LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XIV, Issue 2908, 25 February 1893, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Divine Service will be conducted in the Seafield Schoolroom on Sunday next, at three o'clock by the Rev T. A. Hamilton, The secretary of the Christchureh Meat Company contradicts the statement that the Christen urch Meat Company has sold the Islington freezing works to Nelson Brothers. Christ's College annual swimming sports were held at Suinner baths yesterday. The weather was cold, and rain fell during the greater part of the day. The principal '< event—2oo yards championship—was won by H. Jacobs, E. A. Roper second, B. H. Neill third. It was a good race, and was won by three yards, with a foot between second and third. The meeting of the Queensland Relief Fund Committee called for Thursday evening was adjourned to Monday evening, at seven o'clock, at the Borough Council Chambers. It is hoped there will be a full attendance, as it will then be decided how Ito dispose of the money in hand'l-whether it should be remitted in cash or in goods. The southern portion of the San Francisco mail was to leave Onehunga in the ivlahia*pua at four o'clock yes'erday afterno n, and is expected to reach Wellington late tonight. The South Island portion will probably be sent to Lyttelton by the steamer Omapere, leaving after transhipping the mails from the Mahinapua. Messrs Friedlander Bros, announce their readiness to ship wheat or oats for sale on farmers" account, consigned to their London house, and clients who have placed business of thia sort in the hands of the firm before have had no reason to complain of their interests being neglected. The favorable freight arrangements of the firm enable the friedlander Bros, to i ffer low rates to customers. Captain Jackson Barry, after being three months in the Auckland Hospital, is once more about, and his friends will be glad to hear that he ia. apparently as vigorous as ever. He has visiteJ the King Country, and having added coal to the list of his mineral discoveries there, is now in Wellington to try and obtain a lease of a mining area from the Native Minister. "Home News" of January 6, contains the following:—" Adolfo ' Villareal, a wealthy ranchman at -Santa Rosa, Mexico, who was recently convicted of hiring a peon to assassinate an Englishman named M'Kellar, living near him, has been condemned (o tea years' imprisonment, with the confiscation of his estate." Mr M'Kellar was formerly a well-known New Zealand settler. In our report of Thursday night's promenade concert something short ol' justice was done to some of the promoters. To Mr Rule and Mr Elston belongs the credit of working up the preliminaries, and Mr Rule's services as treasurer aud Mr Elston's in fitting up .up the Arcade cannot bo too highly appreci ai-ed. A word of recognition is also due to Mr R Wood, who came from Tiuuru specially co play in the orchestral pieces, A young man who lately went from Reefton to Victoria,, and who has just obtained employment in Ballarat, writes (says the " Reefton Guardian ') that things in that town are now looking up well, and he says there is not much difficulty in obtaining employment there. The vast army of unemployed in Melbourne must, however, supply all wants of the country labour market in Victoria for some time to come. Mr James Rowe, owner of the Windsor Park stud farm, near Cimstchurch, has exported durjng the past week a large number af pure-bred Berkshire and Yorkshire pigs to the order of breeders in Ballara-b, Gcelong, Bendigo, Melbourne, and other parts of Victoria, besides several sent to Hawke's Bay and New Plymouth, and he has sent others to Otago by rail. It is worthy of note that in all the above cases the pigs have been ordered by persons who have been former purchasers from Mr Rowe, thereby proving that the animals previously sent have given satisfaction. A meeting of the Elgin School Committee was held on Wednesday. All the members were present, only business before the meeting was the selection of candidates to till the iracancieson the Ifoard of Education. Messrs Hoatten and Cjlements voted for Messrs Peryman, Adams, and Mrs Wilson, the other five members voting fqr Messrs Peryman, Adams, and Meredith. The school was re-opened on Monday, the 20th, with an attendance of thirty-five, which hud increased to forty-five on Wednesday. Nellie and Robert Forsyth gained Mr Kennedy's pr zes for the best attendance before the examination. Mr T. W. Kirk, of the Agricultural Department, in the leaflet on the Bathurst burr (Xanthium sjrinos>im) describes ifc as "A shrubby annual from 9in to 3ft high j the stem and under side of the leaves are whitish j each joint olf the s^em is etudded with sharp spines arranged in' groups of three. The leaves are lance-shaped, three' cut, the central lobe being very much longer than the others. The flowers are in clusters ia the axils of the leaves. The seed is encased in a very hard oval burr, which is thickly studded with hooked prickles. Believed to be a native of Chili, but cow found in most warm climates. A|t certain stages of growth the plant is $api to be poisonous to stock, but this is of tyttle consequence as it is very rarely eaten by them. (Great loss and annoyance are ? however, caused to the farmep by the bqrrs becoming entangled ia the wool of his sheep.. " Jc is stated on good authority that jn some parts of Australia, where the burrs are thick, the wool is depreciated 3d or more per lb. The destructive nature of this weed is at present little recognised in New Zealand, but the pest js unfortunately spreading, and it is therefore of the greatest importance that every plant observed should be destroyed. Where the burr has established it is best attacked while H flTsver as, if interfered with when in seed, moie htfrm tW good will result. The necessity for keepiiTg a sharp lo^k out for such plants as the burr, and wheij ntfticed their immediate eradication cannot be too strongly impressed «?°a settlers."