drunkenness, was fined 6s and coats 9s, with tho alternative of twenty-four hours' imprisonment. On a oharge of indeoent exposure he was ordered to be imprisoned for three days. — A first offender for drunkenness was fined 5s and costs, with the usual alternative. Says the " Wellington Times " :—lt is understood that the Government have offered to renew Sir F. D. Bell's appointment as Agent-General for a further term of throe years at the present rate of salary, £1250 per annum. No answer has yet been received from Sir Francis, who is said to have desired a four years' engagement, but it is believed that he will aooept the three years' renewal on the proposed terms. Tho Crimean Peninsula is to have a oanal out through lit. After many schemes have been disoußHed by the Russian Government and Bussian private enterprises for piercing the Isthmus of Perekop, there appears now every prospect of the undertaking being earned to a successful issue, not by the Russian Department of War and Communications, nor by Russian private enterprise, but by a Frenoh company and Frenoh capital. Some very funny facts oame out the other day before the Committee on the Navy Estimates re the victualling of our warships abroad. Those certainly does seem something wrong somewhere when the Australian Squadron, whilst lying m Auokland harbour, reoeivedlarge consignments of New Zaaland tinned meats from London. Yet this, according to Mr W. F. 11. York, Director of Victualling, is what recently happened. The Harbour Commissionera of San Framcisoo have decided to saturate piles usbd m wharf construction with oreosote, to prevent their destruction by teredo. The piles are placed m long air tight oylindera. Heat is then applied until the sap exudes and evaporates. By moans of pumps the air ia then withdrawn, and when tho necessary vaouum is created the oreosote solution is foroed into the cylinders, and it thoroughly impregnates the piles. There are various ways of accounting for the milk m the coooanut, and the question may be oonßidered settled, one way or other, aocording to the sine of the nut, But a now puzzle waß offered to a Bendigo fruiterer the other day, by his finding a good sized frog m the plaoa where the milk ought to be. So says the "Bendigo Advertiser." This is a newspaper, and we all know that newspapers would not I— lose their grip of the truth, over a littlo thing like that. A very good story is told of one of our Eastern visitors who was taken to see a cricket match. He envinced the keenest interest m the game ; but, as oan be understood, he preferred slogging to finished orioket and he paid a great deal of attention to the umpires, whom he regarded as personages of power and position m our national sport. It tranßpired that bp assumed the umpires to be chief tains, and tho players to be" tb'ejr' serfa, and that he was greatly disappointed on discovering that the umpires were merely hirelings, and that tho greater persona were the men who worked bo hard m the field, Speaking of the escaped Jonathan Roberts, the •• Wairarapa Star " says":— We are very glad to gap tftgt i one prisoner has had the pluok and manliness to get gaol regulations at defiance, and exhibit the weak' sjde of criminal admiristratidn. Some years hence the notorious Jonathan Roberts will be regarded as a man who taught the people of New Zealand a wholesome leeaop. He ha* clearly demonstrated that \i a prisoner is resolved to have his liberty the prisons of tbo colony will not prevent him. Ha has also proved— a thing that is of far greater oonse* quence— that publio opinion and oriminal jurisprudence are not m harmony. A contemporary publishes the following •— " There were 100 cases of twins born m the oity and|£uburbß last year.' ' Bless my heart ? Cases -.of babies I How many were m each case ? That is a point on whioh no information is vouchsafed. That is something new. I used to bo told about babies coming home to parents m oabbages, and to have other stories of that kind installed into me when I beoame too realistic and '^olaesque m my enquiries. But jthat they should bo born by' : the case had never beford boen' attempted even m fiotion invepted for gfiildrpn. N.o wonder that Sydney is rapidly progressing mi n population," when the folks there wjll not be oontpnt with, th'o good old plan, and must have the acpessjona to thoir population made wholesale by tho case— " A£(jiouß," m "Melbourne Leader." The Premier appears unable to take a hint loss gently than a smack m the face, or ho would take the hint co politely given him by the Colonial Office, m asking him to reoonsider tho Bill for reducing the Governor's salary. It is very evident that the Home Government does not like tho Bill, and is not all dippoged to assent to it, but instead of giving 'the New Zealand Legislature a direot snub" by refusing the 1 Qaeen'o assent, Lord Knuteford quietly hinted to the Government the propriety of re. considering tho matter 1 . The premier, however, days' he will not reoon.afder, ancl go, as the hint is thrown away, we expect the (QoJonJaJ Office wilt Bhow no further delicacy jn tho majter, but will at once foto the BjU« At least vrp hope so,' lor it a most ill-advised measure. Qt one thing m connection with this matter we aro quits Vure, and that is, that Hib Excellency Sir William Jervois will not allow any consideration peraonal to himself to be imported into the question. — " Pobl."