LOCAL AND GENERAL

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2302, 14 December 1889, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

An hotel advertises among other attractions a " parlour for ladies thirty-five feet wide." Queen Victoria, a London gossiper hears, [ weighs now 193 pound Bi ! The new pavilion at Lord's, which will be inaugurated next season, is to ooet £17,000. ChauDOoy Depew says m an interview m London that " England has not been bo prosperous for (en years past." The annual loss through hog oholera m the United 3tates is estimated from £3,000,000 to £6,000,000. { Mr Dion Bouoioault calculates that the threatrioal amusements ooat the inhabitants of the United Kingdom £40,000,000 a year. When a family at Berlin oinnot pay rent they can go to the " City Shelter," a big building where they are fed and kept till work , is obtained. We are requested to call attention to an announcement for the Christmas season by the New Zealand Clothing Faotory whioh appears among to-day's advertisements. At tho Wakanui raoeß and eports whioh tako plaoe on Monday next the day's sport will oommenoe with the Bioyole Raoo, whioh ; starts at 12 o'clock sharp. Nominations for the Hurdles, Cup, Trot, Welter, Fljing, and Pony Handicaps at the Tinwald Raoinq Club's annual meeting on Now Year's Day, close this evening at 9 o 'cloak at the Tiawald Hotel. ( Axtell, a three year old stallion, having m America trotted a mile m two minutes and 12 Bcoondfl, found an immediate purob&Ber for £30,000, Baid by a New York correspondent to be the largest sum ever paid for a horse. It is said that rats aro so fond of sunflower eeeds that they will, if plenty, flook into the wire cage kind of trap m euoh quantity as to nearly fill it. But they should be fod awhilo on the seed before introducing tho trap. The ordinary meeting of the Star of Ashburton Lodge of Druids whioh falls to be held m ordinary course on Monday is postponed until Tuesday evening m consequence of the Anniversary bo'iday. We are glad to learn from the Timaru papora that Mr Turnbull, M.ILR., returned home o>k Friday, having Btood tho journey fairly wefll. Ho is, however, m a weak state, and wil/. be unable to see visitors for some time. A story is told of a dooent farmer who exasperated by a oontinued downpour of rain, while bi3 barometer index pointed steadily to •' fair, * took the instrument into the open air and cxolaimed, " Noo, see for yoursel' if ye will not tak' my word fort." " Aooording to the Athencoum, an interest, ing discovery has been made m India — nothing less than the lost books of Euolid, of whioh a Sanskrit translation is Baid to have boen found at Jeypore. Mr H. H. Dhruva, delegate of H.H. the Gaekwar, is to read a paper on the subjeot before tho eighth International Ojngress of Oriontaliata at Stookholm. The Hungarian Board of Trado, b-inp satkUed with the results of the introdu'n ol of a oheap tariff on tho Hungarian Stato railways, is making plans for a reform m the charges for telegraphio messages. Two kreuzers, or less than a halfpenny per word, will bo the charge for telegrams to Außtria. Local messages will be charged half a kreuzer or the tenth part of a penny per word. It is also prcpoßod to sell railway tiokets at every post office. The Governor's house at Melbourne is a stately pile, and it oan boast of a ball room a third more commodious than the Sovereign's at Buckingham Palace. This is often found ) too small for the large company invited, whioh usually numbers about 5000, whereas at the Queen's State ball less than 500 are usually invited. Lord Hopetoun will also find pleasant retirement at a country seat about 40 miles from Melbourne eaßily reached by rail. The rain that haa'^fallen during tho last three weeks has been of great benefit to the oro;s througnout the district. Moat of tho grain is now m ear, and is particularly wellheaded on good sound straw. With a continuance of favorable weather there will be an unusually early and abundant harvest. Turnips tuflered a good deal last month from fly and drought, but later sowings have oome away well, Grass has made renewed growth and there is abundance of feed m all directions. SQUINT MEKT.r- Well*' Health fienewe restores health and vigor, cares Dyspepßia Impotence Sexual Debility. At chemists and ~ drngglata, Jtemptfioroe, Prosser and O Ageuti, ChrlstclUtfCh

Mr Edward Wakefleld haa been to New York to arrange for the pablioation there ot bin dook "After Fifty Years." The returns of the East Coast election, bo far as to hand, give Reese 617 and Arthur 611 Thore wore three returnßyet to oome m wnion were expeoted to be m Mr Arthur'B lavor. , The Rev J, Gholmondeley, diooeßan Beore^ tary, writea to a Ohriatohuroh paper that tne oonseoration of the Biahop-eleot will probably i tako plaoe on St. Mark's Day, Friday, April 25th. The Ashburton Orioket Olub will be represented by tho following m the matoh against the Midland Olub on Monday on the Domain Ground :—Messrs G. W. Andrewß, Denebxre, L. P. Andrewes, Dixon, A. Fooka, Soott, G. Grubb Simpßon, Sawle, Strange, and Wilding; Emergencies—Mesßrs R?es, Flower, Bollett, Sawle, and Kidd. Play will oommenoe at 11 a.m. Mrs Maybriok's two little children have been adopted by a well-to-do London couple, and will be eduoated and oared for as though they were their own children. Aa the children will be oalled by their foster-parents' surname it is hoped that they will never be reoognised as the offspring of a murderess. At present they are ignorant of their mother's onme. Brierly, the lover of Mra Maybriofe, was a fellow passenger of a Bon of Oliver Wendell Holmeß, and he stated to that gentleman that he expended £8000 ia Mrs Maybnok b defenoe at her trial. A reoent letter from Odessa Bfcates that never within the memory of the oldeßtßritißh resident there had Buoh intolerable heat prevailed m this region of Southern Rußßia as at the date of writing. Deaths from Bunstroke ocourred almost daily, even among the native labourers. For ten days the thermometer never registered lees than 144 degrees at noon. One day it was 130 m the shade. On one day alone 21 oaseß ol bites from rabid dogs were received at the station, and during 50 days no fewer than 38 cases of hydrophobia ooourred within the city, and were treated by Pasteur's system ot inooulation. Our readers will soaroely need reminding that the long anticipated Garden Party, m) oonneotion with St. Stephen's Church, takeß plaoe on Monday. The preparations are m a very forward state, and, given fine weather, of whioh there is every prospeot, a great suooesß may be anticipated. As regards the flower show, we are desired to intimate, that exhibits will be received up to 2 p.m. Should the Woollen Faotory nob be dosed throughout Monday, a ooaoh will be m readiness at the Faotory gates at the ordinary dosing hour and about half an hour afterwards at Steel's Store for the free oonveyanoe ot those wishing to attend the garden party. If all peers possessed aa muoh sound oommon sense db Lord Leigh, we should hear less about the necessity of abolishing the Lords. The other day he deolared m answer to an appeal for a subscription towards founding a bishoprio m Birmingham, that "m his opinion no more bishoprics were wanted ond that he did not intend to give a brass farthing to the fuud, he would rather give the poor parsons a little instead." It will be remembered that a few years ago, when the agricultural distress waß at its worst Lord Leigh withdrew his subscription from tho Worcestershire hounds, and refu3ed to hunt, bo that he might be able to moke a larger remittance of ront to hia farmers. Later, when the distress oontinued, ho gave up his town house and lived entirely on his estate, bo that what money he must spond might go among his own people. Writing m anticipation of the hurdle raoe whioh was to oome off at the Exhibition Athletio Sports Meeting to-day a correßponjJ dent of the "Press" thus alludes to an AFhburton competitor: —ln G. B. Shaw it is not too muoh to say that New Zealand possesses one of the finest performers over the stioka the amateur world can to-day produce. His performances m the old oountry, m Franoe, and more latoly m Canterbury prove this. His great rival is Batger, of Wellington, who has quite lately oome to the fore, and is credited with haying pat up a world's reoord m his training just prior to leaving the Empire City for Dunedin. Truly, >t is anticipated that, if the track is at all good going, the struggle between ihese two will be worth a barefooted pilgrimage to see. Of course there are other aspirants for honors m thiß event, inoluding Sohwartzkoff, of Sydney, but only just having oome over it is not expeoted that he will be very fit. Tho •'Evening PoBt" writes:—" Noah's Ark," an old landmark of Lamb'on-quay, but now covered m by buildinge, has just been found to be a oiuse of trouble m rather a peouliar way. For some time past visitors to Mes3rs Menteath and Staveley's office will have noticed a musty and offensive smell m the back portion of their premises, _ The oaiue of the nuisance wrb for some timo a mystery, but m the renovation of the building "now going on it has been found to arise from aa accumulation of stagnant water m the nrward portion of the old hulk, whioh Hob at the baok of the building, immediately underneath the surface. Any old identity of Wellington can toil the story how, more than a generation ago, the Amorioan vessel Inconstant struck on BarroU'd reef, and was oondemned ; how she was bought by Mr John Plimmer, beaohed on what is now the seaward Bide of Lambton-quay, the space between her position and Barrett's Hotel, reolaimed, and the hu'k utilised —the upper portion as | an auotion room, and the lower deok as a bonded store. When the fine new building of the National Mutual Association was ereoted, tho afterpart was out away to make room for tho foundation?, but the bow still remains to give unpleasant ovideuoo ol its presence.