LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XIV, Issue 2920, 11 March 1893, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The date of sailing of the Ruahine from Lyttelton has been altered to April 22. Mr C. Broad, of the teaching staff of Nelson College, has passed the B.A. degree. j The services in the Ashburton and Wakanui Presbyterian Churches to-morrow will be conducted by the Rev D. D. Rodger, of Cost. An excursion train will tun from Ashburton to Chiistchurch on March 16, at 5a 6d firet-class and 4s second. The train will leave Ashburton at 9 IS a.m. and Curistchurch at 5.30 p.m. 1748 acres of Crown lands in blocks of from 40 to 655 acres will be open for selection on March 27. The land ia situated near Ashburton, Mayfield, South Rangitata, anci Waihao Forks, and is offered under the Land Act of 1892, for uash, deferred payment, or perpetual lease. In the Wellington Supreme Court yesterday the young man James Grange, charged with shooting at Theophilus George Love with intent, was found not guilty. The defence was that accused had fired in defence of his mother, whom Love was approaching threateningly with an axe. Fr»drip Maccabe, who has dropped out of the list of ei)te##iners, is (says the "London Globe") spending h£e lagtyears in the pretty little village of Woinboarne, just outside the confines of the black country, JJere he is dividing his leisure between writing a book of reminiscences and looking after a emal} farmyard well stocked with fowls, ducks, ge<se, and pigs.

Considerable interest is being taken in the sports to be held by fch« Ashburton Polo Club *n Wednesday, 22nd instant, at the Ashburton Racecourse ground, and a very successful afternoon's outing is anticipated. As several members of the Christchurch Club desire to take part in ihe competition it has been suggested to make all the events o^en to members of any Polo Club affiliated to the New Zealand Association, and as this suggestion is moat likely to be adopted, additional interest will be given to the fixture. No more wreckage has been found of the Gowanbourne. The steamer.«, Waitara returned yesterday from the search. Mr J. Kllictt, Chairman of the Waitara Harbor Board, who went with her, states that they coasted up as far as Albatross Point, keeping close in shore and making a careful survey all the W^y, but no wreckage could be seen. Mr Elliott is of opinion that the vessel was driven out of her course, and whilst in proximity to this coast had her decks swept. He considers if a vessel was wrecked there would be a large quantity of wreckage strewn along the beach. In person the Czar is powerfully built, strong and muscular ; in his younger days he was able to bend a bar of iron across his knees, or to burst a strong door with his shoulder. He possesses one of those heavy, unwieldy figures whose awkward movements, resulting largely from shyness, no calisthenics could subdue to the easy bearing characterises the ordin&ry man of the vorld. His usual manner is cold, constrained, abrupt, and so suggestive of churlishness as often to deprive spontaneous favours of the honey of friendship for the sake of which they were accorded. AU tkese forces of his being seem to have retreated from the centres to the fastnesses of flesh and bone, muscle aud sinew. Rev Dr Stuart, of Dunedin, writing to the Secretary of the Weßleyan Conference an acknowledgment of the conference's expression of sympathy with him in his illness and joy at its recovery, said he had noticed the gospel labors of the Wesleyan Churoh since 1844, not only without envy but with admiration, and added —At a love feast in Slough, Bucks, in 1846, the presiding minister remarked upon a short speech I made, which was somewhat misunderstood:—"Our Brother Stuart is from the North, where heads are clear and hearts glow to take fire." It has been a frequent prayer of mine that I might be able to bring to every service of the sanctuary the burning zeal of the Methodist. Convey my thanks £• the conference, i A scheme is in preparation in the Russian Ministry of Imperial Domains for the establishment of a number of agricultural colonies on the vast steppes of Western (Siberia. This enormous territory is the property of the Ctown, and it is proposed to try the American system of land colonisation by preemption claims, rather than the ordinary Russian system of the mir. The land, instead of being divided and sub-divided into patches inadequate to the support of a family, as is the case in most of the Russian villiage communes, will be parcelled out into farms of from ninety to 150 acres, and will be bestowed only on those who, in the opinion of the agents of the Government, have sufficient capital and enterprise to work the.ii to advantage. The Polo match between Christohurc'i and Ashburton Ulubs was played in Christchureh yesterday in very disagreeable weather. The Ashburton team had all the best of the early part of the game, and at the com mencement of the last spell had scored four goals to their exponents' one. Ifrom this point, however, the condition of the country ponies gave out, and the local men were abe to make up their leeway. Led on by their Captain, the Hon E. Parker, they played a careful game, and just before the call of time succeeded in making the score equal, and the match a draw. The local players were much surprised by the improved form shown by the Ashburton team. Mi% Buckley was a tower of strength to his side, and took the honors of the day, but was admirably supported by his men. Speaking on the question cf female suffrage when addressing his constituents at Danevirke, Mr W. C. Smith, M.H.R , said that the Opposition-* were pandering to women because they found that Coiu»;'vatism had broken down among the men. If the Female Suffrage Bill became law before the next election, only the wives and daughters of the wealthy would be on the rolls, the Conservative candidates would p*y canvassers to see this done, while the wives and daughters of the poor would not be able to exercise their privilege in this direction. In his opinion, if the Bill were passed next session it should not come into operation until after the general elections, which delay would enable all classes to have their names on the rolls. He thought it would be a good idea at the next e'eotion toallow every voter when voting for a candidate to also vote on the question of the female franchisa. A section of one of the " feig trees " of California, the " General Logan," is now on its way to the World's Fair at Chicago, having been Buoeessf ully brought down the mountain from its home in the forest, near Fresno, to the railway station at Monson. In order to get it down the mountain it was found neceesary to cut it into forty-five pieces, each piece being 14ft long, the whole forty-five pieces tipping the scale at 270,0001b, and required ten flat cars to carry it on the railway. Other sections of trees will be on exhibition at Chicago, but the " General Logan " beats them all. For many years this great tree has been the cause ot numerous quarrels between the inhabitants of Fresno and Tulare counties; each claimei it, and each backed up the claim with " Winchesters." At last, to put an end to the senseless waste of good powder and good citizens, a special survey was ordered by the State, and the tree was found to be within Fresno oouuty,