SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE.

PORT OF LYTTELTON

J ARRIVED. W July 2 —Tanpo, s.s., from North. ' SAILED. July 2—Hawea, s.s., for North. ’ '-'July 2—Taupo, s.s., for Port Chalmers,

POST OFFICE NOTICES.

Mails at t'ne Ashburton Post Office close 5 follows : IA For Christchurch and North at io a.m., and 7.30 p.m., daily. For Chertsey at 10 a.m. daily. For Rakaia at IO a.m., and 4 p.m. daily, v For Ashton, Waterton, and Longbeach, at Nr.ls p.m. daily. ' ■ ‘ For Greenstreet, Ashburton Forks, Mount iomers, and Ashburton Gorge on Tuesdays ad Fridays at 10.30 a.m. k For Temuka, Timaru, and South at 10.15 t.m. and 3 p.m daily. ""For Timyrdd,'Winslow, Hinds, Coldstream, .. .Rangitata, Orari, Winchester, and Geraldine, it io. 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 Bimler, L. C. Cadle, 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 advertised, but are sent to the Dead Letter Office, after having lain for two clear months. -

ABSTRACT OF AUCTION SALES.

Thursday, July 4. R. Walton and Co., Christchurch,—2so acres, at Ashburton, close to town ; rural sections : Nos. 25587, 50 aaes ; 25603, 100 aci^s; 25668, 50 acres ; and 25704, 50 acres. { Saturday, July 6. I Bullock and'Co., Ashburton,—36 -acre build k ing allotments, adjoining township of Ash ■ burton, about 10 chains from North-east town ■?:, belt. jgi--:.. P"ji3r?e:s, Hassa?, and Co., Christchurch, —Land at South Rangitata, within half-a-miie of the P Railway Station, rural sections : Nos. 24163, So acres; 24164, 24 acres; 24165., 42 acres ; 24166, 43 acres ; 24167, 29 acres.

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.

ASHBURTON RETAIL LIST.

The Evening Echo. TUESDAY, JULY 2, 1878.

# It is a pity that some of the New Zealand farmers, and some in this dis • itrict too, are opposed to ithe holding of . ploughing matches, and So not seem to (enter into the work of getting up such ,'(contests with the enthusiasm and energy ijfegquisite to ensure theiij' success. Much <can be urged, no doub£, by individual farmers against large g/atherings of the .ploughs and ploughmen \pf a district for trial of skill in what ife perhaps the snest .important and necessary part of a < r < u <k l^rr. t v • but its only the

MJpPPm; mcr- oi ’.be gathering be objC'lca not the trial of shill itself. It is put forward by the i ’Opponents -of-public ploughing edinpe:! ■bpfchkms that .not • oxitv is a day’s work !•■;>-; j - ’’Xsending aqbough and its " captain ; | '< but dhr. whole •••• orb • .; '/-.V . J a. -stand-.‘ ui •"••o r. the i % r . okiivd's ’seh.day o* ‘aba? : p .•• *; ; or. ah •?' great day. f >snd*not infreqabvq a • demonihsadon :' .follows of the , wh;*G C rora 3 ;nv o -.:.r farm (that requires sevens;..,-jays to r.-. iv.. If hey hold also that-these r.q-n b -.prions fail. to .produce the kuprqvelb. -.;. ex yoypeeted of them either in. the quality px -amount of the ploughman's verb 7; ;;,iiid-mise;dther objections of a less hr : • ipcrtaßt -character. Ox course, the ♦owners-of ’the .ploughshare also the em ;.|f>lpyers-of tlie -ploughmen, and it the :f#?n»ei-s. , make ?. dead set against plough •bhjpg.'iisatches/ these must inevitably .cease •:bto- i l)e.-he)d. Bui it is to be hoped that, : before our by open nn„

ot the year’s list of events, or by apathy allow it to >die from want of support, *hey will give its benefits a fair consi deration.

“ God speed the plough ” ought to be the 'prayer , of every patriotic man, but prayer will go but a short way if a fair amount of effort is not made to back the petition. The Highland boatman knew the force of this reason ing when, in a s mail on. the loch; he was asked by a lady passenger if the Rev. Dr. Norman Madeod and another rev. fellow-passenger might not be re quested to pray for Divine help in the time of danger, lie replied—“ The little ane can pray, but the big ane’ll have tae tak an oar.” Whatever our farmers may think' about the difficul ties attending sending their ploughs to a match, there can be no doubt that men enjoy these contests and enter into them heartily. He is a clod? indeed, in any trade who not take a pride in superiority attained, or excellence reached, and those who mingle much amongst farm servants know the emulation produced by these contests exercises a healthy influence upon the sturdy fellows who guide the ploughs of the colony. Away in the comparative loneliness of the outlying districts, where the work of their neighbors is but occasionally seen, ploughmen have only an opportunity of measuring themselves with others when a ploughing match comes on, and as no Briton cares to be beaten if he can help it, and will not lie under the ban of being reckoned a “ duffer,” if the latent pluck and perseverance that are in him will ward it off, the contest is bound to have the effect., of forcihg a spurt that must ultimately tell.

The steam cultivator has found its way into Canterbury, but many years must yet elapse betore it drives the hand plough from the field, so that the young men of the farm must hold the stilts for a long future yet, and the ploughing competition must be re tained and cherished if an incentive to improvement is to be given to those Just beginning to take their place as the ploughmen that are to be. And when so much depends upon the excellence of tilth, we hope that the Agricultural and Pastoral Associations of the colony will not permit the time-honored cus tom of trying conclusions on the public field to fall away.

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Tlie County Council will hold its usual monthly meeting to-morrow, at the usual time.

Medical. —At the meeting last night of the Foresters’ Court Star of Ashbur ton Drs Trevor and Kesteven were, ap pointed Court Surgeons. Permanent Building Society. —lnvestors in this Society are informed that its office is now removed to the shop in East Street, lately occupied by Mr Bowers, artist, where payments will in future be received. Oddfellows. —The Loyal Ashbur ton Lodge will celebrate its anniversary on the 23d inst., the celebration t: king the form of a public dinner a the Somerset Hotel, at which' 'Jr James Wilkie will be chairman.

Ploughing Match.—At a meet ing of the Committee of the Agricul tural and Pastoral Association yester day, in the Somerset Hotel, to .make arrangements for the intended plough ing match, it was decided to continue the champlc n class tor double furrow ploughing, and *.o leave it open for all comers, giving a drat prize oi s /,6 6s. wit!*, the Sod at :; ~oid medal, and a second prize ip..;-- A - single'furrow ploughing she champion fust prize will be A 5, v/i.'h n;edvd : , and the second •£4. The las-, year’s prizes will be repeated for other competitions, The tmitcA will be held in a paddock offered by Mr/-lay'T. Smith, near Mr. Hunt’s farm, a.-.' will be held on the 17th , instead ef the 10th of this month.. ; h-essrs. Brinson, Bruce/ Hunt, and Smit-Xare thb.comtnittee to lay off the grouhvx ■/ ixi ridia —lt isolated that small-pds, is si>; : very severe both at Cavmpore ak! Li now. Half of tne .Buffs are out n. owing 10 an epidemic pi the c iu a former station, ana at the otnenrs ft’iicl it lady have been by if

Sensible Brute. About two months ago, a horse belonging to. Mr. M'Farlane; of Wangaloa; which h id Bet n very littleshandled, was taken from the stable to be put jn the cart, but was so unmanageable as to defy the efforts of some six or seven men. About an hour afterwards an old man nearly. 6p years of agedequiring the cart for some pur pose went into the stable, and thinking the animal,was one of the quiet horses, put the harness on him, and yoked him up; and to the surprise of the rest of the .men, who were watching-at ' a dis tance,..he started with the cart as quietly as if he had been in it all his life,- and has . been working quiet to this day.— Bruce Ha aid. • . .

Is 4d per pound in Dog Tax. —The' collector of the dog tax for the Bruce County Council went collecting to a man * at' Waiha'lo, Who, it was thought, had a dog,, but , who, upon the collector’s calling, swore he had.,not. The collector went into the man’s house, sat down,, and talked for a while,, and. in the-course of conversation hap pening. to say, “ Any dog for which no license has been taken out is liable tp be destroyed,”, was astonished to. sec the cover of a camp oven fly off, a terrier jump out of the oven/and rush out at the door, with a yelp. The man' of the house and the collector looked at each other for a time; Then the collector began to fill up a receipt for ten shillings, and the man began to get ten shillings out of a tin cannister. on the chimney piece. It is said that he weighed the dog subsequently, and found that he paid is. 4d. a pound for him. He now asserts that this was too much for a “ wee-bit doggie.”— Bruce Herald.

“ Jock Graham.” —It will be seen from the following paragraph taken from the Btuce Herald that the celebrated “ Jock Graham,” of cane-bottomed chair celebrity, is still in the land of the living. Many now in Ashburton may remember Jock’s visit to Canterbury about six years ago, when he stumped the country in his unceasing efforts to put dowfi Spiritualists, and to sell his book : —Jock Graham is so well-known to almost every one in this Provincial district, that it may interest our readers to know that the sole male representa tive of the celebrated' Claverhouse family is alive and flourishing, having lately taken unto himself a wife. In his snug bookstall, near the Dunedin railway station, he lays down the law on things in general to those who happen to drop in for a chat, and he also in forms us that he does good business as a writer of letters for those whose edu cation has been neglected. On his signboard he has had written a short statement of his career in New Zealand, and he has not forgotten to mention that he and the Eon. John Bathgate were the first exporters of domestic cats ts the West Coast.

DIRT THROWING.

There are more adepts in the colony in the art of dirt throwing than those we meet at own doors, as witness the fol lowing from the Auckland Evpiing Star :—-

8 “ There is a miserable little rag in existence in a bucolic region called Ash* burton, which is known to the half-score of squatters, who keep the thing going, as the Ashburton Mail. The print' is about the dimensions of an ordinary s heet of foolscap, and contains Two small local paragraphs, a little telegram, two or three scraps which have been cut out of newspapers three or four months old, and a handful of quack -medicine and dummy advertisements. On the principle that little curs bark ♦U. ost this pun v little rag, which is ; *rfe enong; to contain a pat of :, uvt . u , >,teiy itself up as the censor of men and morals. In a contri bution, styled “The Lounger/’ which is utterly destitute of literary ; Kilty, anc! is evidently the labored coi t.vv.T’on <>t some bumptious, clodhoppirg. no ra mus, wire has never travelled. h-aond the grazing grounds of hts own <vy,vs, we v d the following choice ser.tersce •-« My friend Swigs characterises .Auck land as the (own of literary squash, flimsy women, land jobbery, and poli tical jugglery.” We should like to see the impudent fool who scrawled this drivel. If he will but pay Auckland a visit, we promise him a cheap bath m the odoriferous depths of the Intake, ft evident from the off-hand, style of Tc parngraph above quoted, that the •friend Swigs vas a pint of Ashburton -*o,o rua!,: ’ arid that the paragraph was scrawled off in a country pothouse. If the people of Ashburton and its women, ■whether they be flimsy or substantial, consider ‘‘The Lounger’s” -style of writing smart, and support the illiterate clodhopper in his saucy cackling, then Ashburton must be squashy enough in all.conscience.” A

THE REVENGE.

The - Poet-L aureate*? Last Poem.

From the Nineteenth Century.

Apart from the fame of Mr. Tenny son, the peculiar appropriateness of the' following poem to the present time, -when-a ..solution of the great. Eastern question is pending, hand when our -fleet is so much depended on, is suffi cient reason for reprinting the poem in its entirety. . . a-.: ;-

At Flores, in the Azores, Sir Richard Grenville lay. ' . •;•••„ ’ ■;. ~ And a pinnace, like a flutter’d bird, came flying far a-u’ay :- . •; “ Spanish Ships.of war at seal. we have sighted fifty-three !” Then swafe Lord Thomas Howard : “.’FdrQ God I am no coward ; • But I cannot meet them here, for ray ships are out of gear, And the. half my men are sick. I must fly, but follow quick. " • .■. ■< • . We are six ships of the line; can we fight with . fifty-three?” Then spake Sir Richard Grenville : { ‘l know _ you are no coward ; “ • You fly them for a moment to fight with- them again. But I’ve ninety men and more that are lying ■ sick ashore. . ... ' T should count myself the coward- if I left them, my Lord HoWard, . To these Inquisition dogs and the devildoms of Spain.” So Lord Howard past away with five ships of war that day, Till he melted, like a cloud in. the silent summer - heaven } .. : . . . • But Sir Richard bore in hand all his sick men from the land Very carefully and slow, ‘Men of Bideford in Devon, And we laid them on the ballast down below j For we brought them all aboard, And they blest him in their pain that they were mot left to Spain, To the thumbscrew and the stake, for the glory of the Lord. , • He had only a hundred, seamen to work the ship and to fight, And he sailed away from Flores till the Spaniards came in sight, With his hugeJsea-castles heaving upon the weather bow. “ Shall we fight or shall we fly ? Good Sir Richard, let us know, For to fight is but to die ! There’ll be little of us left by the time this sun

beset.” And Sir Richard said again : “ We be all good Englishmen. . Let us bang these dogs of Seville, the children

of the devil, For I never turn’d my back-Don or devil yet.” Sir Richard spoke and he laugh’d, and we roar’d a hurrah, and so The little Revenge ran on sheer into the heart

of the fpe,. With her hundred fighters on deck, and her ninety sick below ; For half of their fleet to the right and half to the left were seen, And the little Revenge, ran on thro’ the long

sea lane between. Thousands of their soldiers look’d down from

their decks and laugh’d .Thousands of their seamen made mock at the

mad little craft Running on and on, till delay’d By their mountain-like San Philip that, of

fifteen hundred tons, And up shadowing high above us with her . yawning tiers of guns, Took the breath from our sails, and we stay’d. And while now the great San Philip hung above

us like a cloud . Whence the thunderbolt will fall 'Long and loud, Four galleons drew away From the Spanish fleet that day, And two upon the larboard and two upon the starboard lay, And the battle-thunder broke-from them all. But anon the great San Philip, she bethought herself and went, Having that within her womb that had left her ill-content; And the rest they came aboard us, and they fough tus hand to hand, For a dozen times they came with their pikes and musketeers, - : And a dozen times we shook ’em off as a dog that shakes his ears When he leaps from the water to the land. And the sun went<down, and the stars came out far over the summer sea, But they never a moment ceased the fight of the one and fifty-three. Ship aftei ship, the whole night long, their high-built galleons came, Ship after ship, the whole night long, with her battle-thunder and flame; Ship after ship, the whole night long, drew back with her dead and her shame. For some were sunk and many were shatter’d, and so could fight us no mox-e — God of battles, was ever a battle like this in the world before ? For he said “Fight on ! fight on !” Tbo’ his vessel was all but a wreck j .And if chanced that, when half the summer r ight was gone,. W-j- :: grisly wound to be drest he had left the 'U-cT, , But a bullet struck him that was dressing it sud denly dead, A v himself he was wounded again in the side - s.ad the head, Ace :>e said “ Fight on ! fight on'!” 'o :he bight went down, and the sun smiled. out far over the summer sea, And the Spanish fleet with broken sides lay round ns all in a ring; Bur they dcred not touch us again, for they feared that we still could sting, So they watched what the end,.would be. And «ve had not fought them in vain, But in perilous plight were we, Seeing forty of our poor hundred were slain, And half of the res’t of us maim’d for life In the crash of the cannonades and the des perate strife; And the sick men down in the hold were most of them stark and cold. And the pikes were all broken or bent, and ' the powder was all of it spent,

'.''r And the masts and the rigging were lying over the side; ‘ ' : fi'. But Sir Richard cried in his English pride, “ We have fought such - a fight for a day anl 'a night ' ..•;*••• . - As may never be fought again ! We have won great glory; my men ! And a day less or more At sea or shore, : .v ; \r. ; We die—does it matter when? Sink me the ship,* Master Gunner—sink her, split her in twain ! Fall into tlie hands of God, not into the hands ■ of Spain!’.’ * ... ,

And the gunner said, “Ay, ay,” but the sea • men made Jreply,' *.\ *. • ' • - “We have children,''.we -have- wlvesi • - And the Lord hath spared our lives, " " '7 We will make the Spaniard promise, if we yield. 'v. 'to vv ... .We shall live to fight again arid'to strike- another *■' blow. ” And the lion there, lay.dying, and they yielded ; ' ,to .the foe;' . .. .. . . And the stately Spanish men to the flagship bore-him then .Where, they laid him by tlie mast, .old Sir Rich • 4 ard caught at last, s And they, .praised .htm'to his face with their coiytly foreign grace ; But he rose upon their decks, and he cried : “I. have fought for Queen and Faith like ,a . ; valiant man and true ; • ; I have only done my duly as a man is bound to do : . .. .. : y- .. . With a joyous spirit I Sir Richard GreVifie die?” And he fell upon their decks,, and he died.

And they stared at the dead that had been so valiant and true, And had hokien'the power and glory of Spain : " so cheap ■ •; ■;: y \*\ - That he dared her with one little ship and his English few ;H Was he devil or man ? He was devil for aught they knew, But they sank his body with honour down into - V the deep, ■ v . ■ . . . Aiid they.mann’d the Revenge with a swarthier alien crew,. . ’ And away she sail’d with, her loss and long’d for her own ; When, a wind from the lands they had ruined awoke from sleep, And the water began to heave and the weather to moan, And orever that evening ended a great gale blew,. And a wave like a wave that is raised by art earthquake grew, Till it smote on their hulls and their sails and their masts and their flags, And the whole sea plunged and fell on the shot shatter’d navy of Spain, - And the little Revenge herself went down by the island crags To be lost evermore in the main.

TELEGRAPHIC

[By Submarine Cable.]

London, June 29. Consols, 95 }£, exdiv.; Bank rate 3; market 2 Adelaide wheat, 50s. to 525.; flour 355. 6d. New Zealand 4 bonds are un changed; New South Wales four per cents, 103.

AUSTRALIAN.

Sydney, July i.

Sailed—Hero.

The revenue for last quarter was 167,830, showing a decrease of on the corresponding quarter of last year. The falling off is mainly due to the reduction of land sales. \> \

INTERPROVINCIAL

[Per Press Agency.] i

Napier, Monday.

The Education Board have bought out for certain lessees’ interests in the education reserve, upon which they intend to erect a large school for Napier. The site is centrally situated. Wellington, Monday. The j Evening Chronicle came out this evening enlarged to double-royal size. The remains of the late Henry Blundell arrived this afternoon per Easby, and will be buried to morrow. < An Industrial and Fine Arts Exhibi tion at the Working Men’s Club was opened by His Excellency the Gover nor to-day. Tuesday. At the Supreme Court to-day, in the case of Adolphus Frederick Hardy, committed at Gisborne ior trial at Wel lington, for striking and kicking some teeth out of a man who cursed Her Ma jesty the Queen, the Grand Jury made a presentment, stating the charge was without a title of evidence to support it, and that the country should never have been put to the expense in sending such a case for trial. Seven or eight witnesses had. been subpoenaed to attend. Blenheim, Tuesday.

A house was burned down at day break yesterday morning, at Mahaki pawa. It was in the occupation of Mrs. Hope, who hardly escaped in her nightdress. One child was burnt to death, and another is not expected to live.

Dunedin, Monday.

The Dunedin election resulted.in a majority for Olliver of in, the voting being— ' . , - Oliver ... ... 769 Reeves ... ... 658 Mr. Oliver’s party worked very hard, and scarcely any effort was made on behalf of Mr. Reeves. In the Police Coprt to-day Andrew

Ryan was charged with ‘having broken into St, in April last, with intent to rob. j ' He was remanded to Queenstown. •• During the six months ending 30th June last, there were registered 902 births,^ 2 deaths, and 214 marriages! - Tlmaru, Monday.. In the District Court-. .to-day the Corporation sued -the-Timaru Landing Service, for jrates 1 for..property ]6ti' the beach, of.which been paid into Court. Judge' Ward hefd'that the "property,'being half above and-half below' only-be claimed on half of it, and gave judgment-Tor £lO, the . Borough Coun cil to pay its own costs. This decision is likely to conflict with the Harbour Board’s interest,' as -their high water boundary is much higher up, and-they claim all the laud on which the build ings stand. -

SCENE AT THE FUNERAL OF LORD LEITRIM.

Describing the disgraceful scene at the funeral of Lord Leitrim, Free man'sjmbial says :—“ No -sooner was the gatt of the cemetery unfastened than the mob'burst through the-cordon of police, and was almost pourrtig in when the gate was forced out in their faces. Over a quartet of an -hour elapsed be. fore the coffin could be finallyiemoved* In the-meantime the., mob hooted and, voices came from the worst of them saying, “ Out with the ould ,” “Lug him out,” “ Dance on him.” With the utmost difficulty, by the aid of a double line of- policemen, the mob was held in check while the coffin was unhearsed and .removed on ,men’s shoiilders through the gate/ A great yell of exe cration was raised as the coffin passed in. Then came another rush, in which the chief mourners were rudely jostled against. the railings. The new Lord Leitrim, who was not recognised, was separated from his friends, hustled, and crushed severely before get safe inside the gate. But ler also came in for rough usage, and one of the Donegal mourners who got jammed against the wall, shouted; that they' were breaking ; hisv back. At last the funeral procession was safe within and the gate slammed’ to.’

THREATENED PESTILENCE.

The outlook everywhere is dark The depression of trade at home and our ' political complications abroad aye suffi ciently . gloomy. But from India also comes disquieting news.., The famine surmounted, its painful consequences are still felt. Clouds of insects ft aving escaped the birds, are settling- on thtsi new crops, and devastating again the newly-planted regions. In China, . vastness of the desolation, which volves 70,900,000 of human r-souls, pals, but prevents any great effort - ameliorate' their sufferings. Not thej best considered" scheme, Or the energetic appliances could overtake dreadful need. • Yet we shiver when -w<3B read of the prevailing horrors. TBjJjB letters of missionaries report that balism is increasing, and .cases are mentioned even in which children been boiled and eaten.. The plains sown with the dead, and the winds are .. already gathering into their wings and shaking abroad the seeds of pestilenqe^r f Nearer home, We are , threatened with the incursions of another plague.; ~ The Austrian Government proposes an International Commission for the disinfection of the ’ the "' late war, and is taking strong mea-sures to infection from its borders; In Rpumania' and Bulgaria, thousands of dead men lie half buried beneath the scanty soil, or not buried at. all, and the carcases of horses lie rotting iii un counted numbers beneath the open sky. In Asia, in the neighborhood of iKrze roum, 20,000 corpses are interred only two feet below the surface. ' These bodies are at present half but in the hot weather soon to commence will, unless they are cremated or con sumed by quicklime, cause such a plague that speedily the country wi|i be one great charnel-house. r ln Erzerpum there are 12,000 people down with typhus. Thence the mischief is carried to Hassan Kaleh, where there is a daily average of 3000 cases, and on to Kars. 1 |At Tiflis, there are 200 deaths every day.. The deadly poison travels with the convoys. Already, the “ spotted typhtik” as the country people call it, is spreading far and near, and devastating ; parts of Russia which have hitherto 1 only re motely suffered by the war with Turkey. In some of the central provinces there are villages in which half of the popular tion has died, and in the southern town trenches are dug ajornmjg capable a i

The Evening Echd, Tuesday, July 2, 1878.



s. d. s. d. Butter, inferior to best, 1? lb i 0 to I 2 Eggs, 1? -dozen 2 6 to q 0 Bacon, priaae smoked, lb O 10 to d 0 Havns in cloth, lb I 0 to 0 0 Cheese, prime quality, 1? lb o 8 to 0 Ip Flour in bags, <jp ioolb IS 0 to 0 0 Oatmeal, $ ioolb 26 0 to 0 0 Lard, tfffi - - - 0 9 to 0 0