LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2284, 19 November 1889, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Colonel Humfrey, aooording to a notifioa* tion m the " Gazette," has been promoted to the position of Under-Secretary for Defence. A Dunedin telegram saya:— "A reliable c&blp ineßsage, received here from London to-day, announces the sale of a considerable paroel of Bank of New #ealq,nd shares three days ago, at £13 10s, £10 paid up?' The Ashburton detaohment of the Salvation Army are to have a great tea-meeting iv the I IjSaryacks, Havslook street, to-morrow evening at 6 o'olook, after whioh there will be a 1 picging meeting with " the Beulah Land Singers to .the front/ In a oreek near the Temuka Mills, op Friday last, an eel was -aught Jhat rather astonished his oaptor when landed. It measured .57 inobcß long and 15J inches ib girth. "Ub woigtyt wa# 301 b. Tho Temuka " bobber haß B.uccGodqd m beating the reoord hitherto." ••••■•» Tho properties and bui.ldinga of iho "blow Zealand JProzon Moat and Storage Company I woro offered for ealo at Auokland the other day, and were bought m by the mortgagee. "The prinoipal lot, comprising the ohief aeeets lof the company, was knocked down for Tbe preaeulfcttojj pf a handsome timepiece* the outoome of a popular o|jbHcriplion limited 10 Gd each, haa been mado tp Mr M. Donnelly, editor of the Ghria't'churcfo. n Telegropb," m recognition of tbo spirited and i porsevoring way ia whioh he exposed the i jrel/gjoue fraud Olampett alias Sullivan. I Anothe* oiiscjoue cause of a train being brought to a btand.till occurred m 0 country district m Victoria, T&o engine-driver and fireman had an argument, and they stopped the train for about ten minuets tbey, settled it by an appeal to fistiouffj, the par.* ' pengers bejng intorootod spectators. Ameoting to mak« arrangement for tbe : reception of tho Irish delegate, was hold last Sunday evening m the Oatholio .ohoolroom, j Rev Father Qhastagnon ia the ohair. A general committee representative of the'^hole j district waa elected, and a working committee j 1 which will oarry out all the details. Tbe publio meeting is tp be bold m £ho Oddfellows' \ ' Hall on the evening of the 4th jp^'poniber, j

The Rev Thomaa Flavall, of Meriva!e, 3hristohurob, will give an address on Sunday Sohool teaching m St. Stephen's Sohoolroom ha evening, at 7.30 p.m. All teaohers and )tho s interested m Sunday Schools are lo:dially invited. I Aooording to the Melbourne " Herald," one j 1 jf the new Victorian up-country justices of :be peaoe has " put bis foot m it." At tbe 1 looal police oourt the other day the olerk , < sailed out "Regina versus Thompson." h "Where's Regina?" said his worship. A . startling pauße ensued. "No appearance of the plaintiff. Oase dismissed." A singular visitation of moths and butter- ' flies bas ooourred m Viotoria, brought out_ by , ' the early heat. Oa the Bhores of Port Philip Bay the butterflies were thrown up after a gale m a fringe over a foot wide. The Sandhurst express was stopped by moths, whioh beoame so thick on the rails m a tunnel as to render them too greaßy for the wheels to travel, The revenue of the New Zealand railways for the four-weekly period ending 12th Oot.' was £71,201 11b Gd, and for the corresponding period of last year £69,753 6a Bd. The returns ot the Wellington aeotion aro £4598 5s 9d ; lash year £4642 15a lid, Wanganui section, £5507 9s 8d; last year, £4955 193 9d. Auokland section, £7233 9s 3d; last year, £7002 la §d. We learn from the " Proas" tbat on Saturday Mr R. Turnbull, M.H.R. for Timaru. who remained m the Wellington Hospital after the session, reaohed Ohristohurch on bis way home. He stayed m town with Mr W. Pratt and will prooeed to Timaru after he haß enjoyed a rest from the sea voyage. The hon gentleman is still very weak from a relapse of his illness. After Mr Dillon's address m the Gaiety Theatre, the other night, says the " Napier Evening News," the Irish delegate was waited upon at tbe Criterion Hotel, by an Orangeman, a member of one of the looal Lodges, who said that, on behalf of a number of other Orangemen, he wished to oompliment Mr Dillon with regard to bis address, whioh was a very able ono m every respeot, and be (tho speaker) and bis Orange brethren agreedj to a great extent, with what he had said during the evening. The "Auokland Herald " learns that Sydney Taiwhanga has gone to the Lake Country m connection with the Rotorua township purohase. He haß lately been up North getting signatures to a petition m oonneotion with his Native Bills for next seßßion, and he intends to get signatures to tbe petition m the Lake Country, Napier, and m the Wellington distriot. He tben proceeds to Dunedin to the opening of the Exhibition, and during his tour be will prooure further signatures among the Middle Island Natives to bis petition. During the month of Ootober the number of arrivals m this oolony was 1336, and the departures 1231, showing a gain to trie oolony of 105. Not a large margin, but sciffioient to Bhow that the muob talked ot exodus is re* turning. Of the arrivals 342 were from tho United Kingdom, 1 from Queensland, 569 from Now South Wales, 279 from Viotoria, 56 from Tasmania, and 89 from other plaoeß. Of the departures 136 went to tho United Kingdom, 28 to Queensland, 759 to New South Wales, 231 to Victoria, 17 to Tasmania, and 60 to other plaoes. During the month 2 Chinc.se arrived and 19 departed.— (*' New Zealand Timeß.") A settler on the Upper Waitaki says trout are so plentiful m Borne of tbe affluents of tho Waitaki and Lake Ohau that they are now m eaoh other's way. When tbe water is olear m the branches of the Waitaki tbe fish oan be Been lying on the gravel at tbe bottom almost i thiokly paoked together, too lazy to move, and too well fed to be tempted by artificial means j to meddle with what will assuredly disagree with them. A fisherman, m despair at not j being able to induce a fish to bite, tried to pull his hooks aoroß3 its baok and oatoh hold of it by that moans, but tbe fish very lazily dodged the books by bonding its body out of tbe way. It would not take the phantom minnow one way or tho other, — "North Otago Timeß." I bear (says Mr Labouohere m " Truth"*) ' that the Duke and JDuohess of Edinburgh aro not likely ever again to live m England for any long period, and that they will divide their time botween Ooburg aud St Petersburg, The ostentatious manner m wbioh iho Duke avoided meeting the Prince of Wales during tho last three weeks was intended to make manifest hia ontiro disapproval of Princess Louise's marriage ; and I learn that hia visit to Balmoral was anything but a sucoosb. as bo positively declined to hold any sort of communioation with the Duke and Duohess of Fife, and disconoorted bis mother by allusion to the well-known opinions of tho Prince Consort respeoting Boyal marriages, and by repeating tho acrid critioißms of the Empress Frederick and tho Duke of SaxeOoburg.Gotha, A gentleman who has just returned from the Weßt Coast, and wbo had special opportunities of forming an opinion, informs the "Poat" that the harbor works at Weatport have already done excellent sorvioe by deepening the water on the bar to about 24 feet. Two stone groynes have been oarried out, confining the river to a width of 400 feet, and by thus directing all the foroe of the water into a narrow ohannel tbe deposit of Bilt at the river mouth is prevented, and tbe existing bar is being praotioally swept out to sea. This part of the work is to be completed next month, and the inner training walls will then be prooeeded with, so that it is hoped that vessels of between 2000 and 3000' tons will shortly be able to load m the river. Already the hopeful feeling that bas been awakened m the distriot iB apparent from the impetus given to renewed industry, as proved by the opening of new ooal mines at Ngakawau and Granity Creek, besides the opening of sawmills, flax-mills, briok-works, eto. The 'f Grey River Argus " Bays that Mr Reeß, the successful tenderer for the three oeotions of the Midland Railway between Ahaura and Reef ton, does not intend to allow the grass to grow under bis feet. The faot that several hundred men will bo wanted on the line will no doubt have the effeot of inducing a great many men to oome to this distriot m searoh of work. At present the labor market for navvy work is anything but over-supplied ; but the faot of over twenty-six miles of continuous railway to be made m the distriot within the next eighteen months, with other oontraots over the range looming m the distanoe, oannot help but lead to an influx m £ho labor market only equalled by the initiation of the line. As there ia ever prospect ot work before good navvies on the Midland Railway line for at least the next five or six years, it is obvious that the works between Ahanru and Reofton oannot fail to ioduoo a great many of the " horny-handed " to face hitherward. The celebration servi.es oonducted on Sunday m connection with tbo opening of the Wesleyan Mission Hail at Rakaia proved successful in' overy respaot. The weather, always an important faator on suoh bcoasionß, was simply perfeot, and enabled visitors from a distanoe to bo present without disoomfort, while the eloquence of a cultured preaoher (Rev ii, J. Lewis) and the delightful selections of saored sotig rendered by a small party of Ashburton friende, led by Mr Oamblo, made tbe oooasion one of pleasure and profit to all who participated m Sunday's serviaes. In tjio morning and afternoon Mr Lewis preaohed m tho Raknia Town Hall, tho sormon m the foronoorl' boing an e^posiiion of tho term, «■ The Church,',' a Bubjeot Whiob w&s handled io a masterly manner: ' lii the afternoon*, m addition to a fair attondance of adults and children of tho congregation, the scholars and teaohers of tbo Presbyterian Sunday Sohool wore present, and bath old and young wore interested and edified by Mr Lewis' a( 7_-088 on " Gathering Lilies," based on a passage from M"? Sopgarf Solomon. The addreßß was replete wku „_? n AotQ R_d illuotratioa, both animating and pathetio, c\nd secured the attentum pf »U from beginning to ond. At night on evangelist^ opvyioo was conducted by Mr Lewis m the new Mission Hall at Newtown, the little building being orammed to tho door. Tho addreßß wbioh was founded on the text, T.l'.v. on i_e Lord Jobus Christ and thou shalt be saved," oonoludod with .an earnest appeal for the undooided to become at onoe posßeegod of the saving graoo of Wbioh the' preaoher had been speaking. Tho service conoludod with a prayer meeting at whioh six persons professed conversion. Tho offortorios for the day amounted to over £4. As announoed m our last issue the oelebration toa meeting will bs : held to-morrow (Wednesday) whon the Roy William Morley will deliver tiia entertaiping leoture " My Trip to Eugl&ud aq^l yf)_p,t I Haw I 'there." A ' " "" r