LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1943, 13 September 1888, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

■♦ At a reoent Bale m London of rare AngloSaxon and English ooins a Queen Anne farthing brought £10. Russia's latest effort is an edict forbidding Jews who have migrated from the central provinces of Russia to distil or sell spirituous liquors m the provinces of Turkestan. Mr Flower has some first-olass Spanish fowls eggs m his window for sitting— breeders of this strain would do well invest, as the fowls are from prize stock . Some workmen were digging out the foundations of a house m Ears, m Asia Minor, when they oame upon £40,000 k in Turkish and English money. ; During the month of August the estates of [ sixteen disceased persons were placed under the Public Trustee. Their values ranged ' from £1 to £1500. ' Sir Charles Dilke is busy with a work on > colonial Btatißtics. He and Lady Dilke will not start on their tour of " Greater Britain " a till later m the year. We have been shown a copy of a work, whioh is being sold m Ashburton, entitled "Europe m £fcrm and Calm,-" by Edward King. The agent is getting numerous orders, . and the work seems to be well worth the money asked for it. Glan Gordon's memorial to the hero of Khartoum has baen unveiled at Aberdeen. It consists of a colossal statue of Gordon standing erect on a pedestal m front of the Robert Gordon College, an institution whioh was founded by an earlier member of the , olan. The Hon. T. Fergus visited Lyttelton I defences on Tuesday, and expressed himself highly satisfied with the progress of the ; works. He, Colonel Hume, and Captain Humphreys, were entertained at a mess , dinner by the officers of the district on Tuesday night. He left for the south by the , express. The following will play for Rakaia against 1 Ashburton m the matoh at Rakaia on Saturday next :— Forwards : Hugonin, McCormick, >] Primmer, Pope, Scott, Storey, Street I, Street 11, and Upton ; Backs : Crawford, 1 Dixon (oapt.), Duoiord, Hay ward, Reid and Stevenson. The Ashburton team will leave • m Soott'a coach at 12.30 p.m. Sharp. The team will be selected shortly. Amongst the Anglo-New Zealand magnates > who have suffered most seriously from the depression m the colony and depreciation m the value of land is the Hon Thomas Russell, « O.M.G-. I near that Lv baa glveu up Lie : pleasant country seat, put down horses and 1- carriages, etc., and otherwise retrenched - vigorously. It ia whispered that £200,000 , would scarcely cover his loßses during the last j few years.— London " Star's " correspondent. Tuesday morning m Geraldine was partiou, ) larly fine, but about noon a ih&ip squal i came up from the south, accompanied by • rain. A mass of clouds that passed over tbe , town after the squall had a very strange . appearanoo, looking as if dragged out m t streamers from a stationary mass. Upon . many persons going to their water barrels I yesterday morning they were surprisad to see a quantity of yellow powder floating on the water and adhering to the sides. Upon examination the powder turned out to be sulphur. - The powder was very fine, but the top of the water was quite yellow with it. A Northern paper says : — Under date London, August 23rd, the following oablegram was published m New Zealand :— '• The contraot for the Midland Railway, New Zealand, has been signed. Tenders for the necessary capital to construct the line will be invited m November." That message was anything but satisfactory to Canterbury, for it meant that the project on which it had set its heart was anything but out of the wood. It was possible that the whole thing might fall through, for want of tbe accessory oapital being subscribed. In Australia, under the same date, the message read as follows : " The contract for the construction of the line whioh is to conneot the east and west coasts of the Middle Island of New Zealand, by the New Zealand Midland Railway Company, has been signed. The requisite amount of capital will be called up m November." men will note a great difference m the two versions. These repeated vagaries on the part of the Press Association are very annoying, expensive, and misleading. The " Napier Telegraph " thinks the future before New Zealand is likely to be a dry one, and goes on to say : — " Although we are experiencing a genial temperature and refreshing showers, whioh makes the whole district wear the most promising appearanoo v it is undeniably the faot that the country is surely, if gradually, drying up. The bubbling springs and sparkling rivulets that at one time ran between shrub-lined banks till they mingled their waters with the rivers, are no more to be seen, except after heavy rain. The shrubs and ferns that used to shelter the streamlets have gone before the inexorable law of general utility, and while artificial greesea have taken the place of native vegetation, sheep have multiplied, weath has increased, but moisture, necessary for the mainl tenance of both, is slowly being lost. Added to what we see going pn around us jib the operation pf f Bubduing the wfidernesp " the work of destruotipn proceeds apace m the forest distriots/ &W this mu&t have a ten* dsnoy to make our climate drier and drier every year, Bnd as each summer approaches the tear of drought gains BtrengthV'

Some wiseacre has discovered that m proportion ten times as many persons use the telephone m New Zealand aa m London. An interesting experiment was recently made by a Dr Durand m reference to the relative power of imagination m the two Bes.es. He gave to 100 of his hospital patients a dose of sweetened water, and shortly afterwards entered the room, apparently greatly agitated, saying he had made a mistake administered a powerful emetio. In a few minutes fourfifthß of the subjeots were affeoted by the supposed emetic, and were mainly men, while everyone of those not affeoted were women. At the Rink de Paris this evening the Roselle Bros., assisted by Mon. Deroni, the celebrated Frenoh down, will give a performance on the Roman Rings, m addition to the usual programme. These talented artists are well worth seeing, and their performance is clever and fearless. On Friday evening, at seven o'clock, a speoial session will be held for the purpose of practising the Maypole Rink Dance whioh will be a great and novel feature m the forthcoming fanoy dress Rink Carnival. The London correspondent of the " Star " says Sir Franois Bell's reappointment to the Agent Generalship oauaed immense surprise. Firstly, beoause it was common talk here that Sir H. Atkinßon meant to appoint himself to the billet ; and, secondly, beoause Sir Franois Bull has continuously pretended that he wished to resign, and was only stopping on— to oblige the Government — till eomeone else waß appointed. On the whole, we are disappointed. A little fresh blood at Viotoria Chambers would do no harm at all. The " Mataura Ensign V understands Mr Valentine, M.H.R,, with the view of assisting the farmers, has been again m communication with the Premier on the subjeot of establishing a distillery m Dunedin, intimating that if the Government would grant a rebate of duty of only 2s 6d per gallon on spirits manufactured m the colony the formation of a distillery company m Dunedin would be guaranteed. The Government, however, advise Mr Valentine that they have no power to grant such a rebate aa is aßfeed for. It would appear, therefore, that it is hopeless to expect any assistance from the present Government m this direotion. Mr Edison, says the " Daily News " oorrespondent at New York, has sold all his | rights m the phonograph for something over 1 a million dollars to the owners of the rival invention, the graphophone. . There are [ conflicting reports about the price, but the : parties to the sale declare that it exceeds a I million. Mr Edison has made many contradictory statements about the condition of the phonograph. He has failed to keep any of ' his promises to have it ready for the market, * and there are many complaints against him. The purchasers say that they will have instruments ready for the market soon. The , report that the foreign rights have sold to an I English syndicate for a quarter of a million I dollars is authoritatively denied, i Last evening at the Royal Hotel the 3 R.A.O. Buffaloes Royal Ark of Friendship Lodge was duly opened by Primo J. Webb, t the founder of Buffaloes m New Zealand, by Primo S. Lawrenoe and other ! Brothers from Christchuroh and Sydenham, who had the pleasure of initiating some thirty unenlightened individuals into the mysteries of the Order, and also installing Brothers into the following offioes, namely :-^Oity Primo, City Marshall, City Tyler, City Oqni stable, City Musician, City Chamberlain, City [ Phyßioian, City Barber, City Waiter, Alder- ) man of Benevolcno, Treasurer, and Seoretary. i After declaring the Lodge open, Primo Webb ) spoke on the philanthropic objects of the i Order, and expressed the pleasure he felt m i assisting at the opening of a Lodge m Ashburton. The Lodge then closed m Buff aloe , fashion. \ The idea that education will prevent our growing youth from becoming criminals, is rapidly being dispelled. It is everywhere \ being recognised that ohildren must be taught [ to do, as well as to know, otherwise their i knowledge will not be a very safe preventative , against their going adrift. Under the heading " A Chief Source of Crime," the following reference to the question ooours m a 1 Qipy of the "New York Tribune "to hand 1 hy the mail : — Neither Sunday-school nor 1 day-sohool training, nor even temperance, ' are fullest safeguards against criminality. ! The most common faol about convicts seems to be that they .were never taught habits of I industry. This is the case with nine-tenths ' of those m the Eastern Penitentiary of t Pennsylvania, while quite a large proportion • received a ' good common schooling,' and about one-fifth were abstainers from drink. I Of 1500 at Joelit, m Illinois. 1087 were fairly 7 educated ; 129 were college graduates, 413 3 olassedi as intemperates, 784 moderate , drinkers, 317 total abstainers. Of 668 adt mitted last year, two-thirds have no trade. , Evidently, it is time to give the hands more 3 to do m our schools than merely turning over , books and using pencils and pens." i Miss Emily Lord, who is contributing a series of articles to the " New Zealand Sohod- '■> master," writes to the editor of that journal > as follows:— "For many years I have been deeply interested m teohnical education, and last year I heard of the educational , courses of carpentry that were being held m t Sweden. I applied for vacanoiee for myself and three young teachers. We were admitted and worked at the models for six weeks, work- \ ing seven hours a day. Our eight-six fellow t students were drawn from many nations, . eighteen being sent by the Italian Govern- , ment. On our return I started classes mmy Recreation Hall, and they have been well ! attended during the session by between fifty L and sixty people, counting adults and ohildren, ! and they have made about 1000 models. In J addition I have had a Glass for poor boys m connection with a olub m a neighboring | parish. This olass has been very suooeasful and muoh appreciated. I think it would be a very good thing if you could send a oouple of intelligent teachers to Sweden to study the method, with a view of introducing it into New Zealand. Coming from so great a distance, I think I may safely promise that they would be allowed to take two courses m the same year."