ASHBURTON TRADE DIRECTORY.

Auctioneers-* Bullock and Co., East-Street Saunders Bros., Ashburton Accountants and Commission Agents Charles Braddell, Montgomery’s Buildings Bakers, Confectioners, Etc.— Thomas Hicks, Tancred-street Banks— Bank of New Zealand, East-street Union Bank of Australia, East-street Boarding House Keeper— J. G. Anstee, East-street Builders, Contractors, Etc. — James Baker, Havelock-street Geo. .St. Hill Burnett-street West G. Parkin, Steam Saw Mills, Moor-street Matthew Smith Moor-street Thos. Williams, Tinwald Booksellers and Stationers — A. Weston, Prospect Buildings, East-street Furness and Dixon, Stationers’ Hall, East street South Bootmakers — T. Chambers, Prospect Buildings, East-street M. Nealas, East-street Brewers— Wood and Co., Cameron-street Cab inetmaker's and U ndertakers— James Baker, Havelock-street G. Parkin, Moor-street Carrier — G. F. Scott, Cameron-street Chemist and Druggist— J. M. Cambridge, Montgomery’s Buildings Coal and Firewood Merchants— G. Parker and Co., near Railway Station A. Hayes, Firewood and Timber, near Rail way Station Drapers and Clothiers— Aitken and Co., Plavelock-street Orr and Co., East-street John Fowler, Tancred-street Firth, Pass, and Co., Old Bank Store, East street Engineers and Founders— Edwards and Lee, Engineers, Smiths, etc., Burnett-street W. J. Hessey, Central Foundry, Peters-st Grocers, General Dealers, Etc.— Aitken and Co., Havelock-street Orr and Co,, East-street Firth, Pass, and Co., East-street John Fowler, Tancred-street K. Sando, East-street Greengrocer— W. Birtwell, East-street Hairdressers — E. A. Garnett, Tancred-street A. Pearse, Moore-street Hotels — Quill’s Commercial Hotel, near Railway Station Shearman’s Somerset Hotel, East-street Ironmongers— Orr and Co., East-street Aitken and Co., Plavelock-street S. Plardley, East-street Painter, the.- — J. R. Chapman, Tancred-street Printers and Publishers— Furness and Dixon, East-street -Plumbers, Gasfitters, Tinsmiths, Etc.— J. C. Dolman, Tancred-street Joseph Ilyde, Tancred-street S. Hardley, East-stieet Saddlers — Thomas Dudley, Burnett-street Surveyors— C. E. Fooks and Son, East-street Tailors— Aitken and Co., Havelock-street TENTM AKERS — K. Sando, East-street Tobacconists— A. Pearse, Moor-street E. A. Garnett, Tancred-street A. Weston, East-street

POST OFFICE NOTICES.

Mails at the Ashburton Post Office dose a; follows : For Christchurch and North at 10 a.m., 4 p.m., and 7.30 p.m., daily. For Chertsey at 10 a.m. daily. For Rakaia at 10 a.m., and 4 p.m. daily. For Ashton, Waterton, and Longbeach, at 3.15 p.m. daily. For Greenstreet, Ashburton Forks, Mount Somers, and Askburton Gorge on Tuesdays and Fridays at 10.30 a.m. For Temuka, Timaru, and South at 10.15 a.m. and 3 p.m daily. For Tinwald, Winslow, Blinds, Coldstream, Rangitata, Orari, Winchester, and Geraldine, at 10.15 a.m. daily.

UNCLAIMED LETTERS.

The following letters are advertised at the Post Office, as having been received from places beyond the Colony, during the month .of April, and remaining unclaimed on the Ist July, 1878 : 'Banks, Williiam filmier, L. C. Ladle, W. C. ■Cairns, John, care of David Johnston Christie, Samuel Dunne, William Fitzgerald, John (2) Hall, John Harris, Mark Harris, Joseph Hayward, William Leahy Patrick (2) Leggatt, W. L. Orr, Robert Tourgis, A. (2)

Letters originating in New Zealand are not now advertised, but are sent to the Dead Letter Office, after having lain for two clear months.

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE .

ASPIBURTON RETAIL LIST.

SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE.

PORT OF LYTTELTONs arrived. July 10 —Easby, ?.s., from Port Chalmeis. SAILED. July io — Columbia, schooner, for Napier. T u i y io—Fairlie, schooner, for Sydney. July io—Easby, s.s., for Sydney via Wel lington. Port Chalmers, Wednesday. Arrived —Barque Elizabeth Portland, from Victoria, witb a cargo of bark and a complete rope-making plant for air. 'Donaghy, of Dune din’ Wellington, Wednesday. Arrived —Elizabeth, from Glasgow, with the plant for the Wanganui Gasworks, after a pas sage of 117 days. She is leaking considerably. Taupo, from Lyttelton, at 9 a. 111. Auckland, Wednesday. Sailed —Piero, for Sydney, at 12.30 p.m. TimaßU, Wednesday.-

Arrived Annie Bow, barquentine, from Newcastle, after a smart passage of twelve days. She experienced dreadful weather 011 the pnssJiijc* On the scvcnil sens bom dec! her, smashing the longboat and bulwarks. Sailed —Beautiful Star, for Dunedin ; Wan ganui, schooner, for Oamaru. , The Himalaya sails to-morrow. Another vessel will be put on direct as soon as possible.

The Evening Echo. THURSDAY, JULY 11, 1878.

Resident Magistrate’s Court.—As the Resident Magistrate’s Court has received notice to quit from the Road Board, the question naturally arises, Where will the Court be held? The Library Ilall will soon be converted into separate rooms in connection with the institu tion. The Town Hall is not suitable for such a purpose, and if it were, the rent would be too high for ever day business. In fact, there is no suitable place available in the town. There is, we believe, a section reserved for a Court Plouse (one of the best sections now unbuilt on); and why, we ask, should not Government put up a good Court Plouse at once, which could be used for a County or District Court, if such is ever established in Ashburton. Sooner or later a Court House must be built, possessing sufficient accommodation for the increasing re quirements of the place, which the Road Board Office does not possess. If the convenience of the public were consulted all the public offices should be in one block —under one roof—so that persons having business to transact in the County Council’s Office, or the Borough Council’s (when we get one), or at the Magis trate’s Court, could do so without time being spent in going to and fro as is the case now. Ashburton’s Progress. —To-day’s Puss contains the following paragraph : —“ The pro gress of Ashburton is a matter of notoriety. Among the new buildings in that town not' the least noticeable will be a row of ten two-storied houses about to be built for Mr Saunders. The ground floor of the houses will be used for shops and the upstairs for dwellings. The plan is .an elaborate one by Mr Jacobsen, show ing plate glass fronts for the shops from ceiling to floor, ornamental parapet with fancy brackets, pilasters of pannelled work, circular headed windows, &c.” Business at the R.M. Court. —On Friday last, Mr Campbell, t R.M., at the con clusion of the day’s business, stated that he would be unable to hold a Court here on Fri day, owing to being obliged to attend the As sessment Courts (of which he is Judge) in the other districts. To-day we learn that there are already over twenty civil cases set down for hearing to-morrow 4 week, and no doubt before next Monday there will be many more. The greater portion of them are disputed cases, in which the gentlemen learned in the law will have something to say, so that it will be im possible for the Resident Magistrate to get through them all, and we will again have a season in which cases will be adjourned from day to day, entailing great inconvenience and trouble to a number of persons. We trust Mr. Campbell will see his way to hold a Court, say on Tuesday, the 23rd, so as to ease that of the Friday following. The Ploughing Match Dinner. —We desire to correct an error we made yesterday through misunderstanding information supplied to us. We stated, in the paragraph “Amuse ments, &c.,” that the Ploughing Match dinner would be held in the Somerset Hotel. The Committee, the Secretary informs us, have not decided where the dinner will take place.

Advertising. Our enterprising towns man, Mr. Weston, we see, is erecting hoardings in various prominent situations in the town for advertising purposes. This was much needed. On the occasion of a theatrical or other company coming to Ashburton, it was a matter of no small difficulty to find a space on which to stick their posters. Mr. Weston seeing this has erect ed these hoardings, and we trust that he may find them profitable. The “Falcon” Disqualification.-- The sporting editor of the Australasian has ex pressed an opinion to the effect ‘•' that the Auckland Racing Club went beyond its powers in disqualifying Falcon.” All the particulars of the case were laid before that gentleman, so that the decision is a somewhat important one, as he is looked upon as a great authority on all racing matters.

The Chinese Question.—The working men of California say that they propose to re sist the immigration of Chinese—“peaceably if they car), forcibly if they must.”

I’ho Ok ford Wife Murder.— At the Coroner’s inquest yesterday, at Ferguson's Hotel, Oxford —before Caleb Whitefoord. Esq., acting Coroner—a verdict of “ Wilful Murder” was returned against Eguirs Hoff, the husband of the deceased, and the prisoner was remanded till next week for committal. The house the prisoner and his wife lived in was owned by William Barrett, who also lived in it. There was only one roonCin the building, without partition of any kind, the dimensions being about 10ft. x 20ft., and the beds only 18 inches apart. Barrett says Hoff was continually abusing his wife and frequently said she was unfaithful. Barrett, however, denies that Hoff had any cause to suspect his wife, and says she was s good woman and very kind and attentive to her husband. The medical evidence shows that the wounds were nine in number, five of them penetrating the brain, and three to the bone, testifying to a fierce and determined assault. The prisoner confessed to having given his wife a clout with a tomahawk, and to burning the house by placing some live coals on the bed. The woman never spoke after she was found lying wounded by the burning house.

Carlyle’s Habit of Writing.—Author-, ship, to Thomas Carlyle, is toil. Pie composes slowly, and no mode of expression pleases him. The manuscript is, when finished, very neat; and a page holds a large amount of his small, upright writing. But his proof-sheets are the terror of the printers. His fastidiousness as to his plainest thoughts causes him to correct and recast until the print of the proof-sheet is sur rounded by a mass of manuscript. Once when he was getting out a book he was annoyed at the slowness of the printer, and urged him to greater diligence. “ Why, sir,” protested the man, “ you really are so very hard upon us with your correction ! They take so much time you see 1 ” Carlyle, observing that he was used to that sort of talk, said, “I have had works printed in Scotland, and—” “Yes, indeed, sir.” interrupted the printer, “we are aware of that. We have a man here from Edinburgh ; and when he took up a bit of your copy he dropped it as if he had burnt his fingers, and cried out—“ Mercy on us ! have you got that man to print for? Nobody can ever tell when we shall get done—with all his corrections !’ ” Carlyle could not reply for laughing, and he left the office.

Anecdote of the New Pope.—The following is told of Leo XIII., when he was Bishop of Perugia. He was infonned that one of the cures in his diocese was so enthusiastic a sportsman as to neglect his parochial duties for the sake of shooting. Unwilling to believe so grave a charge on mere hearsay, the bishop ordered his carriage very early one Sunday morning, and drove into the village where the alleged Nimrod had the cure of souls. He found the villagers all assembled before the church, and when he inquired why they did not enter, he was told they were waiting for the citrato, who had gone out shooting. The bishop immediately attired himself in his robes and celebrated mass, and, as the curato had not returned, Pccci left his card at his house and drove off. Of course the next morning the poor man appeared ut Perugia, clothed in sack cloth and ashes. The bishop said, “ I ought to reprove you severely, and possibly suspend you altogether ; but I will be satisfied if you will take a solemn oath to do what I ask.” Of course the terrified culprit was ready to swear anything. “Very well,” said the rev. father, “give your sacred promise that next time you want to go out shooting on a Sunday or holyday, you will let me know the day before, so that I may take your place in church, and that your parishioners may not be deprived of their Sunday service.” Capital Punishment. —The abolition of capital punishment lias been tried in one of the cantons of Switzerland, but the result will not be satisfactory to humanitarian agitators. A few years ago the punishment of death was abolished in Fribourg. Murders thereupon became more frequent in that canton than under the old law, and it was noticed that many of them were committed without any apparently adequate motive. At last public indignation was aroused by a peculiarly atro cious crime. A married woman and her paramour, in order to facilitate their crime, hired an-assassin to kill the husband. The actual murderer was arrested, and in the course of his examination by the juge d'instruction confessed that he had undertaken to “put the victim out of the way ” in consideration of the modest sum of 40fr., or about 325. The astonished magistrate asked how he could agree to commit so great a crime for so trifling a re ward. The prisoner answered that he had heard that the penalty of death was abolished in that canton, otherwise he would not have ‘*done the job so cheap.” After this experience capital punishment was re-established by the Legislature, but, unfortunately, the author of the particular outrage enjoyed the benefit of his calculation, and escaped with his life. It may be worth while for our abolitionists at home to take this occurrence into serious consideration before they press their project again upon the attention of Parliament. — London Globe. Before he was Dead.—An Albany man, while sojourning in Colorado for his health, had his obituary written up by mistake in the home papers. Whereupon he wrote back cor recting the error, and plaintively describing his experiences in that li rely country. He said : “ There are three undertakers in town, and as soon as they saw the notice they all waited upon me and were extremely indignant at find ing me alive. One of them was very boister ous in his indignation, and insisted that I was trifling with the finer and more secret feelings of his profession, and had particularly outraged his feelings, he being the father of a family, and he absolutely reiused to leave the house without an order for his kind offices on a future occasion. His terms are half cash. One of my friends, of a particularly sensitive, and I might say jealous nature, sent a copy of the notice to a paper published in my native town, asking for an obituary, and pitching into the editor for not having published one before, and accusing him of a want of enterprise. I will say nothing of a disgraceful fight between the superintendents of two rival cemeteries on my account, and of the flowers I had to pay for because they would not keep.” Telephonic.—The ladies are all opposed to the telephone. They don’t care to have a young fellow whispering in their ears >vith his mouth twenty miles away.

TELEGRAPHIC.

LATEST FROM EUROPE.

The Eastern Situation. [By Submarine Cable.] Berlin, July 9. Prince Cmtschakoff has no objection to the transfer of Cyprus to England. A great part of the Continental press are opposed to it. London, July 8. Ministers have confirmed the conclu sion of the treaty with Turkey The Congress continues for a while. Russia retains Batoum, Ardahan, and Kars. The Turks promise reforms. England is to occupy and administer Cyprus forthwith. Sir G. Wolseley is appointed Governor. Congress is occupied with the limits of the Bulgarian frontier. . London, July 9. . Cyprus remains part of Turkey, the surplus revenues being payable to the Sultan. The British withdraw on the restora tion of Batoum, Kars, and Ardaham. The press generally approve warmly, but the Daily Neivs condemns the terms. The Channel squadron has gone to Cyprus. . The Home Minister, in reply to a question, said that Russia retaining Batoum, a defensive treaty of alliance has been concluded between England and Turkey. The Porte cedes Cyprus, which Eng land will forthwith occupy. July 10. Three regiments will embark for Cyprus immediately. The Australians scored T 72 in their second innings with the Orleans Club, which had two out for 137. The game was drawn. [Another telegram dated the Bth gives the scores as—Australians 171, Orleans 132.] The Australians will play at Swansea to-morrow. The British flag has been hoisted at Cyprus. The Austrian, French, and Italian Governments approve of the English treaty with Turkey.

AUSTRALIAN.

Melbourne, July 10. The Claud Hamilton sails next Wed nesday, the Tararua to-day, and the Alhambra on Thursday. Sydney, July 20. The Tanjore, with the Suez mails, arrived, at King George’s Sound. The Somerset is at Cooktown. It has been decided to hold an inter national exhibition next year.

INTERPROVINCIAL.

[Per Press Agency.] Auckland, Wednesday. At Newcastle, Waikato, Mr. Whita ker emphatically declared himself a supporter of the Grey Ministry so long as they continued their present progres sive policy. The Rev. Mr. Edger has resigned office as Grand Worthy Chief Templar of the North Island.

In banco to-day Judge Gillies, in the will case of Pierce and another v. Chisholm, ruled that trusts for twenty five years under will were bad, being against the rule of law relating to per petuities, also against Pholluson’s Act, and, therefore, must be set aside. A direction to lease real estate for the same period must fall ivith the other trusts, and the estate must be declared intestate, subject to certain accumula tions which must be equally divided between testator’s children.

Application was made for an appeal against the decision of' the Resident Magistrate, in which a farmer named Poll was fined under information by Mr. Lewis, sheep inspector, for having cne scabby sheep in a flock of sixty five. Counsel argued that the in spector only examined one sheep, and defendant had no knowledge of the in fection. The Judge ruled that where one sheep was scabby, it must be as sumed that all are scabby. The owner was bound to have a knowledge. The application was dismissed. The profit and loss account of the New Zealand Insurance Company for the half-year ending May was —Dr. to dividend half-year ending 30th Novem ber, 1877, ; commission, sala ries, and other expenses, ,-£24,640 os 8d; fire and marine losses, £46,412 6s 9d; appropriation for unpaid losses, £30,520; reserve fund, £35,000; balance, £18,773856d; total, £170,445 15sird. Cr., by balance from last half-year, £24,677 15s 1 id; appropriation for last half-year, £31,363 ; fire and ma rine premium (less re-insurances), £101,829 ns 7d; interest, rents, and transfer fees, £10,189 4 s sd; increased yalu§ of investments, £?37-6 4s 6d;

total, 15s 1 id. The Chair man, in moving the adoption of the report, referred to the keen competition with rival companies. The figures proved the New Zealand Company still held the premier position in the Colsny. The receipts were still maintained, not withstanding the exceptionally heavy losses. -The customary average was not exceeded, and a tangible sum was car ried to reserve fund. Every loss up to the. closing of the books was provided for. The paid-up capital was re-insurance fund, the new reserve fund, At the local annual meeting of the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency, the Chairman referred to the further issue of worth of shares to place further borrowing powers in the hands of the company. The de velopment of business rendered an in crease of capital necessary. The settle ment of waste a wide area for investment. The wool, grain, and other produce consignments of the company showed a large increase. Messrs. Browning and Stone were re elected directors. Napier, Wednesday. Colonel Lambert’s freehold estate at Ruataniwha, 7100 acres and 6000 sheep, all cattle, horses, and plant, was sold to Gillingham and Sons, of Lambrook, Canterbury, for Twelve months ago Colonel Lambert wanted £2 1,000 for the estate, but no one would give that sum. Eighteen months ago the property was valued at An action for libel is about to be brought against the Hawke's Bay Herald by Hugh McLean, about whom a letter appeared in the Herald some months ago, referring to him in a sar castic manner. McLean admits that there was no malice on the part of the Herald , but the letter has been destroyed and the writer is unknown. Invercargill, Wednesday. To-day was observed as a . public holiday on account of the opening of the Winton-Kingston line. The town was nearly deserted. The nomination of candidates for Invercargill election took place to-day. Messrs. J. W. Bain and H. Feldwick were the only candidates proposed. The show of hands was in favor of the former.

THE FUTURE OF CHINA.

Of all the countries of the world China possesses the potentialities of greatness in the most eminent degree. The soil is as a general rule fertile and produc tive, the population is eminently docile, intelligent, and industrious, with the ac cumulated experience and wealth of a thousand generations of civilisation, while the number of the people exceeds that of all Europe put together. Here, therefore, is the raw material of great ness. To achieve the greatness it only remains that this raw material should be wisely and skilfully used. If China is conquered it will be entirely owing to the blindness and perversity of the offi cial classes; as, rightly used, her re sources are such as should make her in vincible. These resources, however, re quire to be developed and organised in such a way that they can be handled with vigour and effect, else they will cease to be of any practical value. Here tofore two policies have contended for mastery in China—the policy of inaction and the policy of progress. Inaction implies weakness, and is beset with two dangers—one is foreign conquest and the other is internal revolution. It must not be forgotten that the veil has been lifted to a considerable extent which in former times was interposed between China and foreign nations. For years past thousands of Chinese have been domiciled abroad, and such of them as have returned to China must have car ried back the knowledge of what they have seen elsewhere. For many years past this knowledge has been per meating the lower strata of the Chinese people, and comparisons have been made between their own and foreign countries which have not been always to the ad vantage of China. A desire for improve ment has thus been spread abroad which, if not gratified by substantial progress, will naturally lead to disaffection, and thus the present dynasty, if hostile to progress, may be overturned from with in as well as from without. These are no imaginary dangers. Already the nu merous secret societies in China are a source of anxiety to the Government, and if they v r ere to be manipulated by such an unscrupulous Power as Russia in furtherance of her hostile designs they might be rendered truly formidable. It is important, therefore, from merely dy nastic considerations, to remove all rea sonable ground of complaint on the ■part of the most intelligent and enter prising section of the people, which is every year growing both in numbers and in strength, and such persons will not be propitiated, and ought not to be propi tiated, except by the introduction pf

those improvements which have given wealth and power to other nation. Every mandarin who resists the introduction of such improvements will be stigmatised as an enemy to his country and a secret ally of Russia, and a discontent, which is reasonable in its own nature and which is widely spread, it would be wholly im possible to repress. If the dynasty should adhere to its ancient narrow policy', it the conviction should arise—as it reasonably may — that the present sufferings of the people from famine have been greatly aggrava ted by the action of the Government in preventing the establishment of railways and other public works, which would have given remunerative employment to the starving people while facilitating the introduction of food to districts now almost inaccessible to relief ; and if the doctrine should spread that the want of intelligence in the Government is the greatest impediment to the national pros perity and safety, then it will assuredly follow that the Government will be swept away, and advantage may be taken of the occasion by the secret societies to sweep away the dynasty also. A heavy responsibility now, therefore, rests upon the advisers of the Dragon Throne. No temporising, no half measures will now do. Between the policy of inaction and the policy of progress they must make their election. Should they choose the former the Government is doomed. Re volutionary intrigues will gather force from just discontent, and even loyal subjects might begin to think that foreign conquests was not an unmixed evil, as it would rid them of the mandarins, and that any change might be for the better, and could not be for the worse.

SOMNAMBULISM.

It is not very uncommon to hear ot people who walk in their sleep, but it is rarely that such an extraordinary case of somnambulism is made public as that which was brought under our notice this morning by Mr. W. L. Treloar, who vouches for its accuracy. It seems that ■in the same house in which he is lodg ing in Bourke-street, is a young girl who has of late exhibited remarkable signs of her power of somnambulism, by rising from her bed in the middle of the night and parading about the house, and she had been noticed to perform these ec centric feats more particularly on the night following the morning in which she has been engaged making the beds. At about 3 o’clock in the mornings of the 4th and sth March she rose out of her bed and dressed herself, and walked up and down the stairs. About 11.30 on Thursday night she repeated the same performance, last night she eclip sed all her former proceedings, by get ting out of bed, dressing herself, and then coming downstairs and unlocking’ the door leading into the yard; after she had been there for, some minutes she returned, went upstairs again, and threw a quantity of dirty water out of one of the windows. She then came down stairs again into one of the lower rooms, which she dusted and set in order as if she were going through her ordinary household work. This being accom plished, the next part of the programme was to go outside and bring in a piece of matting, which was carefully laid on the floor of the room referred • to. Another journey was then made up stairs, and from one of the upper rooms she carried off the whole of the blankets, sheets, and bedding, which she arranged in the lower room, evidently for her own convenience; finding, however, that, instead of getting in the orthodox method of feet first, she crept in head first, upon second thoughts she deter mined to return the bedding to its former resting place; 'and accordingly, having rolled up the sheets and blankets, another journey was made, to the room on the second landing, where she depo sited her burden. After a short- interval the second part of the performance .was commenced by seizing a pair of slippers, which were conveyed td the lower room ; but not content with her last location, she went back to her own room, and although during last night her eyes were perfectly closed, our informant stated during her antics on former occasions her eyes had been wide open. While the girl-was put of her room last night, a lady went in and opened the window, and when the girl woke up this morning, she asked who it was had opened the window, showing that she knew it had been shut when she went to bed. She says, that while in her state of somnambulism she is quite cognisant of What' is going on around her, and if she met anybody on the stairs would be able to move aside to enable them to pass. While in that state the other evening she lifted a heavy portmanteau, which she failed to move in the morning, and when in such a condition, instead of moving steadily from place to place, it is stated that her impetuosity is remarkable inasmuch' as she makes a frantic rush for everything she wishes to lay hold ' Echo.

Ths Evening Echo, Thursday July if* 1878.



Sutter, inferior to best, $ ft s. 1 d. o to s. I d. 2 Eggs, dozen 2 6 to o O Bacon, prime smoked, $ lb 0 IO to 0 O Mams in cloth, 1? lb - I. o to o O Cheese, prime quality, If? ft 0 8 to 0 IO Flour in bags, $ 100ft 15 o to 0 o Oatmeal, # JQ0$ ' » ; $6 9 - to 0 0 >£ard, $ ft * "ft i f • ' ■ . Q $ |0 9 Q