LOCAL AND GENERAL

Ashburton Guardian, Volume X, Issue 2305, 13 February 1891, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

A first offender, who was found drunk m East stieet last evening, was dealt with m the usual way at the Court this morning. Plans have been prepared for a new Roman Catholic Cathedral at Invercargill estimated to cost £6000. The following are the returns of the Ash" burton Hospital for the month of January : —In Hospital on January Ist, 6; admitted during the month, 18; discharged, 11 ; died, 1; remaining on February Ist, 12. The Arawa from London, December 27th and Plymouth, December 30th arrived at Wellington at seven o'clock on Thursday evening, but was not visited by the health officer until this morning. She had fine weather on the passage, and her passengers are m excellent health. The Master of the Ashburton Hospital wishes to acknowledge, with thanks, the following:—Linen from Mrs Dr Leahy, linen and shirts from Mrs Walker (Valetta), papers from Miss Bishop, flowers and fruit from Mrs Lea, Mr G. Smith, Mr Greenslade, Mr Dowding, and Mr Brownfield for use of inmates. Wanganui is only a small town, but it has earned a good deal of distinction. Three times it has been represented by the Premier of the colony—first by Sir William Fox, then by Sir Julius Yogel, and now by Mr Ballance. Four times it has produced the champion riffc shot of the colony—Lieutenant Owen m 1863, Private Churton m 1884, Sergeant Remmington m 1886, and Private Kruse m 1891. The "Scientific American" gives this recipe for diphtheria, which all the world should know : —"At the first indication of diphtheria m the throat of a child make the room close, then take a tin cup and pour into it a quantity of tar and turpentine, equal parts, then hold the cup over the fire so as to fill the air with the fumes. The little patient, on inhaling the fumes, will cough up and spit out all the membraneous matter, and the diphtheria will pass out. The fumes of the tar and turpentine loosen the matter it the throat, and thus afford the relief that has baffled the skill of the physicians." The other day whilst engaged m discharging the cargo of a timber ship at a port m the south of Ireland, the men struck for higher wages, which the owners of the cargo conceded. Later m the day a member of the firm went down to the ship to* see how matters stood. He found the work going on all right, but failed to recognise the faces of the men. On inquiry it turned out that the gang who had struck and got the advance re-let the job to other men at the old rate, and then retired to a neighbouring public- ' house to liquidate the unearned increment. Ah ingenious way of scaring off small birds has been tlayised by a farmer m the Oamaru j district. Raijfotys are plentiful along the hedges, and he shoots a few of the rodents, j j-t.ni] tios them to the tops mi poles among his ero^**, The hawks come dbojut, a«d sailing artmiirf, If.nep all the small birds m the neighbourhood «jwter coyer of the hedges. trees., etc. The fame** /ijnds this a capital plan, and although it is'uovy father late m <f.Ji>« Miificw (to'put it m practice, i*i wight not be«, i>a4 i^lu-li &>r tho«e afllicted by au^all bifd« to UAUw _»iijle next' .year's' crop is ripening. Eafobitg w« not plentiful m the Ashburton district, imp jtw will do quite as well. In Christmas week the >'•' Paljl Mall Gazette" wrote .-—"Australia, is ju & fccfflft condition juat now. It hits exceileijt <V&aw;i?#rs, but no Governors' wives, and m *he AmmMiiiw colonies ' Her Excellency ' is. quite as iiH-juMrtyflJl a personage has 'His Excellency/ Larty Hopetoun (V.) is m London ; so k L-uly Jersey,, ft'ho is now convit.lesccut from her serious tf-Uw&a; Lady j itiu-MMj (S.A.) is now returning by w*./ r/f ; Anu.'iWi,, ifj-1 will be m London m a few ', diiyri: Lady 3£«>mi«.» (Q-) =« "<lso on ller way HYi.w; with Sir !i<Wj/ on holiday leave ; and, linally, Lady llobi^,. f.W.A.) is also absent from the post of duty. )% Empire will never be kept together at this ?■ss J?j i

The s.s. Monowai with the English mails of 24th January left San Francisco for Auckland two days late. The services m the Ashburton Presbyterian Church on Sunday, next, will be conconducted by the RevT. Nome both morning and evening, The preacher is from an Auckland, church, and is at present m Oh ristchurch, attending sittings of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. Mr J. Knott addressed a meeting m connection .with the Women's Christian Temperance Union on Wednesday afternoon. There was a good attendance, and at the close of the address several of those present joined the Union. Mrs H. M. Jones presided at the harmonium, Miss Savage,- an old Ashburton favorite, assisting with her violin. An old Volunteer hi Ashburton, who takes an interest m shooting, has presented a valuable nickel silver inkstand, having a pair of beautifully cut ink bottles, to be shot for hy any of the Ashburton Rifles and the Rifle Club. The shooting will take place next Wednesday morning at five o'clock, the conditions being ten shots standing at 200 yards. The trophy is on view m I. Salek and Co.'s window. The Postmaster-General has arranged that the first San Francisco mail, under the accelerated system shall leave Auckland by the R.M.S. Mariposa on the 28th instant, instead of the 23rd as set down m the original time-table. As regards future sailing dates nothing will be definitely fixed until Government receives an answer from the Direct Shipping Company as to whether they are prepared to alter their time. In the annual report of the Department of Agriculture m the province of Quebec, just issued, it is stated that no fewer than 1006 fathers have applied for the 100 acres of Crown land offered for every fanuly of 12 living children, and that 12,447 children altogether are represented by these applicants. The new land owners are to be collected m groups, which may form parishes later on. In future an applicant will not have to produce a certificate of birth for each child, as that involves an expenditure sometimes reaching £10. An English paper states that Mr Leopold de Rothschild has just received as a present from Mr J B. Haggin, the largest and most successful breeder of thoroughbred stock m California, who is on a visit to England, two colts, viz., Eugineer, by Darebin—Tulara, by Monarchist (son of Lexington), and Nubbingala, by St. Modred (son of Traducer, by The Libel), out of Typhoon, by King Alplionso (sire of Foxhall. Australians will watch the career of these young ones with interest. The Waikato correspondent of the Auckland "Herald" writes:—A curious case showing the peculiarities of the native character occurred. A native lad came to the Hospital with a leg dreadfully injured through a fall. Bone disease hadsupervened, and it was thought necessary to amputate the limb, it being impossible to save it. The boy had been brought down by some friends from Waotu, and they had promised to look after him. When his old father, a Maori of ' th« '' real old sort," heard of the proposed am - initation, he said, "No; you took my boy away to your medicine man with two legs on ; yon must bring him back with two legs." .And., consequently the man. m charge has taken hitn home again. The youngster, however, declares he will comeback again on his own account and have his leg off. If; he does not he will certainly die." " The " Report of the Statistics of New Zealand " just published by the Government says:—The ages at which persons may contract binding marriages m the colony are the same as m England, viz. :—Twelve years for females and fourteen for males. Marriages may be contracted at earlier ages than those stated, but they would be voidable at the discretion of either of the parties upon reaching the age of twelve or fourteen as the case may be, and without the necessity of proceedings m Court. For the period of 1874-89 inclusive, twelve females under fourteen years of age have married. Of these one was only eleven years old. During the same time only three males under seventeen have married ; these have all reached sixteen years of age. The average age of the males m the colony who married, m 1889 was 29"9 years, and of the females 24 (i years.

The " Southland News" records an incident that occured just before the departure of the missing steamer on her unfortunate voyage that is worthy of mention. A member of a well-known firm of auctioneers was exceedingly anxious to aeeompanj the vessel to obtain some curios from the Islands and enjoy what he anticipated would be a very pleasant trip. Ho made application to Mr A. B. Campbell, local manager for the Company, for a berth, but that gentleman informed him that his express instructions from the Government were not to take any person beyond the crew, and that he could not break through his orders. Not to be beaten, the wielder of the hammer telegraphed to Wellington to the Colonial Secretary for the necessary permission ; but he was doomed to disappointment, for the reply came m the form of a refusal. At the time he was not a little disconsolate at being deprived of his holiday trip; but it is needleas to say that he now regards himself as a very lucky man. The historical Agnews have been distinguishing themselves again. At St. Bathaus they were charged with placing an obstruction on the road. The defendant (says (he " Mount Ida Chronicle") maile a long rambling statement, irrelevant to the point at issue, dwelling particularly on the great injustice inflicted on him and his wife by the world at large during the last ten years. The magistrate, m giving judgment for the plaintiff county, said the defendant was a disgrace to the district and an annoyance to the neighborhood, and he would impose a penalty of £1 and order him to remove the fence within a week. The proceedings all through were exceedingly lively. Both Agnew and his wife frequently interfered with counsel and witnesses during the hearing of the case. The female was forcibly expelled by the constable, and at the conclusion Mr Agnew vowed he would not remove the obstruction " for all the magistrates, for the King, nor even for her Majesty," and that he would keep to the same determination. Mr Labouchere, m " Truth,"hasa "note " on " Geographical Snobbery." He wants to know why all the mountains, lakes, and rivei-s m Africa and New Guinea should be named after British royalties or nobodies. He says :—" A gentleman of the name of M'Gregor—Sir W M'Gregor—l find, has ' been over there making a perfect burlesque of the local nomenclature. Here is an abridged list of the mountains (very fine mountains, I am given to understand, before they were re-christened). The names, it is only fair to say, are not quite all the M'Gregor's. Here and there he mentions a peak which had suffered at the hands of a previous "Any.' But here is the list: The ' Owen Stanley range," Mount Victoria," Huxley's Pinnacle,'' Mount Musgrave,' Mount Knutsf ord,'' Mount Henry Forbes.' 'Mount Albert Edward, 1 Mounts ' Seratchley,' 'Gillies,' 'Cameron,' 'Douglas,' 'Forbes,' 'Parker,' and ' Jack Tanna.' Some of these mountains are over ll,OOOft high. Is not that rather big for the gentlemen whose names are tacked on to them ? ' Who tied Dolabella to that sword?' Will not posterity a'few hundred years hence be asking some such impertinent question with regard to Messers Husley and Henry Forbes ?"