The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. FRIDAY, AUGUST 10, 1888. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1915, 10 August 1888, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. FRIDAY, AUGUST 10, 1888. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A Gisborne paper says: — It is is & poor 68 1 ate m bankruptcy that does not yield something to the lawyers,

Among the last sentences which Matthew Arnold penned was a reminder to his readers that the word " Esquire " — which he held m great repugnance— came out of the "great frippery shop of the Middle Ages."

It took the Press Association agent at Westport as many words to describe the wreck of the Suva as the " London Times " used m giving its account of the battle of Waterloo.—" Fielding Star."

A Chicago editor Bays that his sweetheart's skull serves as a paper weight for a doctor m that oity. It was her dying request that he (then a student) be given the skull as a remembrancer of her.

A correspondent of the " Daily Telegraph " Bays that thousands of Russian peasants died of hunger during the six weeks preoeed. ing June Ist. In the district of Zvenigo* rodka the peasants seized the cattle of rich land owners.

We believe from information supplied by the special correspondent to the " Telegraph " that Major Steward will be successful m his agitation to have village settlements opened m suitable localities throughout his con. stituenoy. Money is available for the purpose without a Bpeoial vote.

They go m for wholesale immigration m the States. Recently a husband and wife and 32 children landed m New York. It was the man's third wife. Many of our politicians are mad for increased population ; let them get up a special bonus for a few such families, and the thing is done.

Says the " Mataura Ensign " : —On dit that a late member for Hokonui, Mr P. E. MoCaughan, has struck it heavy m the Victorian booms — silver and land. He is said to have netted the modest trifle of £200,000, and bo satisfied is he that he deolares his intention of resting on his oars and devoting his time purely to the good of his country.

An Exohange says: — The Press Aasoo tion sorely needs new management. It is going too far to inflict on newspapers a mass of useless description such as that Bent from Melbourne recently. If the manager has not bad sufficient experience now to teach him what newspapers want, and'oan afford to pay for, it is high time he gave plaoe to some one with more discretion.

The weekly meeting of the Star of the Bast, No. 62, 1.0. G.T., was, on Wednesday evening, held m the Templar Hall, Mr Arthur Paterson, W.0.T., presiding. There was a very large attendance, there being between fifty and sixty members present, Tnere was one initiation and five propositions for membership. The Good Templar fraternity has lately secured a large number of converts to their Order, this Lodge alone having doubled its membership within the last four or five months.

An exohange says :— Sir H. Atkinson has promised to consider, during the recess, the subject of substituting eleotrioity for hanging m capital offences. The country has oried aloud for a reduction of the number of members of the House, and if Sir H. Atkinson could work the eleotrioity business m with his retrenchment scheme, hp might, by fitting up a few wires m the Legisfijitipe Chambers, roduoe the number of members and also the expenses of the government of the oolony at the same time.

A very rare phenetnen occurred the first week m May at Gaßtagnola, a village m the neighborhood of Lugano, on the Italian-Swiss frontier. The wife of the syndio brought forth at a birth biz children, four males and two females, all of whom died shortly after* wards, but the mother made good recovery. Her name is Filemonia Rezzonico. She ia 38 years of age, and has already given birth to seven children, after only two confinements, four being born at on 6 dejiypry, and three at another. Her hUßband, the syndic, by his former wife had ten children, of whom seven survive.

£ At the meeting of the Ashburton Presbyterian Church Musical and Literary Sooiety last evening an essay on Thomas Camp, boll, by one of the members, was read by Mr Barrett. Mr Oristie read a paper on Charles Dickens, and it was agreed that the next meeting of the Society phould b£ deyoted to discussing the merits of Dickens' •yorks. MiBB Orr gave a piano solo and Misses Steele an instrumental duet. Mr Flower was m good voice and sang " The Skipper and his Boy" '* very oorreotly. Mr Potter gave a reading from "David Oopuerfield" with much acceptance, and Mr Arthur also contributed a short reading to complete the programme.

It is stated that the New Zealand Shipping Company and the Shaw Savill and Albion Company are concerting arrangements to lender for a direct mail servioe fortnightly eßoh way, on such terms as will yield oonsiderable profit to the colony. It is m contemplation to allow passengers travelling by both hnes the privilege of Btopping en, route, •and continuing "the journey by steamers of either line-

Says the " Bruce Herald " : —One of the finest bits of sarcasm it has been our lot to fall m with for a long time is contained m the concluding remarks of the Governor of New South Wales on the occasion of the prorogation of Parliament. It runs: — "I pray that the Divine blessing may be with you m your private avooations, that you may be sustained by the consciousness of having performed your high duties m Parliament with zeal and singleness of purpose." The zeal chiefly manifested itself m sonewalling, and personal quarrels ; the singleness of purpose is Burely an euphemism for selfishness. Complimentary language is not out of place on such an occasion, but the general oonduot of the New Sou h Wales Parliament has been so atrociously bad as to render this high-flown language moat, keenly ironical. It will assuredly be read aooording to the rule of contraries.

M. Eiffel's tower has now reaohed one-third of its intended height -viz., 100 metres — writes the Paris correspondent of the " Leeds Mercury.' At a reoent breakfast given on the platform, to which access was had by a staircase of 345 steps, the originator of this stupendous monument explained its object. From a scientific point of view it will enable a pressure of 400 atmospheres to be measured, which as yet is unatainable by any instrument The tower will be utilised as an observatory. From a military aspeot it can be used as an optical telegraphio b tat ion, communicating with distances as far apart, as Rouen and the basins of the Rhone and the Loire. In other respects it has given an impetus to the metal trade, and will be sure to prove the great attraction of next year's Exhibition. Travellers worthy of oredenoe — not mere traveller's tales — report that views of the Eiffel tower have been seen ," adorning the walls of villages m Central Asia, quite out off from European markets or the great nativejeentres."

At the [Board of Eduoation meeting on Thursday ;the following referenoes to looal schools were made m the report of the Buildings lOommittee which was adopted :— New land — The Sohool Committee forwarded a statement of repairs required, estimated cost, £5 2s, and represented the necessity of painting. The repairs were allowed, but the Committee were reoommended to use plain instead of ; barbed wire, unless the barbed were required to keep out oattle. The question of painting was deferred. Wakanui — The Sohool Committee forwarded an estimate of the alteration m the infant room reoommended by the Inspeotor, amounting to £8 18s, whioh was allowed, on the under* standing that the desks to be supplied must be m accordance with the regulation. Wester* field— lt was deoided to shift the fences so as to make the site correspond with the land transferred. An offer from the contractor for the sohoolroom to do the work for £4 10s Wib aooepted. Referring to the recent accusations of a Wellington paper of immortality against our public schools, the •• Press " says :— " We are inolined to acquit the paper of the worst intention of slander. We believe that its oredulousness, and its notorious proneness for nasty sensationalism, were taken advantag of by designing persons m order to strike a deadly blow at the system of public eduoation m New Zealand. The paper fired the blunderbuss, .not knowing what it was aimed at. But it was the denominationalists, the foes of the national system of education, who loaded it to the muzzle with a carefully prepared charge. It was a foul shot if ever there was one. No more effeotive way of discrediting the national sobools could have been hit on than to acouse them of being little better than houses of ill-fame. The utter unsorupu'ousneas, not to Bay the atrocious cruelty and wickedness of thus seeking to blast at one stroke the fair name of tens of thousands of innocent girls, need not be touohed upon. All experience of history shows that fanatics, whether sectarian or seoularist, have no scruples. The athiests m France have adopted precisely the same means for crushing the- religious system of eduoation m that Country as the denominationalists here have adopted for crushing the secular system of eduoation m this colony. The "Napier Telegraph" m an article, after speaking on the way telegrams get hashed up and generally mutilated m transmission, goes on to eay :— On Wednesday, August Ist, we published a cablegram whioh

was reoeived m Wellington at a quarter past twelve m reference to the opening of the Melbourne Exhibition. Now that time cor-

responded to about half-past ten m Victoria, allowing the message m transmission first to Sydney and thenoe to Wellington was instantaneous, ihat vould be gcjod work, and would have earned our commendations, weye it not for the strange coincidence that m the "Melbourne Argus" of the 16th July the whole of the details of the message were

given with the exception of the two last lines. We have a letter m type for our Saturday's eupplement, the information apparently obtained |from the "Argus," and we had laid aßi.le a copy of our Melbourne contemporary so as to use the article if! the details oabled of the opening of the Exhibition had beetf at all meagre. In that artiole the numbers of the firemen, friendly societies, and trades who were to take part wers reoorded j even the bands and fire appliances were detailed, the English and French men>of*war were not forgotten, and m every respect they agreed with our cable message. To say the least of it the message was a wonderfully like reproduction of the newspaper artiole of a fortnight ago. Certain shareholders m the Ohristohuroh gas company, who are also ratepayers, have entered a protest against the legality of the proceedings of the City Counoil m regard to the gas question, based on olause 369 of the Municipal Corporations Aot, which provides that where gas-works are at any time established for the supply of gas m any borough ynd.es the authority of an A?t of the General Assembly, it shall not be lawful for the counoil to establish any other gasworks to supply the same looaljty, exoept under the authority of a speoial Aot. In reply to this | protest, it is pointed out that the council intend to apply for a special Aot at nest session of Parliament, as it is now too late to ' pass one this present session, and that they are not yet establishing gasworks, but merely obtaining the authority of the. ratepayers to raise a loan to enable them lo do so. Another objeotion which it ia said has been taken to

the council's aotion, is that the meeting of burgessps tp consider tb.3 proposal was not called by the Mayo? and was therefore illegal, as section 179 of the Municipal "Corporations Act provides that the Mayor shall oall a meeting of burgesseß m order to consider proposals for loans. The City Council appointed Councillors Hulbert and Prudhoe to act on behalf of the Mayor during his absence m Melbourne, and under the authority thus given the public meeting was called.