The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1893. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XIV, Issue 2893, 8 February 1893, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1893. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

_ :— ■ Mr J. Himpton,furniture dealec, Tanored street, advertises in another column a large stock of furniture and a varied assortment of crockery, etc. Young couplea commencing housekeeping should iind his shop a good place to select from. On -Tuesday afternoon, while Mr John Hefford and Mr William, >mith, were driving in the latter'a trap to pay a vißit to Mr William Orooks, who has been ill for some time, the back harness of the horse came adrift, and caused the horse to plunge a good deal, and it finally fell. In getting down from the express Mr Hefford fell sideways on the bock board, and sustained the fracture of two ribs. He was at once taken home and placed under surgical care, but will be confined to the house for some time. No damage vas sustained by horse or express and Mr Smith came off also unscathed. According to the " Register," published by Messrs Harcourt and Co., of Wellington, J fifty-one Companies with a nominal capital of £738,162 were registered during the year 1892, made up as follows;— Nine goldrr.iniug companies with capital to the extent of £143,509, six dairy factories account for £20,950, three newspapers and a publishing company registered with £19,312, and thirty-two miscellaneous companies are credited with £554,400, made up of nine distributing or trading companies with £117,800, six manufacturing companies with £26,750, three farmers' cooperative societies with £275,000^Rtw0 lighting companies with £32,400, two shipDing companies with £12,450, one coal company with £15,000, two public hall companies with £2500, and six other companies with £42,500. At the close of the open air meeting in Barring square on Tuesday evening two young men entered into an argument oa the question of the amount of the licensing fee payable by hotel and accommodation bouse keepers. Neither apparently was an authority on the subject, although both were enthusiastic teetotallers enough; but as their heat waxed they gallopped to what seems to be the natural convincing ground of the colonial youth—a feet. The question did not appear to be satisfactorily settled, and the " fiv# bob," notwithstanding all the noise, was neither lost nor won; but the argument was kept up long after, the tnajn part of the crowd had left, and othorg besides the original disputants joined in, when the "heat" waxed so high that once or twice there was danger of a resort tp fcho arbitrament of the "bunch of fives" as a solution of the problem, Wiser counsels prevailed, however, and as the hour for stern respectability to retire to rest drew near, the parties separated—certainly not in love, but with whole skins and unbloody noses.

! A gener 1 meeting of the Ashburton Mus«J*l Society waß held on Tuesday evening in tti9 Sahool of Music. There was a very satisfactory attendance, and a^ equally satisfactory balance sheet was submitted. After the business meeting a soiree musicale was held, at which about 150 iwwbers and friends attended. The fuU siiiite' of rooms in connection with the School of M^sic >nd th^ Dresden Piano Company's premises wwe made use ft, and very tustefufly far»whe.4 anf decorate.4 for the oeoadoo. furniture »l 4 drapery were kindly lent by Miss Henry til th§ [joiflr mercial Hotel, and Mesdames Williams, Gates, aud Kempthorne, and Mr H. Bairstow, and headed by Mrs Williams, the decorations were done by a bevy of ladies. Tea. etc., were supplied in the course of the evpnjag, which tended greatly to the heartiness' gt the gathering, and we have been requested to HQ.be ,the indebtedness in this connection of the committee o£ ladies who had charge .of the arrangements to &iis» Henry, from whose estiblishment bob water iv abundance was always available, and was 9,11 indispensable element of the success of fche suppei> arr&jigementa. An excellent programme was gojse thFPUgh, the ijbems of which were § mtributsd by—Mij^3 Douglas, wlio made her first appearance as a Pian<ji player, and delighted her hearers with the two pieces she performed; Mesdames TJrooke, Williams, Flower, and Dee, Miss Hardy, and Messrs Booth, Kersal, flower, afid Williams, all of whom sang with the taatp for which they have well earned reputations, At the close of a most enjoyable and successful little gathering the usual votegi of thanks were passed, a special vote being recorded to the conductor, Mr D. Booth. Mr George Jameson vice president ot the .society, way chairman.

The healing of the action Primn er v | Stewart began in the Supreme Court Tiotwru this morning arid was expected to laat all day. In the K.M. (Jjiirt this morniug, before Major Steward, J.'.\, Ihnmub Co liiis was charged with drnnV.rnnesa and also willusing language calcula'cd to provoke v breuoh of the peace. On the first charge (firstoftene. j) he was convti-.te^and dismissed, and on the second & fine of Us was imposed. At the Supreme Court, Timaiu, on Tue; - day, the two wharf laborer-, Gruhn aiiu Mabin, who were charged with etc-iling tarpaulins and iron rope from the steamer E ginshire, were tiied. The evidence was contradictory, and as the defence was that. the goods hi>d been taken by the accused with the sanction of the man in charge of the salvage operations, as remuneration' for having looked after the Salvage Company's machinery, and the weight of evidence was as much on the one side as on the other, his Honor charged the. jury accordingly, who found the prisoners not guilty, and they were discharged. On Tuesday evening a temperance meeting was held round the rotund* in Bating square east, and was attended by over 200 people. The Rev S. Lawry was chairman, and the special speakers were the Rev J T. Hinton, of Dunedin, and Mr T. E. Taylor, of Sydenham, both well known and thoroughgoing advocates of & long rope and a short shrift for the Hquor traffic. Mr T. E. Taylor is the Rev L. M. Isitt's right hand man in the "Prohibitionist" newspaper, and the meeting of yesterday evening was the begin-, ning of a crusade the prohibition party purposes carrying on, the object being to stir up a strong public feeling m favor of the direct veto. The speches delivered by all the speakers ,were in this direction, and were well received. At the close cheers were given for the cause, and its great champion—Mr L. M. Isitt. Mr P. R. Gordon, chief of the Queensland Stock Department, in a description of his recent visit to New Zealand says :—"On the question of the crazing capabilities of the cultivated grass lands of New Zealand it would hardly be possible to speak without being open to a charge of exaggeration. It is estimated that, over fell, the land will carry four sheep to the acre all the year round—that is, with the assistance of turnips or chaff in the winter. At Hastings valley, near Napier, we actually saw nine and ten sheep to the acre, and in the Gisb rue district (one of the richest districts in New Zealand)—which we did not visit—we were assured by owners of land that nine sheep to the acre is not uncommon, but frequently dv ing some of the summer months they are packed on the pasture at the rate of fourteen sheep to the acre."

At Tinwald yards on Tuesday, Mr John T. Ford (Messrs J. T. Ford and Co., auctioneers, stock and station agents, Christchurch) announced the arrangements he had entered into for the conduct of the Ashburton business of his firm. He said he had come to Ashburton to carry on business ia no spirit of rivalry, and hoped the harmonious relations between the other auctioneers and himself would continue. He had many old friends in the district who would give him their support, and he hoped to be favoured with a share of what was doing. Before he had entered into arrangements with Mr Henry Zander he had made enquiries and found out what sort of man Mr Zander was. He had satisfied himself that he Was a man who could be depenoßd upon to carry out what he undertook, and possessed the confidence of »!ie people of the district, and Mr Zander would henceforward represent the firm of J. T. Ford and Co. in the Ashburton district. On application to Mr Zmder paddocks would be looked after, stock : would be received and properly drafted, and prompt payments would be made. He (Mr Ford) would attend the Tinwald and Ashburton yards regulirly in future, and any business entrusted to him would have every attention.

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