SILVER WEDDING.

Mac Lean Dun-Laird—At Inver, Duu-1 keld, on February 2, 1872, by the «cv. J. S. i Mackenzie, Birnam, J. MaoLEAN Dun, to Inglis Agnes, youngest daughter of the late John Laibd, Inver.

Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 1897. THE MONTYON PRIZES.

Paris has an annual distribution of prizes of a unique kind. They are pro vided by the Montyon legacies, which were left by the testator for the en couragement and reward of virtue, 'ihe sum yielded annually by these legacies amounts to about 63,000 francs, and towards the close of last year this sum was duly allotted at the yearly meeting of the Academic Franqaise, which body has the manage ment of the fund. The circumstances of each case in which the Montyon prizes—ranging from 500 francs to 1500 francs — were awarded, were narrated in an eloquent discourse by the Director, Count d' Hauxonville, given at the last annual distribution. The prixes, he explained, are not in tended to induce the French people to be virtuous. They are intended to reward virtue which has displayed it self in all probability in total ignorance of the Montyon Fund. The case of Mdlle. Lydie Hocart was the first mentioned. She is the daughter of the Proestant pastor of Levallois, a Parisian suburb, and has made her especial care the neglected children of the suburbs, bhe had begun with taking one to her home, then another; by and by the sad case of a third appealed to her kindly heart, and she found room for it also. And so she i continued on until her house now con tains fifty-two rescued and kindly cared for waifs of the city. The children call her " aunt," her father " grandpapa," and each other " cousin." Mdile Hocart received 1500 francs from the fund, and it is not very diffi cult to surmise how a kind hearted' soul such as she is would spend the money. The next case was that of Mdlle. Antoinette Mignard. SShe earns her daily bread by painting. She de votes her attention to women who have seen better days and have falien upon evil times, feeds them, lodges them, listens to their complaints of the j vicissitudes of fortune, and soothes their sorrows and ameliorates their lot \ as best she can. Her prize was 1000 < francs. Seme cases are those in which brothers have devoted themselves to their sisters' welfare, asters to their brothers', hu&bands to their wives', and vice versa. Oharles Papillon, for example, is an old Zouave, who married a wife (a straw-chair maker) and had five children. Tho wifo became blind, and Papillon had to take the mother's place He learned straw plaiting to be near his wife, and became cook, washerwoman, mender, and nurse, and never left home except to take the blind woman for a walk. Veronique Lauzeas i<3 a mountaineer who goes rouiid the country begging— not for herself, but for the sick and poor. She is eighty-eight yeirs old. Julie Tan'ariion ha< a j-assion.ite love I for little children, aud is the mother in all but relationship to the village where fhe lives. If the children are sick Juiie comforts them. In the cases above referred to the prizes ranged from 1000 to 1500 francs. Count d' Hauxon ville pointed out that the eximple of these various lives of self sacrifice for the sake of others is almost always - given by those, both men and women, , whose childhood has been unhappy— the school of misery has taught them to be merciful, The lv roic self-sacrifice of these Montyon prize-winners their daily abnegation and toil in others' " interests—is more noole and more heroic by far than is the doing of one brilliant act that may make the fame of the doer deathless ; because to be thus daily ''oblate"in the inter'st of others is a continual sacrifice and a ' splendid example of patient persistence (in well-doing. It is refreshing indeed, in these times of self-seeking and of hunger and thirst for gain, to read of such noble instances of a practical following out of the highest teachings of Christianity as are to be found among those to whom the Montyon prizes have been awarded. |

THE GLENBROOK MURDERS.

j The Glenbrook murders will be ranked ' among the sensational crimes of the century. Had a novelist introduced into a work of fiction such a tale as is I that of Butler's alleged crimes, the critics would at once have said that \ the writer was taxing the imaginative j powers of bis readers too much. That | story is indeed so extraordinary and ; astounding, that it would at once have j been pronounced to be not within the j bounds of possibility, though the' fictionist whoimagiaed it might perhaps j have been complimented for his j ingenuity in conjuring up the horrible, j and in weaving a web of weird and j gruesome incident. But. truth is j stranger than fiction, and none of the 1 writers of detective stories, none oi the producers of the vast yearly crop of j " penny dreadfuls " has ever been able j to conceive a more extraordinary or a [ more diabolical tale than the one that i will be told at the trial of Butler for j the murders of which he is alleged to j have been guilty. Deeming was a; human tiger of whom the world was ; well rid, and the Australasian colonies \ have contributed not a fow sensational : crimes bo the world's record, among j them murders doas in the heat of; passion but brutal withal, and murders done in cold blood, for the sike of gain > unsezed women have paid the last : penalty of the law for carrying on a ' trade in the destruction of infant life ; I but not one in the dark and blood stained list presents such extraordinary features as those of tho alleged crimes of the man Butler, whom the sleuth- I hounds of the law ate now hunting to j his death. The only parallel that we i know of wrre the deeds of Burfee and Hare, in Edinburgh, which horrified ' our grandparents in the early part of the century, and added another word to the dictionary—for it was to those murders, and the waaoer in which

they were executed, that the word " burked " (quietly shelved or put out of. the way) owed its origin. The horror of fhos<; crimes cast a sort of waking nightmare over the whole of the three Kingdoms, for never before had nih;d of man conceived the possi bility of human beings so debused and to fearfully brutal as to butcher iv th; coldest of cold blood the weakest and most helpk-ss for the sake of gain. The robbing of graveyards is a heinous crime, but it was attended with great difficulty, and those human fiends found it saf- r for themselves for a time to procure bodies for the trade they carried on by strangling the life out of such victims as they could decoy into their clutches. Burke paid the penalty of his crimes with his neck, but Hare threw over his partner in guilt, gave Queen's evidence, and went out free, with his worthless life, re gretting all the remaining term of it that it had not been tuken along with that of the man he had betrayed. Une is dismayed on reading how cunningly those men decoyed their victims to their death. But Butler's alleged crimes present similar extra ordinary features. Trading on the passion many men have for gold-find ing, he decoyed his victims into the wilds with prospecting tales, and, with a view to robbing them of any money they possessed, he at the first available opportunity set them to dig their own graves in the belief that they were digging for gold, and, shooting them treacherously from behind, covered them up with his own hands; the graves being generally sunk close to overhang ing rocks, the rain-drip from which he calculated would speed decomposition, and so make identification difficult. But murder will out, and with all his claverness Butler was not able to still the suspicious of the friends of the murdered men, nor so completely to hide his own slimy trail that the officers of the law were not able to find it. And then comes the other sen sational part of the story, showing that even in mid-ocean such a fiend in human shape as he must be followed by the Nemesis that still dogs the steps of the shedder of blood. He avoided actual arrest by tbe officers on land, and got away out to sea. But, while the vessel conveying him was thread ing her way under canvas to the American shores of the Pacific, the story of his crimes had been pieced together, his means of escape and the vessel bad become known, and press and cable had carried the story over the civilised world. In mid-ocean a steamer sighted and signalled the Swan hilda, on which vessel he had taken passage, and sent an officer on board, who told the story to the captain and from what the cable tells us there seems to be no doubt that the captain lost no time in putting the alleged wholesale murderer in irons. Detec tives await his arrival in San Francisco, and we in these colonies are hourly . looking for news of his capture. The whole story reads, as we have said, like the creation of a master of fiction. But the disturbing question arises in reading it—ls this man the first who i has essayed mnrder in the lonely bush? ; There are hundreds of men who have gone to Australia from the Old Ooun try, of whom their friends can now find no trace, and in face of the story ; of the Glenbrook murders one almost : trembles to ask, how many of those rnissng ones have found a lonely grave in the wild*, done to death by some human fiend to gratify a lust for blood ■ and an insatiable cupidity. The bush of Australia, as indeed the wilds of any young and thinly peopled country, affords only too ample and frequent opportunity for the perpetration of such crimes, not a few of which, there is reason to fear, are neither detected nor suspected.

France is carrying matte-s with a high hand in Madagascar. General Gallieni, having incontinently TUB- FRENCH IN shot a Prime Minister MADAGASCAR- and a Prince, has now informed the "Queen" that Madagascar is henceforth French territory ; the Hova flag has been abolished ; and the polite g< neral has made the v Queen " stand up in his presence while he sat, just to teach " Her Majesty " her place. Meanwhile the Daily News's Paris correspondent adds thid information:—" Madagascar is proclaimed French soil. The French language is therefore the obligatory basis of all school instruction. Pro fessors and schoolmasters and mistresses are all to conform to a programme drawn up by the Governor-General j and, with a view to inculcating a reli gious admiration for France, the Isomishcult is especially insisted upon. The effect of this proclamation will be to shut up the English and Norwegian missionary schools, The English mis sionaries had better go to teach the Matabele and the Soudanese, or sot up free schools in Cyprus." Compare these high-handed proceedings with the humane policy adopted in Egypt by Lord Cromer, and a solution is at once forthcoming of the question— How is it that the French fail so lamentably in their administration of conquered provinces f

Local and General.

There are several jockeys in Newmarket earning £3000 a year. There are always three and a-half millions of people on the seas of the world. Positive, wait; comparative, waiter; superlative, go and get it yourself. The attention of our lady readers is directed to Misa Barnes' advertisement which appears in this issue. We are sorry to hear that Mr Thomag Bracken, who is in Dunedin, is dangerously i i:l and not expected to recover, Mr R. C. Biahop has been elected un opposed as the first Mayor of the new \ borough of New Brighton. j News of the arrest of Butler is now being j anxiously looked for. The Swanhilda is now ! 71 or 72 days out, and as she is expected to make the passage in from 70 to 80 days, the news of hor arrival may be looked for at any moment; Letters from places beyond the oolony, addressed as under, were received at the Ashburton Post Office during the month of November 1896, and are still unclaimed : — W. N, Chaplin, John Tom Clay, J. John stone, David -^prjng (2), J. E. Williams. At Creswick, Victoria, a laboring man, owing to ill-health, had fallen into vary indigent circumstances, and was obliged to let his wife go out to service, he staying at homo with his two little children. Ou a Monday ihe man died and up to Wednesday the children had remained ajpue in the house with the corpse. One of the little things had its arm wound round its dead father's nepjf when tljey were fofiad by neighbours,

A man can hire a horse in Japan, keep 1 two servants, and live <m the lat of the land I all for a little over £4 a month, 1 The latest addition to the Ashburton telephone exchange is Mr J. Heseltine's establishment at Tinwald, which in No 94. Queen Victoria now rules 367,000,000 people—a greater number than has ever before acknowledged the sovereignly of c ther a king, queen, or emperor. Pat: "Faix, but it wa9 a lovely fight in oirely." Dennis: "An' who wan?" Pat: "It's hard tellin', it is, wid both of th m in hospital, and neither dead yit." The most remarkable canal in the world is the one between Worsley and St Helens, in Lancashire. It is sixteen miles long and ! underground from end to end. During the passage of the Kaikoura, which 1 arrived at Wellington yesterduy from London, she had to stop her engines for twelve hours owing to the prevalence of ice. We are pleased to learn that Mies Elizabeth Alcorn, a pupil of the Borough School, is the winner of a Junior Entrance Scholarship of the value of £15 at the Christchurch Girls' High School. The "sale" season appears to have set in in dead earnest, Mr G. J. Neill being the latest addition to the list of drapers who have special cheap lines to clear at low prices. One of the typhoid cases at Wanganui is attributab'e to the patient having been in the habit of eating watercress from the ditch in which the infection is supposed to exist. The Ashburton Drapery Company an nounce in this issue that they commence their bi-annual stock-taking sale this day, and are offering exceptional bargains in all departments. In the interclub bowling matches at Christchurch yesterday afternoon, Oamaru beat Christchurch on the Christchurch green by 65 to 60. Dunedin beat Canterbury ou the Canterbury green by 58 to 57. The long-stauding question of providing a statue to Darwin in his native town ha* been settled by the Shropshire Horticultural Society generously undertaking to defray the entire cost, estimated at from £1000 to £1200. At a Committee meeting of the Pioneer Bicycle Club, Christchurch, it was unani mously decided to seod Messrs J. O. Shorland, J. VV. Jones, and Harry Thomp son to Wellington this month as representa tives of the Club to compete in the championship events. According to the Sydney Mail, the new Palace Theatre, erected by George Adams, seats 1300 people, aud cost £80,000. The embroidered drop curtain alone cost £1000. All the money came out of " Tattersall's " consultations, a fact upon which inve3tor3 in sweeps would do well to ponder. The story of the lameness of the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol is touching. The Bishop got his leg broken in a railway accident, but preferred to lie down and administer religious consolation to a dying stoker, who was wedged under the ruins of an engine, rather than have his own leg set. Analysis of food is enlisting the sarvices of Rontgen rays for the discovery of adultera tion. A recent communication from M, Ranvez speaks favourably of the new method. In pictures so obtained of powdered materials thinly scattered on a piece of glass the presence of any of the mineral adulterants commonly used ia plainly visible, on account of the rays not being able to penetrate them. Our friends in Tancred street, (Messrs Mitchell and Turner), having paid the trustees five hundred pounds out of the thousand demanded, have been very properly granted an extension of three weeks iv which to find the balance due. We observe the firm seems determined to raise the sum re quired, by bringing tbe whole of their stock of boots, etc., under clearing prices, which should remove all doubts of the genuineness of their efforts. In 1840 cancer was held responsible for the deaths of 177 per million living, and in 1894 of 713 per million living. "Thus the proportionate cancer mortality is now more than four times gr.-.aber than it was half a century ago," and in this respect it stands abso lutely alone. Moreover, the same tende- cy is observable in all civilised lands, so that, unless checked, cancer may be expected to " become one of the commonest diseases of modern communities," Spain ia waking up to the necessity of re-foresting her mountains. The little King recently went to a vil age a few miles east of Madrid and planted a pine sapling, after which 2000 children, selected from rhe Madrid schools each planted a tree. Medals were distributed among them, with the inscription : "First Arbour Day, instituted in the r« ign of Alfonso XIII, 1896." Similar festivals are to be held ye.-irly in different places and the children are to be taken out to see how their trees grow, in the hope tha' they will foster tree-planting in their districts. The following gentlemen have been nomi nated to fill the vacancies on the Board of Education caused by the annual retirement j of membors :—Messrs David Buddo, Fern side ; Walter Joseph Cresswell, Christ church ; Edwin Feldwick, Kaiapoi; Joseph Muunuigs, Adclingtou ; Richard Potts Pole, Colgate ; Henry Fear Recce, Fendalton ; John Rennie, Doyleston; William John SUcock, Ashburton ; Samuel Roliin Webb, Lyitelton. Three names of these must be sent in to the Board of Education by the Committees on or before February 28th, and the election takes place on March 15th. A lunatic was peering through the iron bars of a gate leading into an asylum yard, when up rode several red-coated hunters, one of whom asked him if he had teen a fox pass that way. " What do you want the fox for ?" asked the lunatic. "Sport," re plied the huntsman. "And what's sport" interrogated the lunatic, "Oh, nothing," was the impatient rejoinder, " Well, now, look here, mister," was the man's reply, "you just clear out o' this place as quick as you can ; as sure as you're alive they'll clap you inside this building. They said that they brought me here for running after nothing," It is said that tuberculosis is carried from herd to herd through the dairy factories in the following way : —A farmer, unknown to himself, may have a cow suffering from the disease, Her milk is mixed with other milk, and it is returned to dozens of other farms, carrying with it the germs of this scourge. The difficulty may easily be over come by destroying the germs, which could be done by allowing no separator milk to leave the factory until it had been raised to at least 180 degrees of heat, which would cost little, as a pipe might be connected with the boiler, and turned into the vat in which the separator milk is collected. Farmers should insist upon this idea being carried out. 4 very confusing practice is that of chang ing namea Ky virtue of legal decree. In moat cases the change is made in deference to testamentary stipulations, property being bequeathed on condition that the legatee assumes the name and the armorial bearings of the testator. Thus there are ab the pre sent moment no less than four pairs of brothers bearing different surnames sitting ] in the House of Commons. Sir James ] Fergusson, who is a baronet, is a brother of '• Sir Charles Dalrymple, who is likewise a ■ baronet. Sir Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett is a ; brotherof Mr Burdett Coutts, Sir Henry GJampbell-BannermaD, who was Secretary cf State for War in the Rosebery Cabinet, has a brother in Parliament who bears the name of Dr. James Campbell. The brother of Captain Richard Challoner is Mr Walter Hume Long. Seven out of the eight are Conservatives, Sir Henry Campbell- Bannerman being the only Libe-al. Consequently Parliamentary " pairing " by brothers is possible only between Sir Henry and his brother.

Mrs George Jameson and family have arrived at Wellington by theKaikoura. The annual show of thu Ashburtoi. Horticultural Society i s _ x @d for Thursday week, 11th ins:, in the Oddfellows' Hall. There will be a promenade concert in the evening. The New Zealand limes (Wellington morning journal) haa recently been greatly enlarge;*, the iesues for January 30 and February 1 each containing ten pages of printed matter, each psge nearly twice the size of a page of the Lyttelton Times. There has been an attempted burglary at the Linwocd Borough Council Chambers. The entrance was effected by a window, the catch of which waa broken by the would-be thief or thieves. The drawers were opened but nothing was taken from them and no attempt had been made on the safe, which is embedded in concrete. Captain Fairchild, who arrived at Wel lington in the Tutanekai on Sunday, ' states that the sea is covered, ail the way from the Brothers to within two miles of Wellington Heads, with dead fish, including fcerakiki, groper, and ling. They appeared to have been dead about three days. Cap tain Fairchild thinks that there must have been a volcanic disturbance somewhere. Says the Wellington correspondent of the iV<?.« the deuial of the management that there was any warrant for the rumor that Mr H. Macketzie had severed his connection with the Bank of New Zea land, the rumor persists. A gentleman of re'.iability on all such matters told me that Mr Mackenzie was " not coming back," and it is also alleged that Mr Mackenzie will be transferred to some brauch office. The Press' correspondent wires that Mr Wilford, the sitting member for Wellington Suburbs, has filed a counter petition in the I Supreme Court in answer to the petition of those who object to his return. If only half the allegations be true it will be a most in teresting inquiry. He charges wholesale bribery both in money and meat and drink, paid committeemen and canvassers, corrupt influences, payment for conveyances, and almost every conceivable offence against which the electoral law provides. The usual routine of the Ashburton sale yards was varied a little this afternoon by an impromptu trot that was suddenly arranged between Mr Rudolph Friedlander's pony and Dr Morris's mare by Betrayer. Both owners fancied their respective equines, and the doctor was willing to give the pony thirty seconds in a mile and a hilf. The track was made for, and the Bporta at the yard soon scented the sprint, and gathered in fair numbers. "Go" was given, and after a good race, the pony, trotting the more steadily of the two, came in an easy w inner. Time—6.24 Referring the other day to an iustance of the miscarriage of some Christmas cards posted at Ashburton, the intended recipient, a lady at the Thames, having received a totally different set of cards evidently intended for some-one else, we suggested that some-one, after the two packages had been posted, must hive opened them to look at the contents and by mistake have returned the cards to the wrong envelopes. From information recently obtained, we have, however, learned particulars which suggest *a much more feasible explanation and one which entirely exonerates any employee of the Post Office from suspicion of tamper ing. It seems that last Christmas and New Year the number of cards* posted was quite phenomenal— at some offices there were sackfuls and in many instances the conents of the envelopes in dropping these from the slit into the letter-box fell out, and it was often quite impossible to ascertain which cards belonged to which envelopes. The officials could only make a guess at it and in some cases may have guessed wrongly— heuce some addressees may have reoeived cards other than those intended for them by the senders. There is thus evidently no blame attachable to the Department.

SPORTING.

D.J.C. AUTUMN MEETING.

Dunedin, February 1. The following weights were declared at I noon to-day for the Dunedin Autumn meet ing ;— First Hurdle Race, of 100 bovh. j Two miles.—Clarence list 101b, Lobo 10st 131b, Ilex lOst 111b, Rebel 9st 13lb, Belmont 9st 12ib, Silverstream 9st. Stewards' Purse Welter Handicap, of 100 soys. Six turlongs.—Marino lOafc 31b, Marquis of Zetland 9st 12lb, Toxa 9 b 610, St Patrick 9st 31b, Aldershot 9st lib, Black and Red 9st, Victim and Remorse 11. Bst 121b, Vandyke and St Ouida Bst 111b, Tangi Maid Bst 101b, stimulant Bst 91b, Moby Darling Bst 81b, Emmalineßst7jb, Leonaand Bime allist Bst 51b, Kancor, Izal, Goldspur Bst 31b, Tiara, Lady i ear, The Gleaner Bst 21b, tale of the War, Maximi ianj Field Marshal Bst llb, Miss Charm, Lady Prioress, . Grand Guard Bat.

[ A Press Association telegram received I this morning from Hawera sta'es thab | acceptances for the Egmont Cup, Waimate | Handicap, First Handicap Hurdles, and i Welter Handicap have been extended to February 3.

Presbyterian General Assembly

WritiDg of the approaching meeting of the approaching session of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church ot New Zealand, the Lyttelton Ti7ms points out that greater interest than usual will attach thereto. In the first place, the union with the church of Otago and Southland is expected to be con summated, and this event will excite wide spread interest. The subject of missions is also likely to attract a good deal of attention from the fact that the Moderator of the Assembly this year is the Rev Mr Watt, of Tanna; while the Rev Dr Paton, also cele brated for his work in connection with the New Hebrides mission, is coming from Melbourne to attend the Assembly.. The opening of the session will take place on Tuesday evening next at St Andrew's Church. It m^y be mentioned that it is three years since the Assembly last met in Christchurch.

THE STORM AT NAPIER.

I PER PRESS ASSOCIATION. Napier, February 1. I The wind has fallen, and the rain ceased. ' The barque Rangitikei was to-day towed to $ safe anchorage by the Dingadee. Four yachts were sunk in the inner harbor during the gale. It can vow be seen that the top of the breakwater is much knocked about. In the country the rivers are bank high, but no floods are reported except on low lying lands. In the Papakma district the gale and sea were the heaviest ever ex perienced here, and an immense amount of minor damage* was done to houses, sheds, orchards, and gardens. The sea is still heavy, but moderating. Nineteen telegraph poles between Napier and Hastings were blown down. j

San Francisco Mail.

Press Association—By Electric Telegraph— Wellington, February 2 The Postal D- payment at Wellington has been advised from Russell that a largi steamer pa fed twelve miles south of Cape Brett at 430 a. m She is believed to ba thp 3*o Fr»coi«<}Q mail ite»mer.

COMMERCIAL.

LONDON WOOL SALES.

Press Association—By Electric Telegraph- Copyright, London, January 31 Compared with the average of the Decem ber sales, good greasy merinos aud good style of erossbreds are from pttr to 5 per cent. dearer at the present series, while inferior and heavy conditioned wools are from 5 to 7£ per cent lower. The American buyers alone maintained the prices, the Home buyers being cautious.

Messrs Dalgety and Co., Limited, have received the following cablegram from their head office, dated London, 29th ult. :—. "Fr Zen Mutton —Prices are rather lower. New Zealand crossbred frozen mutton 3|d.. "Tallow—There is a steady demand for mixed, aud for beef tallow at 18s per cwt. (4Z_ and for 44^ Titre at 9d more)."

CHRISTCHURCH GRAIN AND PRO DUCE MARKET.

The Lyttelton Times of Saturday reports:— The inquiry for botli old and new wheat for the North Island still continues in the local market, and during the past few days several tair-sized parcels have been taken for ship ment on the basis of 4s s£d and 4s 6d f,o.b. for old grain and 4s Q|d for new. Amongst the local transactions in the latter are lines of 1100 bushels and 600 bushels of Hunter's and 600 bushels of Pearl; and of the old stocks 1500 sacks of Pearl and 500 sacks each of Tuscan and Hunter's. The first large sale of new season's wheat is reported from the ashburton district, where a line ef 12,000 bushels is said to have changed hands at 3s lld, in trucks. Local millers are fairly well stocked and, seem indepen dent of the new crop, ab hough the mills are running night and day to cope with the local orders and shipping contracts for flour. This points to the conclusion that last year's yield was considerably more than wm expected, and it could have been little, if any, short of the estimates formed by the Agricultural Department. Complaints are again made this year of the praotiee of farmers threshing straight out of the stook. Some of the samples of wheat whioh have come to market show unmistakeable signs of having been threshed before an oppor tunity was given tho grain to mature. The consequence is that the grain shrivels very soon, and is entirely unsuitable for milling or storing. Any samples of prime malting barley are readily snapped up at quotations, and the opinion i« gaining ground that this class will be very short this year. A sample which has come down from the Blenheim district, which generally grows excellent barley, ia of very poor quality, and it is,re ported that this crop in Marlborough dis trict is more or less a failure. The demand for oats, either old or new, does nob seem to improve, and very few sales are reported, althouh some very fair samples have been shown. Amongst the parcels df new season's which have changed hands are a line of 800 sacks of fair average Duns at ls9d, ex store, Christchurch. Ryegrass is now coming for ward freely, and there are still numerous inquiries from the North jjsland, and sales continue to be made at from 2s 3d up to 2s 9d for extra heavy, clean,.old pasture seed. Very few samples of cocksfoot have been offering from the Bays, and this is generally attributed to the fact that several local and Dunedin buyers are now on the Peninsular. A large quantity of both ryegrass and cooks foot will be wanted in Canterbury this year to sow down the pastures which have been ruined by the recent fires, the area of which is stated to be quite 100,000 acres. Although Early Rose potatoes and onions are both offering, it is difficult to give any idea of priceß, as sellers' and buyers' ideas of values are at present very far apart. The following are current prices for old grain and the prices at which the new season's has opened :— Wheat.—Pearl (prime milling), old 4s 6d, new 4s; Tascan, old 4s sd, new 3s lld; Hunter's, old 4s sd, new 3s 10d; good seconds, old 3s 4d to 3a 6d, new 3s. OAT3.—Old milling, 2s Id; stout feed, j old 23, new ls lld ; Duns and Danish, old ls lld, new Is lOd. Barley.—Prime malting, old 3s 6d, new 4s ; medium, old 2i 9i to 4s, new 3s 3d to 3s 6d. Oatsheaf Chaff.—Nominally 40s to 42s 6d at handy country stations for prime samples. Grass Seed.—Ryegrass, farmers' lots 2s 4d to 2s 10J, machine-dressed 3s 9d, heavy weight 4g to 4s 3d. Cocksfoot, farmers* lines 3d to 3|d, town machine-dressed. 4±d tosd. Dairy Produce. —Cheese 3d to 4d, loaf 2£d to 4|d. Butter—Fresh factory 9d, prime dairy 6d to 7d, salt (in boxes) 5d to Yd. Bacon and hams 6Jd to 7£d. The above prices, except where otherwise stated, are those paid to farmers f.o.b. at Lytteb.on.

The Press of even date quotes m follows, f.o.b. Lystelton, except where otherwise specified :— Wheat — (Last Season's)— Pearl (prima milling), 4s 5d to 4s 6d, Tuscan, 4s 4d to 4s sdj Hunter's 4s 3d to 4s 4d, good seconds 3s 2d to 3a 3d. Oats —(Prime milling), 2s ldj stout feed Is lld, fair feed ls lOd, .Duns Is lld to 2s, Danish Is lOd. Barley—Malting, prime, 3s 6d to 3s 9d } medium do, 3s ; feed, 2s to 2s 3d. Beans—Well saved, 2s Bd, Peas—Blue Prussians (nominal) 4s to ss, feed varieties 3s to 3a 6d. Oatsheaf Chai-jp—(Nominal). Grass Seed—Ryegrass, farmers' lots, 2s 3d to 2a 9d ; machine dressed 3a 6d to 3s 3d, and heavy shotty seed ap to 4s. Cocksfoot, (nominal), 3d to 3fd, town machine dressed, 161b seed 4|d, 17*b seed 5d to s*d. Cow grass, (nominal) 5d to 6d. White clover (nominal) 6d to 7_d. Alsyke (nominal) 5d to 6d. Dairy Produce— Cheese 3d to 4d, loaf 3|d to 4|d. Butter.factory 9d, dairy 6d to 7d, Bait (in boxes) 5d to 6d. Bacon 6Jd, do. roll b_d to 7d ; hams 7£d.

The New Zealand Farmers' Co-opera tive Association op Canterbury, Ltd., quote as follows on January 26, 1897 ;— Old. New. Wheat- Prime milling Pearl 4s 7d 4s Id f.o.b,  „ Tuscan 4s 6d 4s „  „ Hunter's 4s 6d 4s „ Seconds clean ... 3s 6d 33 ho.bi Oats- Tartars and Duns... lslld ls lOd  Good stout feed ... 2s Is lld  Milling ... „. 2* Id 2s „ Barley— Prime malting M 3s 6d 3s 9d» „ to 4s Medium (dull) ... 3s 3d 3s 6d „ to3s9d Beans.. ... ... 2s 8d f.o.bj Peas— Prussian blues .... 3s 6d to 3s 9d „ Partridge., ., 3s 3d „ Ryegrass— Farmers'lines ... 2s to 2s 6d Ch.Ch Cocksfoot- Good bright seed Z_d to 3|d  Medium grades ... 3d to 3_& t|

OAMARU MARKETS.

The Notth Otago limes of the Ist inst., reports:—The market is without animation, in fact theie is absolutely nothing doing, and some firms refuse to quote* prices, a« they are not buying, and are indifferent. What the market will open at for new wheat is not known, but that fact will coon be ascertained, for the new crop will soon be available. The following are the quotations, but as we have heard of no transactions they can be taken as merely nominal: Wheat is quoted locally at, for velvet 4s 9d; red chaff, 4j 5d to 4s 6d. Danish oats, la 10d to Is lld (f.0.b.), and short oats 2s ; barley, 2s 9d to 3s (Oamaru) j Cape barley, 2s 4d to 2s 6d. Ettgs, 9d; butter, 5d to 7d.

VBm% asbmetom guaediam? Tuesday, februari % \m



Business Notices G. J. NEILL IS SELLING WASHING PRINTS at Z_d per yd ; WHITE MUSLINS 5s lld per doz G. J. NEILL IS SELLING DOUBLE-WIDTH SERGES in Navy, Brown and Maroon, at ls per yd G. J. NEILL 18 SILLING MEN'S ALL-WOOL SUITS at 23s 6d ; Men's Tweed Trous3rs 5s lld (j. J. NEILL IS SELLING BOYS' SUITS at 4s lld each G. J. NEILL IS SELLING-Men's Bluchers at 4s lld Men's Nail Shooters ... ... la ua Men's Shoes 53 lld Women's Shoes ... ... « lld Women's Strap Shoes 4s lld G. J. NEILL DEFIES COMPETITION IN BOOTS Every Pair Guaranteed to Wear and give SATISFACTION FRIEDLANDER'S CORNER, EAST STRRET. PERFECTION OF CYCLE BUILDING. AN IDEAL MOUNT. DESIGN j CANNOT PAIL ELEGANCE WORKMANSHIP I JL O UHi J-jAvXD--1- QUALITY j THE MQST MATERIAL AND STRENGTH EASE AND COMFORT FASTIDIOUS CRITICS. J THE FIVE MILES CHAMPIONSHIP OP AUSTRAL \SIA waa won by Ken Lewis on bis RUDGE-WHITVYORTH, fitted with Dunlop Tyres. FOR SALE BY JOHN ORR & CO., ASHBURTON. -jgjT ~ """"^ST IMPORTANT NOTICE We have iust landed, direct from the Manufacturers, ex e.s. Rimutaka and OtAbama, a Grand Assortment of LINOLEUMS, CARPETS, FLOORCLOTHS, Etc., to be Sold at PRICES iO MEEI' THE TIMES. INSPECTION INVITED. Note the Address— T. H. UNDRILL & CO., CABINETMAKERS & UPHOLSTERERS, TANCRED STREET (Opposite Aicade) Picture Framing a Specialty. Venetian Blinds Made to Order. Agents for Olegg's Perambulators.



Business Notices. NEW ZEALAND Clothing* Factory, gOLE AGENTS FOR THE FAMOUS " VICTORY " SEWING MACHINE. — _3 % kt ! m a fj f_\ p (^ Sc l § _*A * H I $* § s^l ° Q * W w O B . Ph M o X g Q « P ' Hal £;" ■ o m w■ a & g■ 6 S o w feM-'Ji _ '" ■■■-■ .'IL-J--J^-»"!""yJg!g^W Church Services. 5 — S V T. STEPHEN'S CHURCH, Ashburton. FRIDAY—Choir Practice, 8 p.m. SUNDAY SERVICES. 11 a.m.—Morning Prayer and Holy Com munion. 3 p.m,—Greenstreet. 6.30 p.m.—Evening Prayer. REV. HAROLD PURCHAS. WANTED Known—The Economic Kid Glove, four buttons, Is 9d per pair, is the Glove for every day wear.— W. H. Collier.



OUR FIRST SALE, COMMENCING SATURDAY, JANUARY 30 MITCHELL & BRODRIBB, THE CENTRAL CASH T&ADERS, NEXD TO J. ORR & COS IRONMONGERY DEPARTMENT, BAST STREET. ERUPTIONS IN THE DRAPERY TRADE. have decided to eclipse all, with the result that one cut has been made at our new stock, which has severed the price in half. No old Stock, no out of date shelf-worn goods to palm off on a sensible public. Our Clean, New, and Stylish Stock at just half the 1 usual price The cry is—How ia it done ? Here you have it :No Bad Debts, No Credit which enable us to lose directly, a portion of whab the credit traders are losing indirectly. With this difference—At MITCH OIL and BRODRIBB'S all are treated alike ;at the credit houses the good customers have to pay for the bad ones. Make no mistake. We want your money, and feel assured that the few following sample prices wiil bring it. Space wiil not allow us to quote more than a very condensed list, bnt this is a sample of the bargains offered you :— 9 pieces Light Print at 3s lld per doz yards Usual Price, 7£d per yard 16 pieces Dark Print at 3s lld per doz yaula Usual Price, 8d per yard 22 pieces Gingham Prints, 4s lld per doz yards Usual Price, 9,1 per yard 19 pieces Floral Crepons, 4s lld per doz yards Usual Price, lld per yard 17 Fancy Brilliant Cloth, 7£d per yard Usual Price, ls 3d per yard 7 pieces Plain Crepon, 5a lld per doz yards Usual Price, Is per yard .11 pieces Stripe Zephyr, 6* lld per doz yards Usual Price, Is 3d par yard 8 Plain Zephyr, 63 per doz yards Usual Price, Is 3d per yard 22 pieces Cashmere Cloth, 4a lld per doz yards Usual Price ls per yard 10 pieces Mourning Cloth at the ridiculous price of 3a per doz yarda. We assure you that at this very important sale both you and ourselves will have a spanking time. White Calico 2s lld per doz yards Usual p: ice B_A per yard White Sheeting, 2 yards wide, 10id per yard Usual price ls 6d per yard Nainsook 4£d per yard Usual price 7£d per yard White Turkish Towels 5s 6d per doz Usual price 9d each Silsias 6 yards for Is lld, worth double Hundreds of Cheap Dress awaiting inspection Double width Tweeds la per yard Black and Colored Cashmeres from Is per yard up Ladies Black Lavantine Paragon frame Umbrellas from 2s 6d, 3s lld, 4s lld, etc. Ladies" Sunshades all colors from 3b lld Black and Colored Velveteens from ls6d per yard up A mixed lot of children's sunshades all colors from lld each HOSIERY—-The besb value in the trade. Plain and Ribbed Cashmere Hose from Is up. Plain and Ribbed Black Cotton GLOVES Gloves —Aterge van. ty Cheap and Good. A beautifil Kid Glove, any shade, at 2s lld. Lower lines from la 6d upwards. Cashmere GlovfS 4£d, 6d, 9d, and Is per pair. Gaggety and Silk, from ls 3d upwards. BLOUSE * Blouses Blouses.-—We have sold more of these goods than any house in town. What we have on hand—About ' sixteen dozen will be cle.red from Is lld, 2s 6d, 2s lld up j just half price. All musiin and fancy Aprons just half what you will piy anywhere else. MILLINERY Millinery-Price cut in half. Trimmed Hats from ls lld upwards. The beat value in the trade. Startling Bargains in the Clothing and Mercery Depigments. A few Harvester Hats, 6id. Seamless Merino Sox, 6d. Regatta Shirts, all sizes, 4s 6d. Brown cotton pants, ls 6d. Heavy Working Shirts, 2s 6d. Men's strong Moles, 6s 6d. Tweed Trousers, special 8a 6d, Colonial 8= lld. Mens Tweed Suits, 21s 6d. Men's imitation Fox's Serge Suite, 29s 6d. Sailor Tweed Suits, 6s lld, size 1 to 7. Choicest stock of Ties and Scarfs in Ashburton. All our Boots and Shoes reduced Hard and Soft I elts is endless variety. Mohair Boob Laces, 3J per dozen. Heavy Kaiapoi Sox, la. Kaiapoi Under £la»nels, 3s lld. DO NOT FORGET MITCHELL & BRODRIBB'S FIRST SALE. NKXT TO ORR & CO, EAST STREET ASHBURTON. I



My little boy, when two years of age, was taken very ill with bloody flux. I was advised to use Chamberlain's Colic, Cholera and Diarrhoea Remedy, aud luckily pro. cured part of a bottle. I carefully read the directions and gave it accordingly, He was very low, but slowly and surely he began to improve, gradually recovered, and is now as stout and strong as ever, I feel sure it saved his life. I never can praise the Remedy half its worth. lam sorry every one in the worl 1 does not know how good it i-, a» I do.— Mrs Lina S. Hiuton, Grahams ville, Marion «.'o., Forida, For sale by



Synopsis of New advertisements. Mitchell and Turner—New business adver tisemtnt. Ashburton Permanent Building Society- I Monthly payments. G. J. Neill—N'ew business advertisement. Ashburton Drapery Company—New busi ness advertisement. Horticultural Show and promenade con cert—February 11. Miss Barnes -New niil'inery. Jewitt—Oysters. House to b t—Apply Bank N.S. W. T. Bullock—Property at Ruapuna to let. Fire Brigade—Annual meetiag this even ing.



Six weeks ago I suffered from a very [ severe cold; was almost unable to speak. My friends all advised me to consult a physician. Noticing Chamberlain's Cough Remedy advertised in the St Paul Volkf Zeitung I procured a bottle, and after taking it a short while was entirely well. I now most heartily recommend this remedy to aiyone suffering from a cold. Wm Kirn, 678 Selby Aye., St Paul, Minn, For »3 by Asmwsm Drug Oo^m* ~