LOCAL AND GENERAL

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XIII, Issue 2514, 14 November 1891, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Cancer is reported to be spreading rapidly m Marlborough. A first offender was let off by Mr Rees to' day on payment of costs. The recent rain has increased the volume of water m the, rive? very much, and that jn the Domain is of the color of pea soup. The hills yesterday morning were snowclad very low down. In fact so much snow has hardly been seen upon the. ranges at any time during the past winter. ? The London correspondent of the "Dunedln Star" says:—"A friend of Mr Perceval's tells me that gentleman aspires to a seat m the House of Commons." The well-known residence of the late Hon Dr Menzies, M.L.C., at Dunalister, near Wyndham, was destroyed by fire* on Sunday night. Sir George Grey has been invited to visit Queensland and lead a "one-man-one vote" agitation there prior to the next General Ejection. The Oamaru *' Mail" states that the Rev Father Patterson proposes to erect a convent at Palmerston, which will be one of the best m the colony. Mr Edward Wakefiekl, of whom very little has been heard this last two years, is to the fore m the new " [Nineteenth Century " with an article called " The Wisdom of Gombp." The adjourned monthly meeting of t^e Agricultural and Pastoral Association will be held on Tuesday next m the Arcade Chambers. This meeting lapsed last week for want of a quorum, and as some very important financial business has to be <P'-Jis-acted, members are requested to attenl In force. We are pleased to note that the County Council purposes obtaining nine bushels of Powell's poisoned wheat, the sparrow feed that has proved so deadly m the;Longbeach and Waterton districts. It would notiperhaps be infra dig for the Borough Council to follow suit, as the small birds are committing sad ravages already m some gardens m the borough., . _ T The '' People's Day " at Christchurch was evidently a great attraction to theAshburton people, as scarcely a soul was to be seen about our streets on that day, and most of the business places might as well have been closed for all the trade they did. The express last evening, although fairly well filled with passengers going north, was not waited upon by anything like the crowd that usually gathers on the platform to see it arrive ana depart. According to the Oamaru " Mail," Mr W. A. Kitchen, late of Dunedin, iapuhip way fc> Victoria to edit a paper there m the |aliouj? interest. It will be brought out undei* the auspices of the combined , unions, and afterwards'mergwinto a labour paper for the whole of Australia, published by a company whose Capita! fe 'to-ahioiint to £100,009, £10,000 of which will be subscribed by the shearers alone. The trustees of the late Mr John Martins of Adelaide, who diedabout eighteen motiths ago, have just paid the foll6w1«g legacies, amounting m alt to £10,000:—The trustees of the Congregational Church at Gleiielg, £3000; trustees of the Congregational Union £20C0; the Arc'ihishop pf ■: the Rohitui Catholic Chnrch, £1000; the trusteesipf; the Wnleyjm.Church, £1000 ; and the trustees of the Baptist" Union, £1000, fi

A man named Pardoe died suddenly at I Chtistchurch to-day. I The Greta Peaks estate consisting of 12,2,58 acres was sold to day at Christchurch at an average of £2 11s per acre. , Affairs at the Bluff continue to prosper. A few days ago a section there was sold for £700 which twelve months ago c mid have been bought for 130. At the inquest this morning on the wife of William Bosomworth, who died suddenly .it Christchuroh yesterday, a verdict of death from natural causes was returned. A cricket match that might have delighted the savants who attribute a full half of our virtues and vices to the law of descent took place at Bristol. On one side was the family of the Graces, from W. G. downwards to a titt'e felly.v of eight or nine summers. Against them were arranged the Robinson family, who hive now played forty-four matches and won thirty. The Graces made 1 184. of which Dr KM. scored eighty-six, and \V. G., jmi., thirty-six. The champion was clean bowled at twelve. The Robinson team put m 147 runs, and thus lost thegany by thirty-seven runs. Last yew 2,001,413 sheep were exported m a frozen state, and there was an increase m the number of sheep m the colony ot 033,579. v the vessels already m the trade are capable of carrying 2,539,850 sheep each year, but it is not expected that New Zealand will reach the last mentioned figures for some time yet, because, there is a cry from all parts of the colony of the scarcity of aheep fit tor freezing. The increase last year must therefore have been mostly m the merino breed. Mr Edward Hammond Hargraves, the practical discoverer of gold m Australia, has jnist died m one of the Sydney suburbs. There were discoveries of gold before his— as early, indeed, as m 1841—but he found the precious metal m such quantities near Bathurst, as to cause a rush. He had gone to California from Australia, and had been struck with the idea that the two countries were very similar; so he returned to carry out prospecting, and stuck to his work determinedly, with the result, that every body knows. Despite the heavy premiums offered for -fineshcßpby the Government of Uruguay, River Plate frozen mutton is still f?r behind New Zealand m the matter of quality. Speaking at the annual meeting of the River Plate Frozen Meat Company recently the chairman, m a rather depressing report lamented the carelessness and indifference of the Plate sheep farmers m not trying to produce a better article. He added, however ', that their sheep could never attempt to rival New Zealand till some proper scab laws were m operation. The Duke of Buckingham which went ashore at Kaikoura, and after getting off again, came on toLyttleton, has, been docked and pumped out. Her .injuries were found to be far more serious than had 'been: axpec ted, her bottom being so badly riddled 'that, it was matter of surprise that she ever managed to reach port.- There is one hole on the starboard side, 8 feet above the keel, of about 1 foot by 6 inches, with other smaller apertures all along her bottom, and right under the bridge there is a hole large enough to have sunk anything. There are also five lf*fge holes on the port side as if the vessel had bumped badly and each bump made a hole. 'Her plates are indented everywhere. Workin the Domain, which was somewhat interrupted by the wet weather, has been resumed, and the Borough Engineer and his men are busy.preparing the track for the Cycling Club. ' The corners of the track have been raised considerably to facilitate iaking the sharper turns, and the course has boen reduced to an exact quarter mile. Suspicions, however, have been raised by*th? appearance of the raised corner leading into that part of the track on which the 100 yards races are run, that the comfort and speed of the runners? will be interfered with, as at the starting place the ground "m one spot is at present very considerably higher fehan the other parts of the" 100 yard.3 track. The Engineer, however, is of opinion that by the time the rolling has been finished, and the made-up ground has settled, as of course it will to some extent, the runners "m v«. r ~.:~«~» *xa inconvenience. " I am told," writes the. LanJ«"- j:""""'~pondent of the Auckland.'"' Herald," " that more than one New Z^alauder has become prominent during tiie sanguinary struggle m Chili. Not very many years ago a young fellow named Campbell, after attaining some little local notoriety m Dnnedin, I "believe, left New Zealand, and after wandering about for some time settled down to commercial pursuits m the United States. He was sent to open a house m Callao, and ere long obtained ,the controlling interest m it. During the war he exhibited great daring as a blockade runner, and m one week made 36,000d0l by carrying arms and provisions to Iquique. I am told he was offered £50.003 if he would land a number of Balmaceda's otiiceis, who had crossed the frontier to escape capture, again on territory controlled by the Dictator. I do,not know if he accepted the hazardous enterprise, but the temptation was certainly great." Ballarat has been the scene of a sensational suicide. A man named Henry Dockrell entered the shop of Mr M'AUester, grocer, of Victoria street, and asked' a you.ig man named William Gray, who was m charge, if he could lend him a sharp knife for a minute. Gray, unsuspectingly handed him one used for cutting bacon, etc. and Dockrell walked to the door, and quickly though deliberately cut histhroatat oii.estrokti severing his windpipe. Gray, seeing what was happening, jumped the counter and wrested the knife from Dockrell's grasp but the fatal injury had been already caused, for though taken m a cart immediately to the hospital, Dockrell was dead before reaching there. In his pocket was found a letter, showing that the act was premeditated, m which he stated that he intended doing away with himself, that he had drunk himself to death, and hoped that drink m every form would be abolished. The drink,, he added, had been his infatuation and death, and boys and girls should never touch it, or they would come to his end.