LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2305, 18 December 1889, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

There are now said to be 57,000 Ohinose m Australia. New South Wales possesses 16,800. There are still over 10,000,000 square miles of unoccupied diatriots m varioua heathen lands where missionaries thus far have nov.r entered. A merino wether, oarrying three years' wool, waß Bhorn at Gerogery the other day and yielded a fleeoo weighing 321 b and 22 inoheß m length , ~, Lawyer—- I ' Your Honour, I ask for my olient a change of venue, it is impossible to get a fair trial m thiß Court." The Court— " And why Mr Capias ? " Lawyer—" Beoaußo your Honour is a teetotaller. My client 18 aooueed of stealing a dinner pail that he only borrowed to get beer m." At Ohrißtohuroh on Tuesday Charles L. Fleming, arrested en the previous evening by Deteotive O'Connor on a oharge of forging the name of P. Hanrahan to a cheque on the Union Bank, Ashburton, for £3 12b 6d on December 5 was remanded to Aehbnrton. kn example of the depreciation of agricultural land m England, was offorded recently, I when a farm m Lincolnshire was ojlored for 1 sale. Tbo higheßt bid was £2100, although the property cost £6700 eighteen years ago, and a considerable cum has since been exponded m improvements. The Linooln ram hogget (says the " Auokland Herald ") which took the first prize at the late A. and F. Show has just been shorn, and the weight of the fleece turned the soalo at 26 jlty The ram is a triple over .twelve months old, and the splendid yield of wool confirms the opinion of the judges that ho waß the finest, spaep of hie plftsa on the

It has been deoided to formally celebrate j the taking over of the Domain by ton Borough ' Oounoil on the oooasion of the Ouledoniin Society's sports on Boxing Day. There will probably be a procession, and varjoaa arrangements are contemplated for the appropriate oomniemoration of the oooasion, The •• Wairarapa Standard » of Wednesday says :— While Mra Henry King, of Papawai, dear Greytown, was hoeing potatoes lately she placed her two months' old baby m a sheltered spot. Hoaring the ohild eoream she ran to it, and found a ferret tearing the flesh at the ohild's iorehead and sucking the blood. The ohild was trying to fight the animal off. The mother appearing, tbo ferret made off and could not afterwards ba found. The Eiffel Tower at the Exhibition was opened last evening, when a number of Commissioners and visitors were oonveyed to the top. Mr John Roberts, the President, afterwards proposed " Suooeaa to the Austral Otis Elevator Company," M. Chatolaino responding. The lift worked very smoothly, and everything passed off without a hitch. The height from the ground to the platform is 100 feet. • The workmen who go m advance of the Czar whithersoever he travels form a squad of six meohanios. Two are locksmiths, two carpenters, and two maßons. All are married men, bora m the Czar's eervioe, and absolutely devoted to their Soveroign. Their business is to examine the walls, flooring, ohimneye, looks, and furniturs of the apartments wbioh the Czar is to oooupy. The chimneys, m particular, engage their attention, for every flue leading to a room m whioh the Czar is to sleep or eat has to be grated and barred at top and bottom. The following example of Government red tapeiam and left handed economy related by an exohange would be hard to beat:— A : business gentleman m Geraldine had oooasion 1 to send to one of the Government offioea m Wellington for a document, tne fees on ■ whioh amounted to two shillings, and , enoloaed two shillings worth of twopenny stamps m payment. Judge of his surprise ' when, by the return mail, he received an . offioial letter enolosed m a big ofHoial envelope returning the twopenny stamps, and requesting that a two shilling stamp might be sent instead. The Government stationery and olerk's time were thus wasted, and the whole maohinery of the Post Office used for the purpose of making this distinction without a ■ difference. , Mr Wilson, Mining Inspector for the l Thames District, who was commissioned by the Government to report upon the Puhipuhi silver discovery, returned to Auckland on ■ Tuosday from Whangarei. While at Puhipuhi i Mr Wilson went over the prospectors' olaim . and inspected a great number of reefs. He seleoted six hundredweight of stone whioh he brought to Auobland, and has since sent to ' the Thames for treatment at the Sohool of • Mines. Considerable importance will attach I to this test, as being from stone eeleoted by , an independent expert. A prospeotor has 1 discovered a pieoe of rioh goldbearing atone ' at the Puhipuhi field, a mile from the proi speotora' olaim, and taken from a reef m the . river, ) After all the opposition they have met with, , and m the face of the adverse vote given at a meeting of the Licensing Committee the : other day, the Oaledonian'Sooiety have suoI oeeded m obtaining a permit for the aale of > liquor at their sports to be held m the Domain •; on Boxing Day. As is known, two of the r members of the Licensing Committee are m favor of permission being given the Sooiety, 3 and, as under the Aot, two members may sign I a conditional license, tho thing as far as the j- Sooiety was oonoerned was easily arranged. Tho matter has been tbe subjeot of muoh dis- ' ouasion m town to-day, and the temperance > seotion of the community are indignant. ' The Ashburton wheelmen seem to be working hard to make the ooming meeting 3 on New Year's" Day a suooess, judging from 3 the numbers to be seen having their " spins" r m the Domain morning and evening. Bioyolißtfl say that tbe track ia far from being good, but it is hoped that it will be J attended to immediately bo that our looal men , will have no obstacles ia the way of being j " fit and well," and we trußt that some of tbe very hands jme " trophies " to be given away as prizes will be retained m Aehburton. We | 5 are informed that some of our oraok riders 5 intend oompeting at the intercolonial meeting ) m Christohuroh and we wish them the best . suooesß. j

Steinwedol'a early prolifio wheat, grown at Dookie, has a groat reputation m Victoria. This year Messrs Mason Brothers, of Shepparton Park Farm, bought 100 baga for seed, aud paid tbe extraordinary price of 10a per bu&hel for it. A reoent isaue of tbe " Sbepparton Newa " Bays: —" It io now m oar of I some two or throe weekß, and will be harvested early next month. Such an even orop m a line with tbe fences and extending over euoh an area is seldom to be met with. This wheat is fully a month earlier than any other variety, abundantly prolific, with a good, strong olean straw, and fine uniform head, qualifications as rare as they are desirable, and their importance to our farmers m suoh a dry district as ours oannot be over oatimated." The land is not naturally of first olass quality, bat good farming has produced tho above excellent result. ! With referonoo to the oablegram announcing tbe appointment of Mr Pavid Hean as tbe delegate Bent by the London directors to ! examine into the colonial affairs of the < Bank of Now Zealand, it may be stated that [ Mr Hean is a very old banker, and spent I many years m the East, where he acquired I great and wide experience, and uohieved eon* I siderable success m more than one Bank. Upon tho formation of the National Bank of New Zealand, be was seleoted as one of its managers, and afterwards beoame inspeotor. j He oonduoted a successful business for many years m Auokland, but about twelve months Binoe had a break down m health, and left for London, where he resigned his position m tbe National Bank. He has probably been aeUcted by the London directors for bis present position not only from his large and varied experience m banking, but also on aooount of bis knowledge of tho Colony and its affairs. Tbe appointment bdowb that Mr Hean's health mast hayo been largely restored. Wilkie Oollin'g funeral was very largely attended, though the arrangements were of the simplest character, the deceased having expressly stipulated that tbe expenses shpuld not exoeed £20. When ho fell ill •«Blind Love" was three parts finished; but, m accordance with his oustom, the novelist had drawn up suoh an elaborate scenario or outline of the plot that Walter Besant, to whom tho job was entrusted, found no difficulty whatever m finishing it Wilkie Oollins had been used to draw out these scenarios ever since he fell ill m the midst of writing " No Nome," and before he had resolved on the dcHsucmenc, The catastrophe worried him terribly, as his popularity was then at its | zenith. Fortunately, he reoovered just as Diokena was on the point of taking the tale m hand. Edmund Yatea says his old friend leaves hardly any literary remains, but Hall Oaino and others seem to think sufficient can be found to fill a oouple of volumes. Wilkie Oollins's death has Riven a spurt to the sale of «• The Woman m Yv'hito " and " The Moooßfcone," and I'm ;:;:.. d i notice Labby and other shrewd judges saying a good ward for " Armadale." All the Collins family were clever. Both Oharlea and Mortimore wrote fairish novels, and the latter bad also some reputation for sooiety verses. " Sweet Ann Page," by Mortimer Collins, will well repay perusal. It is not, I m the faintest degree, like any of Wilkie'a books, and rather loose m principle. Mortimer Collins was a thorough Bohemian,— London letter.