The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1893. CURRENT TOPICS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XIV, Issue 2890, 4 February 1893, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1893. CURRENT TOPICS.

By a curious coincidence the AgentGeneral has anticipated the statements made with reference to the newspapers filed— or, rather^ not filed—in his office in London By the San Frapcisco mail we received a " List of Publications, etc., on the Colony (New Zealand) to be obtained or seen in the Information Bureau, Library and Reading room, at the office of the AgentGeneral for New Zealand," which includes the following list of the " Principal New Zealand Newspapers filed for reference in the Information Bureau " :—New Zealand Times, New Zealand Herald, Auckland Star, Lyttelton Times, The Press, Otago Daily Times—dailies ; Auckland Weekly News, The Budget and Taranaki Herald, Hawke's Pay Weekly Courier, The Weekly Argus (Greymouth), The Weekly Press, The Canterbury Times. The Otago Witness, The New Zealand Graphic—weeklies ; The New Zealand Farmer, New Zealand Trade Review, New Zealand Journal of Insurance, Mining and Finance, and Sharland's Trade Journal (t':e Official Journal of the New Zealand Pharmacy Board) — monthlies. Perhaps the originator of the misstatement —who has since had the hardihood to maintain its accuracy, in face of the Dunedin contradiction— will now retract. The " List," we may say, was printed in November, 1892.

One of the greatest, if not the greatest, of the difficulties with which teetotallers have to contend is the want of a beverage to take the place of beer. A Londoner declares that he has discovered a," true temperance beverage." At any rate it was patented under the name of Kop's Ale. The patent rights were bought for a mere bong by an enterprising gentleman named Lovvenfeld, who proceeded in the usual way to float a company who should buy his patent from him. A company with £250,000 share capital wis formed, but seeing that the bulk of the paid up capital was to go to Mr Lowenfeld, and that beyond the patent rights only some premises and plant of inconsiderable value were thrown in, it is scarcely surprising that some curiosity was evinced as to the composition of this wonderful beverago. Au enqmVr went to the Patent Office and found this specification: —" Temperance Beverage :—loz hops, loz horehound, |oz dandelion root, |oz ginger, fib sugar. Boil two hours, when cold add |oz yeast, and let it work a few hours in shallow pans. Filter, aerate, bottle. It is obvious j;hat any suitable syrup or flavouring may be in quan> jty according to taste," The beverage is in fact our old and esteemed friend herbal beer, as it waa before the @ustoms edict banished the wholesome and non-intoxicating hops from its composition. Messrs Houli, Milichamp, Davis and Ranger would no doubt part with their rights for something less than a quarter of a million sterling.