LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XIV, Issue 2821, 12 November 1892, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

In Timaru a movement- is now on foot amongst a section of the townspeople to subsiitute Saturday for Thursday as the day for observing the weekly half-holiday. At the the Christchurch show Mr F. M. Rickman sold his highly s commended Shopshire Down ram hogget for 30 guineas and another, that was passed over by the judges bub generally recognised to be the best sheep of the breed on the ground, for the high price of 70 guineas. Rather an instru«ting commentary on the judging ! The poet Whittier had an appreciation of humour, and one of his stories which a correspondent of the " Manchester Guardian" noted down was that an old monthly meeting of Friends passed the following "Irish" minute:—"lt is the sense of the meeting that John Gould speak no more in meeting until the Lord speak through him to the satisfaction of this meeting." We are asked to publish the names of the ladies who very kindly and ably waited on the tables at the Wesleyan tea meeting at Watetton as follows :—Bachelors' table— Misses Williams (2); Mrs Protheroe's table Miss Protheroe, Miss McLachlan and Mr 3 Graham; Mrs Cray's table—Miss Lusk, Miss McConnel and Miss Finlay; and Mrs Sh'utt's table—Mis3 Donaldson and Miss Hepworth. The Caledonian Society Directors held a meeting on Saturday evening at which a Srogramme for the Boxing Day Sports was rafted. £15 was apportioned in prizes for cycling events, and it was stated that it was quite possible if the Australian cyclists came to Chnstchurch they would also visit Ashburton. In any case a strong contingent of Christchurch cyclists would be present at the gathering. The question of applying for the use of the Domain with right to sell alcoholic liquor was raised, but the alcoholic motion was negatived by an overwhelming, majority, and the Domain Board will be approached for the same rights as last year. The London correspondent of the Duntdin " Star " writes :-—" I mentioned to you some months back the Agent-General was urging on the Bank of New Zealand that great benefit might accrue, both to themselves and the North and Middle Islands, if they turned colonisers, and founded special settlements on some of the many good blocks of land they have on their hands. The sound common sense of this suggestion was at once apparent to the directors, and last Thursday I heard in the City that a colonising company was very shortly to be promoted under the bank's auspices. A paragraph was written to this effect, when news reached me that the project hangs fire, and may not after all come off." [ At one of the largest shipping offices in London, as the majority of the clerks reside in the most distant suburbs, a certain amount of grace is allowed them for arriving in the morning, says the "City Press." They are, however, required to explain on a list specially provided for the purpose the cause of their unpunctuality. The first to make his appearance always leads off with the words, "Train late," "'Bus horses down," or as the case my be, and to this the other clerks invariably say, "Ditto." So accustomed have they become to the formal procedure that they hardly ever take the trouble to see what excuse heads the list. The other mormng the first arrival conscientiously pencilled in the word, "Wfs ill—Twins," and to the utter amazement of the chief, this extraordinary explanation was promptly " Dittoed "all the way down. Nor waa his astonishment diminished when he discovered the office boy's name included.!" While we have gpt no nearer to a mechanical Retui Qing OfH er (says a Lp.ndon paper) than an occasional letter to tbe newspapers from an enthusiast to Kay he has solved the problem, the "voting maqhine" is actually at work across the Atlantic. Itconistsof an iron booth, 5 feet square and 7 feet high. Against the name of eac'i candidate is a knob, which, when pre>sed, registers a number to the same name on the opposite side of the machine. Each vtt&r is allowed one minute to register his vote. Cheating is imposible for as soon as (03 handle is touched all the othera are automatically locked until the voter has come out and the Returning Officer releases them all again. When the voting period his empire i il; back of the machine is opened and all the votes cast stand opposite the candidates' names. Both the JSt&teSenafca and Assembly of New York have authorised the uae of the machine at elections, and it was used for the first time the other day at Lockport, when the first vote cast was by one of the candidates for himself.