LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XIV, Issue 2814, 4 November 1892, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The half yearly statement of account? of the Ashburton County Council is oil visw at the Council offices. In Melbourne the dog-tax collector strangle all clogs found without collars, tod boil them down for their fat. The Bicycle Touring Club, Christahurch, have decided to secede from the Cyclists' Alliance ai)d join the Cash Amateur o,l^, A ne»' cycling club, \s ipo be formed in Oamaru on strictly amateur lines. The Waimate Cycling Club supports true amateurism and the Cycling Alliance. The South Canterbury Education Board have passed a resolution protesting against the B»pa|l amqipj; tjf $\}s building gya^t fqr. the year, £$(50,, to that distiict. The barque Cumbrian, from Buenos Avres, September 8, which has arrived at Timar-u, reports having passed through a '* perfect arol}ipelago " of large bergs in 43dgg, south latitude SQdeg. west longitude, The Prohibitionists' party in Nelson intend to make the Mayoral election for their city a test as to the support given locally to their principles, and counsel friends of their cause in other centres to do likewise. The Commissioner of Crown Lauds finds that ho has no power to capittlise the Dromore pillage Settlement " thirds/ which j the County Cpiincil prppoged should be done, with a view to procuring a water supply for the settlement ! At a recent Sydney Sunday sacred and classisal" concert the programme included six comic and two serio-comic songs. As a footnote were the words, "The audienoo are requested to refrain from whistling or stamping whilst the performance is procefding." An Australian paper states that a certain Minister of Mines was asked to attach his signature to a report on a mine, and demanded £200, but ultimately took £50. The paperg, etc., are being carefully preserved for next ele6tiQU, E\rule.ne? of a similar case against | the gain> persqii 1.9 being c^l^pecl •' There will be a total eclipse of the moon eai?ly to-morvow morning. The times of the successive points of interest are as follow :— Eclipse begins, Oh 42min a.m.; shadow contract, lh 39m; total shadow contact, 58m ; middle, 3h Lsm ; last total shadow contact, 3h 37m; end of shadow contact, 4h 50m; end of eclipse, 5h 4,8 m,

The prize far, bullock from the Show has been killed and will be on view at Mr W. J. Silcock's, Somerset Butchery, to-morrow, when the successful competitors in the guessing competition will be made knowni Very many in this district will learn with sorrow of the death of Mrs Ollivier, the wife ot Mr John Ollivier, which occurred on Thursday morning. The deceased lady was eighty years of age, and much esteemed and respected by all who knew her. Much sympathy is expressed for the family in their bereavement, Peter Jolii, an old resident of Alford Forest, died on Thursday of cancer of the liver, from which desease he had been a sufferer foe two years. He was sometime at Westerfield in the early days ot the settlement. He leaves a wife and seven children. A concert to assist him was to have taken place to-night, but is postponed till Monday. The funeral takes place on Sunday. The German Emperor (says the "Pall Mall Budget") is said to be extremely pleased that his seventh child is a daughter. I He telegraphed the good news at once to \ the Queen, and a cordial message of congratulation was promply flashed back to Berlin from Balmoral. Eighty-four years have elapsed since a Queen of Prussia gave birth to a daughter. A Home paper of September 9 says:—No pied piper or Whittington cat having appeared, the Scottish plague of field mice is getting worse and worse. A " departmental committee" has been appointed. Traps, pits, and poison, dogs, cats, and hawks are all of no avail, and even poison appears to have as li,ttle effect on their Dumber as it has on those of the Australian rabbits. An American preserving firm is preparing a map of the United States, made entirely of pickles, vegetables, and fruit, for the forthcoming World's Exhibition. It is to cost £300. The lakes and rivers will be represented by vinegar, and the larger cities will be indicated by spices. The wtfolfc will be covered with a single sheet of plate glass, which is being specially made for the purpose. The nineteenth annual North Canterbury Agricultural Show was held at Rangiora on Thursday. In the entries there was a slight falling of as compared with last year, the number in 1891 being 951, and this year 914. The merino sheep classes were chiefly accountable for the deficiency, the entries being 37 short of last year, Mr W. O. Rutherford and Messrs D. and A. Macfarlane not figuring amongst the competitors on the present occasion. There was also a deficiency in sone minor sections, but cattle counterbalanced t his with an increase of 47. The general quality was good, and the attendance was very satisfactory. The first monthly meeting of the Swimming Club was held on Wednesday evening at Gates' Rooms. A large number of members were present, and the Captain, Mr J. C. Lane, •ccupied the chair. The rules passed at the previous general meeting were confirmed, and the Captain was appointed Secretary, vice Mr H. Curtis resigned. A pleasant evening was then spent—chess, draughts, etc., being provided. Songs were sung by Messrs Rees, F. Henry, fa. Kempthorne, P. Williams, J. Stevenson, and L. Broad, the accompaniments being played by Mr H. A. Gates. A little experience of "How the Fijian Grog is made by the Natives " was rttited by Mr S. H. Graves, At a committee meeting held afterwards twenty new members were elected. As it is necessary before the proposed alterations of the Wakanui and Upper Ashburton road districts can take place that the 'signatures should be obtained of twothirds of the ratepayers in the portion of the Upper Ashburton district to be annexed to the Wakanui district, and the same proportion of signatures of the entire body of ratepayers in the latter distriot; and, as the petition presented to the County Council, praying that the annexation be made, does uot appear to contain the requisite number of signatures, the County Coancil cannot sanction the annexaion until the requisite number of signatures has been obtained. The fortnighty session of the Pride of Wakanui Lodge, 1.0. G.T., was held in the schoolroom en Tuesday last, Bro T; Pitt, C.T,, presided. During the evening Bro Corbett, L.D., installed the following officers: —C.T., Ero Htt; V.T., Sister E. Hill; P.C.T., Bro S. Trevurza; ;>.J.T., Sister M. Brown; Secretary, Sister M. Corbett j X Secretary, Bro J. Butterick; Treasurer, Sister M*. Hill; Chaplain, Sister C. Trevurza; Martha!, Sister A Dalton -, Guard, Bro W. Wilson ; Sent., Bro Letham ; D.M., Bro T. Wilson; A.S., Bro Fitzpatrick. It was decided to hold an Open Lodge meeting about the end of November. After the business was gone through the Lodge went into harmony. Songs were contributed by Bros Butterick, Pitt, and Broker, and a reading by Bro W Wilson. The Lodge was then closed by the C.T. at 9.30 p.m. Mr Snazelle tells a good story (says an Auckland writer) about one of his entertainments in Fiji, whiph he gave on the island of Bau—rthe ancient home of Thakombau— ir. the Wesleyan Church there, the Rev Mr langham's). Of course being a church it was only possible to render sacred pictures and scenery, but the night's takings beat the record even of a church collection. It ;vas as follows: —£l 18s in money ; seven models of native canoes; sixty-three pearls, from the size of a pin's head up to a small pea, except a black one which is about the size of a lady's little finger nail; 428, moonstones, mostly very small, in. some cases a man w.f«uld offer a Bryant and May's tin matchbox full, in other cases only one would be given, but we were not proud—we took them all; 103 native fans ; twenty-six war clubs ; eight bows and arrows ; thirty-one spears ; 3 native made fishing creels; sixteen whiles' teeth ; sixty-three sharks' teeth ; 400; yards of native cloth, beaten out qf the bark of a tree and Qf all manner, qf great patterns (thig wap the m,ost acceptable taking of all); eleven,native-made fish hooks; [ one painting of the crucifixion, painted by a Fijian on native cloth j four reed baskets, and cacoanuts innumerable. Mr Snaaelle, at Tonga, got as part admission to his entertainment a pair of whale's jaws, weighing a ton and a quarter, and thro"- 1 which one could drive the provsl *1"' '. **£n and-four." He has •\ t -^l'coachf«;™A m» n t. written to his old friend, Mf G-. Sims rl)agonet) ,, o£ the offering them to him for erection at the entrance to his country seat, and if he does not wish to do so, to pass the jaws on to another old friend, Mr John L. Toole, the weil-knqwn L.qudon actor, who never objects to "mw."