The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1888. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1950, 21 September 1888, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1888. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

* The Barrier copper mine has been successfully floated m Melbourne, with a capital of £250,000. j Many stories have been told of the fortunes made out of silver mining shares. Little is said of the fortunes lost. There is at Broken Hill a man scarcely able to support a small family, who less than six months ago was j worth £200,000 m easily realisable property. A correspondent writes to the " Timaru Herald" advocating the lowering of the wharfage charges on coal by 6d a ton at that port, He saya if the reduction were made it would give Timaru the ooal trade of Ashburton, amongother plaoes. \ The Minerva Petroleum Company's bore at Gisborne is now down 480 foet. The seoond Band was passed at 435 feet, giving off a good deal of gas and email show of oil. The balance 0! 8-inch pipes goes m this week, after which boring will proceed m preparation for the 6 -inch pipes. A woman named Norman, wife of a painter living at Fratton, Portsmouth, recently gave birth to four children — three girls and a boy —of whom only one, a girl, •is now alive, Mrs Norman, who is about forty years of age, ia the mother of twenty-one children, of whom nine are now alive. She had previously, had twins, and seven years ago she earned the Queen's bounty by presenting her husband with triplets. Strenuous efforts are being made (says the London correspondent of the "Sydney Morning Herald ") to prevent Miss Phyllis Broughton's (the well-known aotress) breaoh of promise against Lord Dangan from ooming into court. Tho lady assesses the damage done (0 her affections at £20,000, and holdß to the opinion that the matter, if it is to be compromised, should be settled by the prompt payment of that sum. The other side want to reduce the amount. Advices have been received by the directors of the Wyndham Dairy factory Company that a part of the last shipment of cheese that arrived home has realised the satisfaotory price of 55a per ewfc. A small paroel has also been sold at 5d per lb, f.o.b. at Jiytteltop, The balance-sheef now m oiroula* tion ajnonggt the shareholders B hqwß that during this year's working the faotory hao not made any lose, although no dividend is forthcoming. Tbe milk producers have re. oeived 2% per gallon for milk for the whole season. The "Timaru Herald" reports that on Monday forenoon a girl of 15 years of age, named L&rris, living with her parents at Kensington, attempted to commit auioide by swallowing the contents of a bottle of oarbolic aoid. Drs Hogg and Ewart were called m, and only by strenuous efforts suooeeded m preventing fatal effeota ensuing, and after a necessary oourse of immediate treatment the girl was taken to the Hospital m an unoon■oioug state, Qbe now show signs of recovery, and the oase has been placed \a tho hansjs o f Detective Neil. She was suffering from a loathsome disease, and this may have led to her attempting to escape from a miserable life. ♦' BucijA-Paiba."— Quick, complete cure allgannoying kidney, bladder, and urinary, diseases. At chemists and druggists. Kemp, tborne, Prosger, aodj Co,, agents, Christ*

A rather peculiar aocident occurred last evening. A^bioyiisfc was goirjg along Burnett jtj&tt Weat, and a lady who was wheeling a perambulator was m the act of crossing the road at the time. The bioylist, who was olose at band, sung out to her to look out. The lody hesitated a moment and then started again, the result being that the bioyle clashed into the perambulator, cutting it olean m two. Luckily the vehiole had no occupant, the ohild being led by the hand ai the time, The bioylist was preoipitated to the ground but was not much hurt. A rather amusing letter has been received by the Melbourne Exhibition Commissioners. It is (says the " Argua ") from a lady, who states that she tried to pass through the turnstiles a few days ago, but that owing to her size, which is presumably abnormal, the maobine held hor fast. Had it not been for the attendant, who prooured a chair and assisted to extrioate her from the peculiar position m whioh she was placed, unpleasant oonsequenoes might, she suggested, have happened. She therefore, asked that special arrangements should be made for the admission of persons of her bulk and weight, and the aocountant at once replied that if she would announce the oooasion of her next visit, the gate, wbioh is about 12ft wide, would be opened for her. The American correspondent of an exobange says :— " Marriage is a serious matter to most men, but it ia a trifling detail to Mr J. Aldrioh Brown. He is aooused of having taken to himßelf twenty-three wiveß. Mr Brown is an American, and he may plead that an expanding demooraoy cannot confine itself to the traditions of an effete eooiety. The twentythree ladies do not seem to take this view, as they are pursuing Mr Brown with relentless animosity. The brother of one of them is disposed, moreover, to end Mr Brown's eooiologioal eip^riments with a revolver, Thus is science ever dogged by the pertinacity of prejudice. A Home paper heara that a barrister baa just been summoned before the Benchers of his Inn charged with the serious professional offeDOe of accepting a fee of half a guinea when bis brief was marked with a guinea. The offender was severely reprimanded, and informed that he had departed from " the best traditions of the Bar." He respeotfully urged that he had imagined that he was following " the best tradition of the Bar," inasmuch as he had taken all Tie could get. So struok were the Benchers, either with the force of thia observation, or the forensio ability displayed by the oulprit m his own defence, that they let him off without further remark. In oonneotion with the " gathering of the gaiters," aa the " World " irreverently terms the reoent Lambeth Conference," we are told that on the Great Northern Railway there was a brisk demand for smoking carriages, and the sight of three bishops, on their way to Cambridge, indulging without let or hindrance m the fragrant weed, reminded more than one of the speotatora of the excellent story of Arohbishop Tait discovering two of h>s Amerioan visitors kneeling piously on their bedroom hearthrug and puffing smoke carefully up the chimney, during the last Lambeth Conference. Things have somewhat improved sinoe then ; but it was an Amerioan, Dr Waldstein, who provided for hia compatriots the eagerly sought-after opportunity of a pipe of peaoe during their brief stay at the 'Varsity. It is rumoured on untrustworthy authority that an Amerioan prelate was observed to get rid surreptitiously of something which looked very much like a 11 quid " m Trumping»on street ; but for all that, the trip to Cambridge was a welcome relief to the mind ecclesiastical, wearied by perpetual converzationes, A very successful meetingwas held last evening m connection with Willowby Wesleyan Temperance Sooiety and Band of Hope. The sohoolroom was well filled, the Rev J.-N. Buttle presiding, The Chairman, m his opening remarks, referred to several matters m connection with temperance work. He expressed the conviction that a radical reform m the licensing system wag fast approaching, a marked feature of whioh woqld bp a large inorease of power m the pgpular control of tbe liquor traffic An excellent programme was then gone through. Songs were given by Miss Emily Hayman, Messrs Dunn, Jamea and John Osborne ; readings by Messrs Wbeeler and Ben Low ; recitations by !Mis9 Hayman (Wioa'ow) and Me Dunn. A .feature of the programme was a dialogue between two youthfuls, Kuth Harding and Elizabeth Dunn, whioh brought down the house, Mrs Harding acted as aCoompanist. On tbe motion of Mr Harding hearty thanks were given to the performers. One adult and three juveniles Bignod the pledge amidst great enthusiasm and hearty applause. The Wellington correspondent of thg "Lyttelton Times" saya that the Govern* ment have had undor consideration a suggestion which originally emanated from a clergyman at Hull, that the mongoose should be acclimatised m the Colony as a means of combatting the rabbit peat. Correspondence whioh has just b6en received by the Miniates for Lands from the Agent-General, shows that suoh a remedy would be infinitely worse than the disease it is intended to cure. Some years ago the mongoose was introduced to the island of Jamaica, for the purpose of contending with a plague of rats. Mr D. Morris, Assistant Direotor of Eew Gardens, who has had considerable experience m Jamaioa, was tasked for his opinion on (b,e subject. Writing to the Agent-General Mr Morris states that he cannot recommend the introduction of so fierce and rapacious an animal as the mongoose into New Zealand ; it might destroy the young rabbits; but its powers of increase are so enormous, and it is ho difficult to destroy, that \t would ajniostj certainly prove a greater nuisanoe than the rabbits themselves. A large male mongoose ie with difficulty killtd, even by a decentsized collie ; while the animal feeds on both eggs and ohiokens, and might even take to lambs m preference to rabbits. The "Wellington Post" says that the proverbial coach and four has been driven through the provisions oi the Adulteration Aots by Mr Robjnson. R.M. The Aota of 1880 and 1883 contain apparently most stringent provisions for ensuring the ordinary purchaser that he shall get the full weight of bread when buying what profess to ba 21b or 41b loaves. The clauses are marvellously preoise and the oaeual reader would imagine that the baker must have rather a bad time of it having to weigh every loaf m the presenoe of the purchaser, and being bound to have his loaves of absolutely aoourate weight, duly stamped etc. It seems, however, that all these elaborate provisions are utterly useless, and that bakers may, as some of them uqajoubjt* edly do, cell bvead of any weight" they iike, other than the weight the loavea purport to be without inourring any of the penalties with whioh the olausos fairly bristle. All he has to do isjto avoid selling what the latest Aot refers to as " French " and " batch. " iQaveo, but whioh it baa failed to desprjba or define. It appears from the evidence m the recent oases- in the Resident Magistrate's Court that bakers, like dootors, sometimes differ, and there was a most marked #ant of unanimity of opinion aB to what " French "or " batoh " loaves roally were. Indeed, if we gather tbe purport of the evidence aright, it would seem that bread is subject to strange olimatio changes, and that what is a batch loaf at Home ceases to bo a batoh loaf m Now > Zealand. The difficulty all arises from a wqn,t of legal definition of tbe word <* batoh." It appears to have no acoepted legal desoriptive meaning aB applied to a loaf, and m negleoting to supply a proper definition of the word " batoh " the Legislature has entirely ••botohed '<' the whole'law on tbe Bubjeot. We clip th.c following important teetiinonia? from the •« Jllawarra Meroury " (N.8.W.) of the 30th Mar oh. It needs no comment; " Mr John Loveday, of the Bulli Mountain, writes to us that after suffering for four years with aoute gravel, he has experienced almoat. complete relief by uaing Sander and Sons' Euoalypti Extract. He says seeing the said Extract advertised m the 'lUawarra Meroury,' his intense suffering induced him to obtain a bottle of the medioine from Mr Hosking, chemist, of this town, and that the use of it gave him great relief at once. He states that between the 10th Maroh instant, when he obtained the first bottle of the extraot, and , the 19th, the use of that medioine continued to afford him relief, to whiph h,e had been a granger fqr four years, Mr L.qveday writeg alsp that be bas found the Sucalyptj Extraot a oure for rheumatism aa well as gravel. He requests us to publish this information through the • Meroury.' We have muoh : pleasure m complying with Mr Loveday's request, whoso word oannot be doubted, and who oan have no object m view other than a pure desire to benefjt.eufjoring humipity."— (Adtii) 8

England's coming harvest is likely to be the 1 worst of the century. I Adelaide passengers by the Frenoh boate •• oan reach London m 31 day?. The Rev Mr Buttle lectures on the " Maori Race " at the Wesleyan Church, Waterton, on Tuesday next. Queen Victoria has now reigned over England Jonger than any monaroh but twoHenry 111 and George 111. She overtook Queen Elizabeth six years ago, and has outdone Edward 111, who only reigned 148 days over half a century. If she lives a few years onger Her Majesty will have reigned longer than atjy royal personage of history. When the s.s. Penguin was entering Lyttelton Heads yesterday she picked up a small boat m whioh were a knife, fishing line, bait, and two oars. It was brought to Lyttelton and identified by the owner, J. Hayden, who had left it moored m Dampier's Bay last night, no bait, line, or knife, being m it. It is supposed that some boy*took the boat to fiah, and has been drowned. No one is reported missing. At the meeting of the Board of Eduoation yesterday the following matters relating to this district were dealt with. The Building Committee reported that an application for £5 for repairs to fences, etc, at Longbeach was deferred. Alford Forest. The Clerk of Works was direoted to report as to the state of the sohool buildings said to be m need of repair. The following appointments were made :— Mayfield Side, Miss Brenber, sole charge; Westerfield, Mr P. Kime, master ; BarrhUl, Miss Clarke, sewing mistress; Lauriston," Mrs Smith, sewing mistress. The usual meeting of the ABhburton Presbyterian Musical and Literary Society waß held m the Church last evening. There was a very fair attendance of members, the Roy A. M, Beattie presiding. Two original articles were read and disoussed, the subjects being "Contentment" and •• Punctuality," the latter dealing moßtly with punctuality m attendance at churoh. Arrangements were made for the next meeting, whioh is the cloaing one of the session, and the pro. gramme will conaist of portfolio Jor first part, with an interval for refreshments and sooial intercourse, the second part to consist of musical and other selections. A Committee of baohelors and young ladies were appointed .to carry out the refreshment portion of the programme. Experiments have been conducted m France to test the efficacy upon human bodies of the Lebel projectiles. In default of a war, the virtues of the new arm have been tried on defunct civilians— unolaimed bodies from the publio mortuaries and hospitals — which were set up as far as possible m a lifelike attitude and shot at. Dootors Chauvel and Nimier have, it appears, reported on the effect of the ghastly praotice, and testify that the use of the "Lebel" will relieve army surgeons of much of their duty on the field, as the projeotioles, even when fired from a distance of from 1900 to 2000 yards, pass through the body, bones and all. As the " Lanoet " remarks, there can be no reason why such experiments on carcases of the lower animals should not suffioe.