The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1891. LOCAL AND GENERAL

Ashburton Guardian, Volume X, Issue 2304, 12 February 1891, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1891. LOCAL AND GENERAL

It has been decided to hold a Band Con test m Dunedin, next November. A freak of Nature m the shape of a pied sparrow may be seen almost any day flying about m the neighbourhood of the Oranize Hall. " ■ Captain Edwin forecasts the approach of a period of heavy easterly gales and heavy ainlall, especially m the northerly districts. Under the new San Francisco service mails from London will get to Wellington under 34 days, to Christchurch m 35 days, to Dunedin within 36 days. The direct service i will thus be completely thrown m the background. The "Southland Times" says that the young man Quill, who is reported missing from the Milford-Wakatipu surveying party, was of an adventurous turn. It was he who scaled the rocky face down which the Sutherland Fall pours, and described the source of that wonderful waterfall. We are m receipt of one of the first numbers of the Geraldine "Times," a paper which has just made its drbut m the township of that name, under the proprietorship of Mr Thomas Elliot Wilson, late of the ".Nenthorn Recorder," and previously of the "Waimate Times." It is well edited and printed, and m erery respect a creditable production. A conference between boot manufacturers and their employees will be held at Wellington next week, to establish a uniform scale of payment for work throughout the colony. The manufacturers m Auckland, Dunedin, Christchurch and Wellington each appoint three delegates, and the Bootmakers' Operative Union m each of those centres a similar number. During the three months of the present season the Levels Road Board have paid £179 3s 3d for small birds eggs and heads, the number paid for being 229,188. The sparrow is an expensive fact m that district, and the worst of it is their reduction oy nearly a quarter of a million is declared to make very little difference to the total of the tribe. Mr Chinnery, the well-known flax dresser, of Rangiora and Coldstream, has we learn, arranged to work a flax mill at Otaraia, where there is a magnificent supply of the raw material, of the finest quality. Mr Chinnery has taken up with him from Can : terbury a lot of new and improved machinery as well as a number of experienced bauds. His process produces a very high-class fibre.

Mr Knotfc, delivered another telling address last night. There was a full house, the bright regalia of the Templars being very conspicuous. In the course of his address Mr Kuott said, that if all the women would take up the question of prohibition licensed houses would soon be a thing of the past. Mr Knott again requested the young people to. attend Friday's meeting. To-night Mr Knott's subject will be "A Peep Behind the Scenes." ; It will be remembered that a publican near IXiylesford, Victoria, murderously assaulted a man whom he found m his bedroom with his (the publican's) wife. The man unexpectedly recovered from the terrible injuries to his head, inflicted with a tomahawk, and has disappeared from the district, leaving his stock of jewellery, valued at £1000, without watch or ward. His creditors have therefore taken possession and will sell .so much of the goods as will pay their claims, after which there will be a good surplus. The furniture of the ex-Emperor of Brazil has been sold at auction. The imperial throne went for about £74, a Checkering square piano for £200, a writing desk belonging to the ex-Empress for £300, o.ptvi Dk'tt' for about £13, and the suite of furniture of the ex-Emperor's private room for about £450. And meanwhile the deposed Sovereign is quietly going round to scientific lectures m Paris, probably a, good deal happier than when he was on that £74 Imperial throne. The seed of a globe turnip is exceedingly minute, not lareer, perhaps, than the twentieth part of an inch m diameter, andyet, m m the course of a few months, this seed will be elaborated by the soil and the atmosphere into twenty-seven millions of times the bulk of the seed, and this m addition to a considerable bunch of leaves. Dr Desaguliers lias made some experiments proving that, m an average condition, a turnip seed may increase its own weight 15 times m a minute. By an actual experiment, made on peat ground, turnips have been found to increase by growth 15,990 times the weight of their seeds each day they stood upon it. Owing to the absence of several of the players, the cricket match, Cameron Street Wesleyan v. Ashburton Cricket Club, did not take place on Wednesday, but instead a scratch game was played, sides being chosen by Messrs Dixon and Buchanan, resulting hi a win for the former by six runs, the scores being as follows:—Dixon'a team 45, Buchanan's 39. For the winners L. F. Andrewes with 25, and Simpson next with 6,, where the highest scorers; and for the losers Buchanan with 15, 6. W. Andrews 10, and Makeig 7. The final match between the Wesleyans and the Club is fixed for Wednesday next. Th.c match with the Timaru Club is postponed on account of the vjsit of a West Coast team to Canterbury. The Dunedin correspondent of the "Australasian " had some good things to say about our general elections. On the cost of running constituencies, he tells his readers that a friend of his who ran a City constituency unsuccessfully told him that he had over £2000 to pay for the pleasure of making a dozen speeches to hooting and howling mobs. " About £500 is the average cost of standing for a town electorate to a moderately truthful man. The anjount of truth you are prepared to tell is an item m the consideration of costs. On the lo,bqr ticket, I imderstand that the thing can be done under three figures; and if you garnish your speeches with the enthusiasm of humanity, it will save a good deal of money m drinks." The writer says that a country constituency can be contested for from £100 to £150. The new dog kennels of the Auckland City Council are now completed, and will accomodate about 10Q dogs. The floors are of cqncrete and m three divisions—one for clogs, another for sluts, and k third known as*" the executioner's department," where dogs not 8,0-14 by auction are placed m an iron cage, and dfo^ned m a tofjkj tho wafer being subsequently run off into the sewer, j'as'nVaiiy as t\renty dogs can be draw ned at a time. Every provision is made for keeping dogs captured by the dog-catcher humanely and comfortably till disposed of by law, and thus the complaints of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals have been removed. A separate cage has been erected for dogs afflicted with mange or other disease, so that such diseases may not spread among the valuable dogs which may happen to be captured. About seven hundred dogs were «6gistercid last year, and over 200 drowned, so'that poughjy Breaking fliere are about 10$ (Jog's iii the cfty,~'!ltoald » ' ! ' Writing of the harvest m Victoria the Melbourne "Weekly Times" says:—"The quality of the wheat this harvest js surprising nobody more thau the 'whealgroAvers them--B)©Jve&, Perhaps never have such really sptwidid samples pf wljaat Ijetin produced m the e,oloi,iy. -The season* being coot'and moist, the gfai" has had time fcp mature properly, and it has just nil*' 1 9ut as J> J 4 um,P a"d as fwsavy ■ p; gtuishpt. It is all', Jii'TaCt 1, t]™:*: mifespas 4.^l rff; ')e>n v uniform m quality, colour, 'a?|d mpgoi^un\]y thin \n the skm " «w husk. Aoothe'i?'notable Je.at«fift'pf the wheat 'nar7 a8*this J earlis **« pn>Ufie yield and excellent samples of gram that are i?fii>J2 obtained m the malice "OUlitryv During ti\a past three years from 60,000 to $0,000 acres of inaH^e land have been cleared and brought under cultivation with wheat, and the results have every where proved highly (Se^lbfafactory. From 16 to 30 bushels ' per ,a,cce iU'« the rule, while the quality of the grain, evep i\i dry seasons, is much superior tp that grows on the plains, "

Mrs Stitt and Mr and Mrs Williams, of' Ashburton, took part m a concert at Hanmev Plains on Monday evening, with great success. A Sydney telegram says that a letter has been received from O'Connor stating that he is willing to row McLean for lOOOdol, or 5000dol if for the championship, either race to be rowed m America,. Mr A. W. Gurr, auctioneer at Apia, fornierly a school teacher at Temuka, was married to a Satrioan girl on December 31. The bride was dressed m "magnificentmats" and tlie bridesmaids were similarly attired. The wedding breakfast was a dinner a la Samoa. At the Charitable Aid Board yesterday a futher step was taken m connection with the Twigger bequest (m which the Ashburton Old Men's Home is chiefly interested), a resolution being passed re-affirming the desireablene33 of the estate being immediately realised, Mr E. G. Wright, M.H.R., invites all who are interested m obtaining a better supply of water, particularly the smaller landholders, to meet him at the Hinds Schoolrodm next Thursday to consider the question. Every resident m the district should make it a point to attend. Major Steward has received a notification from the Crown Lands Department that m accordance with his recommendation a Cemetery Reserve will be set apart at Waitaki North, adjoining Section No. 101, and that the remainder of the Crown land J m that locality will be set apart as a Recreation Reserve for the use of the inhabitants i of Glonavy and neighborhood. In connection with the public meeting held m Dunedin for the purpose of inaugurating a Kakanui relief fund, the Otago " Daily Times " says:—" A well-devised scheme should be -formulated for the establishment of a national fund m which could be incorporated the balances that are known to be lying to the credit of the Clutha Floods Relief' Fund, the Taiaroa Relief Fund the City of Dunedin Relief Fund and the balances of any other similar funds that are m existance m other parts of the Colony. It is entirely wrong that these moneys; no longer necessary for the purposes for which they were originally raised, should be allowed to lie any further m the hands ot the trustees, inapplicable to the pressing needs of those who are reduced to want through such distressing occurrences as the loss of the Kakanui. Now that public attention has been forcibly directed to the matter, steps will no doubt be taken during the next session of Parliament to render these moneys available." A great mystery has been solved, and the police of South Canterbury will henceforward breathe easier. For years the police and others have firmly believed that a private still existed somewhere on the Levels Plains, and very frequently efforts have been put forward to discover it, but to no avail. It was believed that the "still" was hidden 1 away m an excavation under some one of the houses, and that the smoke from it was going up the chimney, but what house no one could say. The belief originated m this way :—Years ago someone passing along the road to Timaru felt his olfactory organs attacked by the smell of poteen whiskey. He told others of it, and they, too, smelled the same thing. The police heard of it, and i came smelling about there also, with the result that they became converts to the prevailing faith m the presence of poteen. The whole thing has now been explained. ' A gentleman living m the neighborhood has discovered that the delicious odors are pro-! duced by a sort oi weed that grows m abundance m the locality, but if I ("Cori O'Lanus") were a policeman I would keep my weather eye on that gentleman. Statutory Declaration. —I, Franz Raabe, Ironbark, Sandhurst, m the colony of Victoria, Australia, do solemnly and sincerely declare that on the 25th June, 1877, my son Alfred, six yeai's of age, was accidentally hurt with tin axe on his knee. lat once took all pains to secure medical assistance. How ever, m spite of all efforts, on the 27th August, 1877, the opinion was given by Dr Macgillivray that an amputation of the injured limb had become imperative, m order to save life. At this juncture I called en Messrs Sander and Sons, procuring some of their Extract of Eucalyptus Globulus, and by the application of the same I had too satisfaction of seeing- my son within a fortnight out of all danger, and to-day he is recovered. I may juat add that it was when the crisis had been reached that the Extract referred to was first applied, and I make this solemn declaration, etc. Franz Raabe, Declared at Sandhurst, m the colony fo.i Victoria, Australia, this seventeenth day of October, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven, before me, MoritzCohn, J.P., --(Advt.) 6