LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1948, 19 September 1888, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

During tho past year, the Dominion of Canada haa addod f18,134,221 to its grosfl public debt. DaKota'B Bpring wheat crop— the beat spring wheat m tho world—foots up 60,000,000 busholß. The ohiefa of Raratonga Island m the Paoifio, fearing Frenoh aggression, hove petitioned Great Britain to annex their island. . It ia proposed to connect the port of Pano, on the Adriatio Sea, with tho gulf of Genoa by the construction of a maritime oanal across the Italian peninsula. During tho month of April, thirty-one Enf/Hah companies, having a oombined capital of nearly a million pounds, wero registered m South Amerioan oountries to establish trusts, Btart banks, build railroads, etc. Sophia Kidd the Southland female cattle raider has been removed to Lyttelton gaol, where the authoritiss. will be enabled to seoure bor isolation from the more hardened oriminals of her box. It is said that an undo of this misguided girl so brooded over his niece's oonviation that ho has since boooino insane. He waa an elderly man. Aooording to the looal press " Prohibition is not a burning question m Timaru. That is evident from tho small attendanoe at Mr Glover's looture, and tbe ontiro laok of enthusiasm shown. Tho audienoe laughod at tho speaker's humorous illustrations, but betrayed no sign of being moved either by his pathos or by his arguments. Timaru, as be complained, is ' oold ' not even lukewarm, m rogard to temperance." Farmera m tho vioinity of Goshen, N. V., are greatly exercised over the faot that one farmer has bought a small dynamo whioh will run by water power. This will furnish bo much light that any farm work oan bo done &t night as easily as m daytime. The farm bands don't favor tho innovation andaeeui to fear that they will bo called upon to work tbe entiro twenty- four hours during the busy - seeding and harvest timea. A tabulatod statement m tho New Zoaland Loan and Mercantile eiroular, dated London, July 14, shows that from the 3rd May to 9th July inolusive, thoro were imported into London 292,838 carcases of mutton, of which 221,726 wero from Now Zealand, 56,516 from tho River Plato, and 14,026 from Sydney. The prioes quoted for primo seleoted New Zealand mutton wore 3s Id to 8s 8d per stone of 81bs 5 avorago gs lid to 3s. Prime Sydney is quoted at 2a Bd, and primo Hirer Plate at 2s 4d to 2s Od. Tho price of prime Scotch mutton is 5b 2d to Cs Bd, and prime English 5s to 5a 4d. Messrs T. Kennejy, Maodonald, and Co., of Wellington, disoourso as follows m thoir •• Landod Property Guido " for the current month : — " Tho inoroasod prioe of stook and produce has given oountry eottlern new hope and courage? There is every disposition to purohase suitable proportion at a reasonable prioo, and speoial preference has of late been given to the west coast of the North Island ; tbo rioh character of tho soil, and the salubrity of the olimate, being naturally great faotors m induoing investment m that quarter. The South Island is still very depressed, and as we stated m our report m June, 1886, there will be no relief there until there is a roadjustmont of values by the large finance companies, who hold the great mass of tho settlers of the South m the iron grip of mortgages, largely m oxoobs of tho truo valuo of tho lands to whioh they rolate. The flnanoe companies are afraid to face (he position. The eaprifloe would be enormous, and io seriously atfoot their shareholders and debenture.boldora that it is small wonder they postpone the evil day as long as possible. It will have to coma, however, soon or late ; and although it mean ruin to a number of individpalß, ifc will be a bletfuiqg to tbe oolony as a whole."

. Meaara Henry Hunt and Robert Mea^ em were to-day nominated for the vacant aoat on the Hampßtead Town Board. The eleOtion takes plaoe on Wednesday, Ootober Ist;. Despite the late fiat of Queen Victoria that ehe will not receive any American womon unaccompanied by their husbands, it ia said that thoro never were ao many " prominent Booiety " women leaving New York as there are this summer. There was a large afctendanoe at the Rink last eveningf. The ladies' race, half a mile, was won by Mies L. Manning m 2min 40aeo ; the times of tho other competitors being :— Miss A. Clark, 2min 42seo $ Mias Clark, 2min 47seo ; Miss A. E, Elston, 2min 48seo. # It is hardly neoeasary for us to draw attention to the ooncert to be held under the auspioes of the Ashburton Caledonian Booiety m the Oddfellowß' Hall this evening, A very attractive programme has been prepared, and udging from the suoooas that attended former fixtures of tho Sooioty, they will have no nocd to complain of lack of patronage this evening. A. meeting of the Committee of the Ashburton Agricultural and Pastoral Association waa held "at the Aroade Chambers yesterday afternoon. Judges and Marshall for the forthcoming show were appointad. A subcommittee was empowered to engage the band to play on show-day. It was resolved that the privileges should be sold by Messrs Friedlander Bros. for the various dißtriota were appointed, six new membors were elected, and the meeting adjourned. Two men named Michael Muloahey and John Smith, living together at Tinwald, had a quarrel yesterday. It appears that the latter got somewhat roughly handled, and he was taken to tbe Hospital. Mulcahey waa arrested last night, and brought up this morning at the R.M. Court, before Mr B. Alaorn, J.F., charged with having assaulted and beaten Smith. The police applied for a remand till to-morrow, whioh waß granted. Smith's injuries are not m any, way serious. At Ohriatohuroh yesterday Sir William Fox addressed a crowded meeting m the Congregational School. He oombatted Mr Alfred Saunders' assertion that it was prefer* able to establish a Government distillery to make spirits m the colony than to send Home for them, as it was impossible that the consumption of spirits would ever cease. Sir William Fox contended that this would plaoe an enormous power m. the hands of tbe Government, who would be able to manipulate the grain market so as to gain the support of tbe farmers at eleotion times. Mr launders replied denying Sir William Fox'b assertions. A vote of thanks was passed to both speakers. Aooording to Consul Siler, of Cape Town, Cape of Good Hope, the culture of tea is destined to prove an important industry m Natal. Mr Hulett, who commenced tea growing as an experiment, finds that he can not only raise excellent tea, but that after selling m the looal market at 25 per cent, less than the imported leaf, he can make a handsomo profit on the coat. On his estate, Kearsney, this year he will mako botween 80,000 and 90,000 pounds of toa, all of whioh has been already disposed of at prioes ranging from 18 oents to 38 cents per pound, aooording to quality. Indications now seem to point to Natal as one of the great tea produoing ooumriea of the future. Daring the past season Ibe Now Zealand Frozen Moat Company at Auckland, purohaaed 5,000,000 pints of milk from the varioua milk suppliers to their oreameries, at an average price of 3d per gallon. From this they manufactured an average daily output of 25001bs of butter, or 200,0001bs for the whole period. Of this 100,000) ba were ex. ported to England, and 34,0001bs to other foreign markets. In this way, the company first tested and then established their produots abroad. Although not remunerative to the oompany, their operations as shown above will give an idea of what progross the dairy industry has already made, end what its future promises to be. In the oourse of an interview with a reproAntative of the " Wellington Evening Post," Mr Westgarth is reported to have uaid, m connection with bis Colonial Loans Consolidation proposals: — "Mr Goaohen's conversion movement has made an enormous void m tho 3 per oenta at Home. Poor widows and orphans who have been accustomed to receive their 3 per cent, interest and have found their inoomoß out down, would be only too ready to plunge into your threes if you will offer them. If you delay long the void will bo filled, for Canada has already begun to raise money at 3 per cent, , and foreigners will soon come ia. You must remember that there are hundreds of millions available if you will only put your etook into it." A meeting of tho Ashburton Baaing Club was held at the Commercial Hotel yesterday evening, Mr Purnell m the ohair. A letter was received from Mr Quill accepting the post of paid haodioapper for the forthcoming Spring Meeting. A letter from Mr 0, Q. Eooks was also read tendering his resignation of tho office of Secretary, on aocount of illness. Mr Fooks' resignation was aooepted with regret, and a resolution was passed intimating the Committee's appreciation of the valuable services which had been rendered by Mr Fooka as Seoretary, and trusting that he would soon be restored to health. It was determined to advertise* for a fresh Seoretary, applications to bo m by Saturday next. Mr Thomas was appointed starter for the Spring Meeting, The Ground Committee reported that the improvements on the oourse were nearly completed. Thua spoaketh the •• Taieri Advocate " For some years past we have supplied this journal gratuitously to tho looal reading room. This is quite a common custom amongst tho proprietors of newspapers, though why it should be we do not exaotly underatand. A butohor or baker would Boaroely bo expeoted to aupply their atook gratia ; so, why should the newspaper proprietor bo expeoted to give away what costs him a good doal to produce ? Still, we had no great "objection to supplying a free paper for tho benefit of those who from varioua oauaes might bo unablo qe unwilling to purohaso a copy. But, we objeot to aupply a free paper for mean individuals to clip from and mutilate, thereby preventing others from reading it. Somo people, not oontopt with clipping out any extract they have a fanoy for even go so far as to tako the paper away. Tho peoplo who do this can well afford to purohaso this journal, so wo doolino to minister to their meanness and must consequently withhold our supply of froo papers. Sayß the " North Otago Timoa " ;— Wo are told that there aro some peoplo m this ootumunity who, Mioawber like, are waiting for something to turn up— the earth, for instanoo. Ever since the prediotion of Falb that heavy earthquakes would be experienced m Septombor or Ootober, some people have mado up their minfts to anticipate the oalamity halfway by thinking of nothing olee until they have almost arrived at tbe conclusion that what Falb said is certain to happen. If anyono told us what the average wheat yield of noxt year would be and tbe price it would bring m the English markets, wo would laugh at him ; but this would bo an easier thing to guess at with a probability of coming out oorroot than Falb's guess at the oruraplirig of tho earth's orußt m September or Ootobor. Why peoplo should accept the predictions of some fossil whose brain baa grown morbid with dyspepsia or beor, wo cannot understand, yet it is a fact that thoy will do bo, and thus occasion themselves a good deal of unnecessary worry and alarm. There is just as muoh probability of the oarth boing troubled with n oyclone of earthquakes m September or October, for all Horr Falb knows, as thore is that " the moon that ruleß by n.jgb,t »» will tvm J into green ohoeae, annihilate its reflecting powers, and bring about the neoesaity of tho Oamaru Borough Oounoil keeping the street lamps going all night during tho year. " Rough on Catarrh " corrects offensive odors at once. Complete cure of worst chronic cases ; also unequaled as gargle for diphtberia, sore throat, foul breath. 4