LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2275, 8 November 1889, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A oamel coacb ia to tried m tbe Darling district.

A Belfast firm has just made a vessel 582 |6et long, 100 feet loea than the Great Eastern.

Li On is the very appropriate name of the advance agent of a Chinese theatrical company:

The City of London and Tower Hamlets Oemotery, Mile-Eud, contains some 247,000 bodies,

Dke Greak Patriaroh of Alexandria,' Mgr Sophronius, is ninety-nino years old, and ha 9 been a priest for seventy youra,

Tho Tower bridge aoross the Thames is to be ereoted at a ooßt of Dearly half a million sterling.

Japan ia overrun with touriste. The hotels are crowded and guideß aro at a premium.

Persons liable to pay Property Tax will note that the first instalment is due on the $9th day of tho current month.

General Boulanger'n seoond daughter is to be married to a son of the Countess of Birri, sister-in-law of the ox-^ing of Naples.

It is stated on good authority that Queen Viotoria has presented a life-size portrait of herself to Prinoo Biamarok, as a mark of her Majesty's special esteem.

Southland residents are complaining of the groat numbers of native parrot* and blackbirds which are so muoh against the culture of lruit.

All Russian ships of war [are to be lighted exclusively by eleqfripity, and by January next the whole of the Russian fleet will bo lighted by that means.

The three pplendid Hereford bullooks sent from the Waitomata estate, m the Wftikato, to the Ghrißtohurob, Show woigh respectively 1 ton 6 owt, 1 ton 4 owt, and 1 ton 8 owt.

The penny postal oards of one oolony are now delivered m another throughout New Bouth Waleß, South Australia, Queensland, West Australia, Tasmania, and Viotoria, and New Zealand. Fiji is now the only oolonyi n the Australasian group that is not m the penny post card union.

In London alone dead larks of tho valuo of oloae upon £2500 are annually disposed of ; and this, taking tho all. round wholesale prioe at 2s per dozen-^-whioh is probably below rather than above the mark— gives a grand total of no losb than 800,000 of these birds for London alone.

An extraordinary suicide by a Birmingham lady named Sampson, against whom divoroe proceeding had boon instituted by her husband, is reported from Linooln. The lady, who has been OP intimate terms with a Linooln gentleman, whp phot himself dead, took away her life by ihru&ting tbe handle of a lady's hand-mirror down ber throat, oausing Buffooation.

Society m Munioh is at present exoited over" tho determination of a young Japanese woman who hes playod a social role jn the Bavarian oapitai. Miss Toki Maidira, the daughter of one of the highest familios m the Empire of the Mikado, has decided to tako the veil, and next month will enter tho oonvont of tbe Sisters of Obonfailleg. This U said to be the first inatanoe of this kind on reoord

There is a ourioun museum at St Petersburg, to whioh aooesa is njt easily obtained; It contains all the Imperial State and private carriages, but the most interesting among all is the brougham m whioh Alexander 11. was killed. The baok of it is all m ruins, and inside it look* quite dreadful. One of the cushions, however, is still good; here and thore splashes of mud aro on it,

The Czar of Russia is a man not worth envying. Ho is m constant dread of assassination. He has just had a new irooolad railway train oonsiruoted for his uao on his journoy^. The saloons are oovorcd with stool platoß outside, painted to resemble woodwork. Inside these plates is a spnoo of Bm, tightly paokod wilh oork ; then comes a thinner plate of a tool. AH the ealoona are alike, bo that outsidors cannot tell whioh is oocupied by the Czar, On a reoent journey ho travelled m a carriage paintod to resemble a luggage van.

In the course of conversation m Napier the other day a gentleman likely to bo wellinformed on the subject remarked that the Roy Mr Oolenso, F.R.B. is now the only living European who saw the Treaty of the Waiiangi l signed; Looking at I?gw jioaland now, it is difficult to beliuvn that we havp amongst us a gentleman still vigorous m both mind and body, who saw ono of the very first atopa taken m tho colonisation of New Zealonl. It will be jUBt fifty yoars on Fobruary sih next since tbp treaty yvan signed,— "H.B,

The telegraph authorities have reoeived the following from the Cable Oompany'a superintendent at Wakapuaka : — " November 17. Communication on the Port Darwin line i 1 became interrupted this evening. The , Western Australian oable having olosed prior , to interruption no oablo buainesa oan be got through to-night."

) An inquest was held to-day at Chatmoa befofo Major Steward, J V., and a jury of cix

on view of the body of Goorgo Waller, station cool:, who died suddenly ynsterday. The 1 evidence of Dr Louby showed that the cause , of death was fatty degeneration of the heart. { and a verdiot of death from natural causes i was accordingly returned.

To-day was pretty generally obgorved as a hol.day but tha Post and Telegraph offiooa and tho Banks remained open. The latter will keep holiday to-morrow, and the former on Monday* Tho tovm_ proBented a very deserted appearanoo during the day, a large number of people having gone to Ghristohuroh, tha show being hold there doubtless being tho courao of attraction. The ohampion Ananias had just reeled of! ono of the toughest stories, and there was a , pausn of a few minutes 'while the faota (?) were boing digestud by the auditors. Then tho sout'ir inquired, "Did ye iver hae a brithor, Mao ? " " 00, ay," replied M'Huvor, promptly ; "ho wis an aotor, puir fellow, an' a gey bad aotor, too." " Wull he be deid?" persißtod the other. " Ay ; ho died at the Cape, puir Tarn ; pelted wi' aigg i on tho stage," was tho reply wi'h a sigh. " Bit aiggs wud nao kill a buddy ? " objected tho soutar. •' Wud they nao? " Man, they wero ostrich aiggß, as big ob yor heid," answered M'Haver triumphamly, and tho soutar took a back aeat.i " The Mirror " (Sydney) Bayß ; — A oolonia story for polioe magistrates oomes from an up-aountry town. An individual there had boon having a good timo of it with a cortain P.M., and m trying to assist the administrator of tho law home waa bailed up by two oonBtableß, one of whom saw his Worship home, and tho other took his acquaintance to the look-up. It was m vain ho appealed to his friend. All he oould get from him was, "Itch orright, old fellow, shee you i' the morning." And he did see him, to the tune of forty shillings and costs, after reading him a severe looture on tbe folliea of intemperanoo ; and now the unfortunate viotim quotes soripture, to the tune of "Put not your trust m prinoes," right and left.

What I considered a fair yarn reaohea me from my oountry. There were three m a buggy. Jones, the driver, had " refreshed," not wisely, but too well. Oonaequenoe, care* less driving and a very nasty spill. Brown, who possesses a very nice tenor voioe, of whioh he is muoh proud, was thrown into a ditoh, whilst Jones had a log broken and Robinson bad some severe bruises. In tbe middle of their lamentations as they sat ruefully m the mud, Jones and Robinson suddonly heard the musical Brown warbling forth m one of Sims Beeves' gems of eong. The song oame to an abrupt termination, and then did the listeners hear Brown most solemnly and thankfully remark, " Thank God, my uppereG is all right 1"—" TouohBtone " m the " Hawko's Bay News,"

Spoaking briefly at the Land Tax mooting m the, Temperance Hall, Sydney, the other night, Mr Hayneß gave the following facts | Tho A. A. Company yeata ago got a free grant of 1,000,000 acres of land, the terms of charter being settlement. There was praotioally no settlement. Soon tbo oom< pany Bold over 800,000 aores of the grant m the Liverpool plains distriot to an English syndioato, named tho Peel Biver Company, and pocketed £500,000 by the transaction. The balance of tbe A. A. Company's land at Newoaßtle and Port Stephen's is of enormous value now, and the profits 'went into the pockets of men who bad never set foot on Australian soil. The question was, would tbe people tax themselves by protection, or would they, by a legitimate system of land tax, get some return for the increased valuea given to land possessions.

A statement has been made that the terraoea at Botomahana aro reforming, but Mr Mitohelson, who would probably have been informed had mjoh been the case, heard nothing about it during his reoont vinit to Rotorua. Ho says fern ia springing up on tho deposit of mud, and many of the treeß whion were stripped of leaves and branohes, espeoiblly the pohutakawae, are putting out foliago Will. The oountry, however, still wears a desolate aspect. Tho bed of Lako Botomi hina, whioh waa so enlarged by the eruption ao to take m little Lake Waimahariri olose by, is rapidly filling with water, but has not yet formed an outlet, There is now a depth of at least 100 ft of water. Mr Mitobelson rode down the Waiotapa Valley and visited the small terraces to be found there. He also went over to Orakei Korako. This plaoo is out of the boaten traok, and diffioult of aooess, but is well worth a visit.

David Andreas Saxlohner, owner of the Hunyadi Janos, whoso death took plaoo recently, was a man of limited education, After failing io several undertakings, ho established a " national olothing house " m Buda Pesth.in whioh house goods alone were sold. Whilo he was sitting m his oflioe one day a peasant called and oomplained that ho oould not get any fresh water on his farm. He had bored wells m a number of plaoes, but auooeoded m getting only a populiar scented fluid, whioh he feared to use. Saxiehnorwaß interested, Ho asked tho peasant to bring him a samplo bottle of tbe water, had it analysed, and decided to purohase the estate. Ha paid 1000 gulden per aoro for tbe farm, and established a factory as soon as possible. The water became popular at onoo, and the red label upon the bottlea a famous trade mark. Of late yoars the sale reaohed four millions annually, and Saxlohner died enormoßly riob f

A party cf bookkeepers and fanoierq met with, a somewhat unnusual adventure last summer m England. Mr Murray, of the Colliery Board Sohoolß, Tipton, along with other gentlemen, was making preparations to convey some half dozen hives of beeß to the moors and lells at Waskerley. During tbe prooess of packing thorn m tha oart tbe bottom accidentally fell off ono cf the hives. Tho bees oame buzzing out and ferooiously stung the party, and also olung tenaoiously to the horse, whioh had already been yoked to tho. cart, tbe result being that the bewildered animal bolted. tfhe rest of Che hives beipg disturbed by the jolting of the oart, hundreds of bees found their way out of them, surrounding the oooupants of the oonveyanoe and tho horse, stinging all m a dreadful manner: The inseota likewise fastened themselves upon a batoh of sohool children, who were being driven through the village upon a hay oart. However, Mr Murray and one of his companions we r e left lying upon tho groqnd m a stunned and almost unoonsoious condition, whilo tho horse had not travelled muoh farther before it 'fell to the ground, suaaumbing the eamo night to tho effeotg of tbe stinge, '

We olipthe following important testimonial from tho " Illawarra Meroury " (N.S.W.) of the 30th Maroh. Id needß no oomment : — " Mr John Loveday, o! the Bulli Mountain, wr'-tofi to us that after suffering for four years mtff. apujte gravel, hp haa osperienqed almoßt oomplote relief by using Sander and t^ona' Eucalypti Extraot. He Buys seeing the said Extraot advertised m the 'Illawarra Meroury,' his intense Buffering induced him to obtain a bottle of the medio^ frpm Mr Soaking, ohemist, of this town, and that tho use of jt gave him great relief at onoo. Ho states that between the 10th Maroh instant, when he obtained the first bottlo of the extraot, and the 10 th, the use of that med)QJne continued to afford him relief, to whioh ho had been a stranger for four years. Mr Lovoday writes also that ho has found the Eucalypti Extraot a cure for Kheuradtißm as wel) aq grave), He requegts us to publish this information through tho ' Meroury. ' We have inuoh pleasure m complying with Mr Lovoday's request, whose word oannot bo doubtod, and who oan have no objoot m view other than a pure desire to benefit suffering; humanity," (Advfc. , -. .