LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XIV, Issue 2906, 23 February 1893, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Very Rev Father O'Donnell will 1 celebrate mass at Rakaia on Sunday next afc ten o'clock a.m. ( A meeting of the Ariei Bicycle Club Committe 3 was held last evening, at which a pro, gramme for the faceting on March 15 was adopted. Prize money to the vnonnt of £40 ■ .will be given.,- As half of >U" net ormrnds of this meeting will go to the Queensland Relief Fund, and as it is desirable to mafee that fund «s bulky as possible, the Committee have decided to issue iheir gate tickets at once, aud they will be on sale to-day by Club member* and others. In the Supreme Court, Christcburch, on Wednesday, his Honour Mp Justice Denniston, on the application of B£r btjnojpr, granted a writ ol eertioran to bring up and squash a resolution of the Sydenham Licensing Committee respecting the license of the Club Motel. Mr C»ygill appeared on the other sidf, but offeref apposition, it beinst understood that the decisjLou of £he Appeal Courfc in the other casea goyerns this. The OnmxW Biscuit. The latest and most delicate biscuit o^uf^iured by

The Lyttelwii.B rough Council yesterday telegraphed to the' Central Board of Health, who advised that the Council, as a local Board of Health, hid fall power to deal with the ship Hinemoa. They therefore consulted Tic Guthritt, health officer, who, with Dr Painnan, visited the sailors, ami declared the disease typhoid. 'J he Borough Council has ordered the ship' into midstream for tweuty-one days, and telegraphed to the Colonial-Secretary to support them in carrying out this order. Action will be takun to compel this to be done to-day. The cricket match between Ashburton and Kakaia was played yesterday in thfc Domain, and^esulted in a decided victory for the home tiam. The vUkors in their first innings put together <i total of 37, of which Almgton contributed 10, Chepm >,n 8, and Upton 9. I» their second innings they scored 65—Peacock making 11, Lyttleton 23, Cuthbertson 9. Ashburtou in their single innings scored 108—the heavier scorers being 0. Chapman 39, Still well 21, L. F. Andrewes 12, A. Dixon 11, and Sawle 8. The Ashburton Club were thua victors by one innings and six runs. The work of making the connection between the north and south branches of 1 the Ashburton river has been rendered somewhat longer on this occasion by alteration in the line. The channel previously i was . taken through the Alford Estate j property, but that portion of the estate . having changed hands, the interest of the new proprietors had to be consulted, and a route adopted suitable to them. The connection ie expected to be established this I week, co that the channels in town which j have been dry for some days will soon be flowing again. „ The following will be the programme for the" promenade concert in the Arcade this evening, at eight o'clock, in aid of the Queensland Relief Fund:—Overture, Brass Band ; song, Mr Brooking ; Bong, Miss Barratt; song (comic), Mr J. Kirk; glee, St. Stephen's Choir; selection, Orchestral Society ; song and chorus, Mr Peter Williams; song (comic), Mr D. Miller. Interval ten minutes. March, Brass Band ; song, Mr L. Broad ; song, Mr P. Williams; piano duet, Mrs Claridge and Miss Ada Gates ; song, Miss Hardy; selection, Orchestral Society; glee, S& Stephen's Choir; song, Mr J. Kereel; grand finale, Brass Band ; God Save the Queen. The New Zealand Farmers' Co-operative Fire and Marine Insurance Company held its second annual meeting yesterday, and showed an excellent balance sheet —marine losses, £132; fire losses, nil. After providing for reinsurances on all current risks and all contingencies, the directors transferred £1000 to the reserve, and paid 7 per cent dividend, and 3 per cent bonus. At a special meeting it was resolved to provide for no bonuses exceeding 3 per cent in future, the Association preferring to reduce premiums rather than raise the bonus and dividends. The final fifty-yards race of the Ash burton Amateur Swimming Club was swum at the baths last evening. There were seventeen competitors, sixteen of whom came to the board. Ihe race was swum in heats, and in the first heat were the following:—T. Hrubb, scr; H. E. Curtis, 2sec; E. E. Clowes, 3sec; G. Culverhouse, 3secs; E. Purchase, 6sec ; R Mitchell, 6*ec; J, Alcorn, lOsec, E. Purchase won the heat rather easily, with bt. Mitchell second. The second he*t brought out—R. Upton, scr; T.Pauling, l£3ec ; W. Burne, 3sec; F. Henry, 4sec ; H. F. Curtis, 6seu; W. A. Saunters, 6sec; D. Watson, 6sec; H. Hoult, 7£sec; T. Begg, 9aec. A vary close finish in this heat left R. Upton and D. Matson first and second. In the final heat there was a fine contest, all travelling splendidly, and the race was Won on the touch by Purchase from Upton, with Mitchell a good third. The Wellington " Press " has the following, which must be taken with a very large pinch of salt:—"We learn, on the most reliable authority, that Sir R bait Stout has definitely made up his mind to offer his services to the electors at the next general election. The constituency has not, as far [as we know, been yet fixed upon, but he >«ill probably enter onelints for Dunedin, 'where itis anticipated that he might reckon v,'ith moral certainty on winning, Now, it is clearly undeistood amongst the followers of the Ministry that the present Premier will have to give up the command at an early date, owing to the dangerously weak state of his health, and, should that come to pass, the vacant position would, of course, be offered to Sir Robert Stout, if that gentleman had a seat in the House. Again Sir Robert comes in when there is a chance of his securing the advantages gained by other men's eflxrta. Sir Robert* always stands out until there is some particularly good thing going. He is too big a man to take any position under that of Premier. It is time that the "Liberal" Party had got sick of this notorious political cuckoo." The "New Zealaud Times" points out that the American annexation of Hawaii will when it occurs—apparently a coming possibility—have a consequence which will have to be faced, By the American law the ocean-carrying trade between American ports is exprensely limited to American bottoms. When Hawaii becomes an American port nothing can be carried between San Francisco and Honolulu by a foreign bottom. But the ships of the Union Company—the Monawai, to wit, among them— are under American law foreign bottoms. Consequently they will be debarred from carrying anything between San Francisco and Honolulu. They will therefore be disqualified from taking part in the CaUforniau mail service. As the American law was devised tor the encouragement of American ship-building, it is not likely that the difficulty can be got over by the Union Company by any device of registering or chartering a particular ship to other people 1 Now neither Australia nor New Zealand can be expected to exert themselves to favor American ship-building. The American an- j nexation of Hawaii therefore will give the projected Vancouver service the support of Australia and New Zealand.