LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2269, 1 November 1889, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The owrng aro tho returns of the Ashburton Hospital i.i Ootober, 1889 :— In Hospital let of the month, G ; admitted during the monh, 14 ; discharged, 10 ; remaining m Hospital Ist Novonber, 30.

The New South Wales Railway Commisaionerß have accepted an offer for the right of advertising on the hick of train tioketa, the amount being £2500 for one year's privilege m this re.p.at. The Matron of tho Ashburton Hospital desir.os tp acknowledge, with thanks, reoeipt of old linen from Mrs I'eter and the Rev Mr Beat tie, flowers and fruit from Mesdames Homersham, Bonifant, and Lee, and papers from Mrs Braddell, for the use of ibe inmates.

Certain friends of Sir Charles Dilke bave prepared a long ftatement setting forth fresh foots whioh have been colleoted bearing upon the famous divoroe oase with which his namo is associated. These, it is alleged, will establish his innooepoo of the oharges whioh were brought against him, and it is intended very shortly to lay them before the publio.

We bave to acknowledge with thanks the reoeipt from the publisher, of Bradshaw'p Guide for November. The present iB an " Exhibition " number and m view of the exported influx of visitors will be of great value, as it oontains beside the ordinary rail. way, ooaoh and tramway time-tables, a direotory for evory plaoe of importance iv the oolony, and a quantity of other handy In* formation.

Auokland is to have a baby show some time this month. At present the idea is to divide tbe girls and boys into three seotiona eaob, giving eaoh seotion a first prize or five guineas and a seoopd pripe of three guineas, viz., six of eaoh, with a speoial prize of ten guineas for twins, and a prizo of 26 guineas for the champion baby, wbioh will be deoided by the publio, who will on entering the exhibition be supplied with a ooupon tiaket, on wbioh they will mark the number of their ohoioe.

In the course of ani ntorviow with a "Star " reporter, Mr J. R. Pond stated that this season bo had reoeived ordera for about 1 14,800 butter boxes for New South Wales, where f* powerful syndicate has been formed to establish a big export buttar trade with Great Britain, He added that this same syndicate have secured praotioally all the cool-parrying capacity available for butter from these oolonJca for next season — a serious matter for New _*ealand butter exporters to od"*?W«.

The Press is whispering mysteriously that tbe next bride of the Royal Waleses is to be Princess Victoria. Her intended, it is said, is the eldest son of tbe Earl of Gadogan ; be is just of age, is good looking, and m every way a most desirable parti. The precedent has been given, and many of tbe Queen's grandchildren are safe to marry among the ohief nobility— in prooeßS of time m tho ranks of tho gentry, too, many of whom show a muoh nobler descent than numbers of the aii.tootaoy. One or two of tbe lato additions to tbe latter guild bad no grandfathers— to speak of.

A syndioate has boon formed, consisting o fruit dealers m Ohioago, Philadelphia, and other places, for establishing a large fig orchard, to caasist of about 200 aores. The eito seleoted i. m Los Angeloe Oounty, Oalifornio, between Pomona and Ontario. The land has been secured, and planting is to be oommenoed m due course. The orchard will oont&in 11,000 White Adriatio fig troes and 5000 Bmyrna fig trees, planted 60 to the aore. J_ator on a building will be ereotsd for drying and ouring figs for market. The gentlemen composing the syndioate aro oonvinoed tho California figs will m timo crowd all foreign figs out of the Amerioan markets.

Our Wesleyan readers and perhaps others also will bo interested to learn that the financial results of the ri cent oolebrations m oonoootion with tho Wosleyan Home and Maori Missions m Asbburton circuit realised the following amountß viz : — Ashburton £18 6a 5d ; Willowbv, £7 2b sd ; Waterton £1 Is 8d ; Wakanui £3 ; Tinwald £3 ; Hinds £5 3b 8d ; Grfienatreet, £0 4a lOd ; total £3$ 19s 0.1. 1 -««, local expenses £1 *»a Od, not £34 14* Od. kt. • t ae jjjy^eßt amount yet pent from Ibis ib -'* for this worthy object. The Ashbarton oircu._ - nxootinga dondubted • .ervioea nnd missionary . . ahowed the \ throughout the oirouit this yea. . """nine ( great interest m and sympathy for j_s. ' i Mission work, whioh the members of the » > Woilojan Ohuroh raanifeit,

Mrs Silk, "t .u-. •<-.*<attuau Hotel, Dunedin, ■ •as an i nnounoement m our advertising columns this issue.

EveryiMng is very quiet m the Rakaie. j distriot and rain is very badly needed. Owing : to the holidays next week the Road Board will I not hold a meeting till the 14th. There is I oonsidorable talk about what tho railway authorities are pleased to advertise as oheap (?) tioketa to Dnnedin. A large number will go from here to Lyttelton and thenoe by steamer at something like a reasonable figure. At a well attended meeting held at Rowse's Hotel on Monday last it was deoided j to hold tho usual sportß at Methven on New | Year's Day. The balanoe m hand from laßt year was £9 19s 7d. The uumber of horse raoea was arranged to be the same as last, a few alterations being made m some of the conditions. A few alterations were also made m the athletio events. Mr Alington was re-appointed Seoretary. The next meeting is to be held on Monday, Novemoer 18. An amateur florist of Frisoo, who has a penchant for grafting, haa m his garden one rose bueh trained upon a fenoe, whioh has reaohed a height of 16 feet and a spread of 12 feet. The parent stalk is five inohes io ciroum'ereno. just above the ground. Tpon this bush m different places are grafted a great many varieties of roses ; so that, during the season of bloom, the bush Bhows m all the wealth of beautiful aolours the pale pink June roae; the delioate Solforino ; the hardy. John Hooper, with its bright roße-ooloured leaves and oarmiue oentre ; tha buds of salmonooloured rose, Mme. Pauline Labonte ; the intense glowing crimson and very beautiful Duohess of Edinburgh ; two varieties of the solmon-ooloured mottled rose, the Homer, the exquisite L .marque, a white blossom spreading to lemon ; a few Lady Banksias, while m the shade of green loaves are several buds of Le General Jaoqueminof, that rioh, orimsonsoarlet, velvety rose, whioh is bo muoh Bought after, and here and there are branohes heavy with those pure, white blossoms known as Mme. Plantier.

Fifty seven guinea 1 * is not a bad prioe for a paok of cards, and yet it was given reoently by a dealer at a sale held m Berraingham. The paok is Btated to be the only one of its kind m the world. Every oard is speoially engraved, and the paok comprises an exhaustive piotorial him ory oi the prinoipal events m the reign of Qaeen Anne down to 1706. Tbey inoludo the victories of Marlborough, the soa fights ot Admiral Benbow, all the various ohangea oonneoted with the Parliamentary proceeding of the day, and

the oonolusion of the treatic. between England Franoe and Spain. Tho Queen of Hearts is a very well drawn pioture of Queen Anne herself, and the King of Hearts represents Prince George of Denmark, her husband. The Queen of Diamonds is Anne Sophia, Queen of Denmark ; the Queen of Clubs is the Prinoess Royal of Prussia ; and the Queen of Spadeß is the Prinoesa Anne of Russia. The knaves were represented by leading politioiaus of the day. This carious paok was the oooasion of muoh spirited bidding between the gentlemen who held oom* missions for the purshase. Had they gone to one of theso the looal art gallery would eventually have reoeived them. As it iB, their destination is Shropshire.

In France plumß are a very important orop, and aro extensively cultivated. In a late iesue of " La Nature " some interesting details are given of the weight prodnoe., and the value m different distriotß. In the first plaoe oomes Lot-et-Garonne with 175,0000wt, valued at 12,000,000 francs. The fruits of this oountry are very muoh prized. Next oomes the DeuxSAvres supplying OS^Oowt, worth 2,000,000 franca. The production of the Loiret is about 58,6000wt, valued at 270,000 franos. That of the two departments of Aiime and Seine* et-Mame amountß to about 40,0000wt. The 37,0000wt ot Seine-et-Oise have a value ot 48,000 franos, the production of Meurthe*et* Moselle amounts to 84,0000wt, and it varies frohi 24,000 to 14,0000wt for tbe departsments Of the Aube, Haute-Sa&ne, Meuse, Vosges, Tarn-et-Qaronne, Haute Marne, and SeineInferieure. The total of the harvest m Franoe haa riaen to 75_,0000wt. Moreover, as tbe I quality of the fruit varies considerably, the variations m prioe are also great. The prioe of the hundred weight, whioh was 68 francs m Lot-et-Garonne, was only 20 franoß m the Deu_-S6v.es, 42 franoß m the Tarn.st* Garonne, and m fine frnro 4 franoß 50 oentß for the Haute Loire. There is oertainly the j material for supplying a considerable com* meroe.