POST OFFICE NOTICES.

Mails at the Ashburton Post Office close as follows :—■

For Christchurch and North at 10.20 a.m., 4 p.m., and 7.30 p.m., daily.

For Chertsey at iy.2o a.m. daily. For Rakaia at 16.20 a.m., and 4 p.m. daily. For Ashburton South, Winslow, Hinds, Coldstream*,'Rarigitata, Orai i, Winchester, and Geraldine at 10.30 a.m. daily.

UNCLAIMED LETTERS.

ia ruiLcAHA I Z diiv /Udi.L‘,B VN) I The following letters are advertised at the Post Office, as having been received froth places the Colony, during the month of February, and remaining unclaimed on the Ist May, •1878 : ' j i Gooch, George C. >/> i Gray, George ~. Hayward, Win. ~ ' J ‘ •i . Jnlister, Wm. Judkins, Lucas - letters originating in New Zealand are not now advertised, but are sent to the Dead Letter Office, after having lain for two clear months.. , , 1 ■ ..

The Evening Echo. TUESDAY, MAY 7, 1878.

, An its sitting yes.teyday the Ashburtojn Road dealt, with an application which is worth taking notice of. Mjr. Hutchinson, late niangg.er, to the firm of GUthrie ancf Larnacii, applied to the ' Boitrd for'tlVe'ri'ght to open the streets

and footpaths of Ashburton for the pufr- T gpose of laying down.gas .main vice pipes. The Board did‘not just.then. .4,-refuse the Application.;ijhey referred its fate'to their next meetinga month' hence; o:onbut'.ib was eyident; from; the-discussion of the question that a majority of the members were ;aVerSeffto. granting the, application, from anxiety to do nothing - that would; bfe 4himidal;,tdi the- interests of the Ashburton people. The letter from IVlri bwe his own sig al hatu.rei.an l gave no intimation whatever of agency for a company, 'or of pros pective existence df a-company ; ! the Board therefore had only before them the application of "it 1 single individual, t \y it h a utjapyii n dipatjo n> or hope held out that, should they concede the request made, a ! ga's supply would be laid down, -which, ri'oqld, under the control in any manner,‘direct or indirect, ofyhe peopje.of Ashburton. The course pursued' by tlie- Board in-the ci reuni on stances -was- a -wise one, and we could • not have found fault with their decision

had thpy. evert given; oVlri Stephen Hut ([ A chinson a direct ,and absolute refusal. )Ve .certainly, . ‘however,’ admire ‘ the plucky enterprise of Mr. Hutdh’inson, if he-meant-to institute a gasworks on his

own account ;-but our admiration coiild ,j ; yqr.y ; easily,.jre, turnqd to., an ,altogether 1 jiv4sra t '' Reeling ‘shpuld ,\yc learp.tlpat ,j .this _ application, > wasonly a ’cute, en v,.cJeavor .on the-part of a clever speculator ..ji.to steal a anarch on,tlie. town’s u. ties, and get to, windward of any com pany Started in' the [ future, who might then have to.buy_over, at a heavy price, r-:% right'j secured,; had the Board been caught napping. To ask such' a right reqtifire^' ! 6h ly •tv lbtitcv ;t6 Wve it granted . requires the . ’Board to be satisfied that Works will 'be erected,’ and the town

supplied with-'gfis, and such an under takingl ihvolves a 'large but lay of capital.

Ahynoneamay ask the. right, but every: •r.fj man.plucky, enough to do so is not in a v ..position to take all risk upon himself which suciV an'undertaking involves, so ,■.. that, however good Mr.. Hutchinson’s faith may have been, his letter came . uport'the Board without warning, with no guarantee that the works his letter prognosticated would become an accom plished fact, so that the Board was fully justified in not recklessly giving away to a sirigle individual a valuable right, which is the property of the people. Should Mr:‘ Hutchinson be able to •satisfy the Board that ah efficient gas uj,supply, .At a .reasonable price to con sumers, will follow the grant he deside ( ' ratbs7 then we shall be glad to learn that his application lias beerfsuccessful ; but meanwhile, the incident of yester day: ought to be taken by the residents in'tbwn as another evidence that Ash burton has reached the point when a Municipality is necessary, and should be an incentive to immediate steps to secure the speedy incorporation of a Town Council. Were the Municipality declared, the jurisdiction of the Road

Board and the County Council over such matters would cease, and the town would have the right in itself of granting or refusing such applications. Further, the institution of gas and water works would be a legitimate branch of the Town Council’s opera tions, and it is far better that works such as these should yield their profits to the public exchequer 'than to pour them into the pockets of private com panies or private individuals. These works would thus be under the con trol of the ratepayers, and it is only just and right that those who make the prosperity of a town should reap from it any - profit, it : may give. A piece of land' may lie idle in the possession of a speculator for years. Worthless in itself,, it may ,be so built round .by a rapidly rising town, that an unearned value in the market may be given to it. Who made that value? Not the specu lator, but the people of the town who settle beside it. So with gasworks. The right to open the streets and footpaths is vested in the Road Board, and would be vested, in the Town Council; but that right is only of value when the town is of sufficient importance to make a gas supply a sufficiently payable investment td-induce the Corporation or a company to embark in it. To seeme this right to themselves, and many other known rights, the course of the residents ought at once to be —petition for a munici pality. Fifty names of good men and true will do it.

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

On Thursday next the annual training for six days of the Canterbury Yeomanry Cavalry commences’ at' Asfrburtonf The officers in command of the troop are Captain F. Strouts, and Lieutenants ■ Slater and Brittan. The arrangements for their board, &c., have been .made with Mr. Quill, of the Ashburton Com mercial Hotel, who is enabled to provide excellent accommodation from the size and nu ip her of rooms which his hotel contains. The members of the Ashburton Contingent have to meet the 2.40 p.m. train from Christ chuich when the northern..members arrive. 'The whole corps- will parade 100 strong, and the horses will he found in stabling at the establishments of Messrs. Cookson, Rosenberg, . Compton, Smith, and Bell.. Tli e men of H.M.S. Wolverine have done (says the Hay of 'Plenty Times) good work during their slay in Tauranga. The enclosure containing the graves of the men of the Im perial Bcrvice who fell at ihe Gate Pah, and Te Ranga engagements in 1864, lias been neatly trimmed, and the fence around it painted and generally repaired. We would imagine .that someone in that district would be found ‘possessed of sufficient feeling to cause them to keep the enclosure in repair themselves. The other day a little girl about three years of age had a very narrow escape from a shock ing death by suffocation. She,, while playing jh the yard of the Gas Company, Courtenay plaee, climbed on to some iron which was heaped up close to a gasometer, and losing her balance, fell into the water between the frame

and the dome. As the gasometer was full at the time, its bottom edge was but a few inches in the water, and had the child gone down only one foot, she would have been forced into the gas. Fortunately her playfellow, a mere baby of .the same age, caught her by the hand, and screamed for help. One of the men working in the yard heard the screams, and saved the child. It would not he easy to conceive a more horrible accident than this would have been had the second girl, Ellen Jane Wallace, a daughter of the foreman of the gasworks, ran away for help instead of keeping the child from sinking, for a moment’s delay would have caused certain death.— N. Z. 7'imes.

If we were living in the eighteenth century (says a Paris journal) or even at the beginning of the present century, this is what the present events would lead to. To-morrow an offensive and defensive alliance would lie signed between England and Austria, and Russia would receive an ultimatum. Orders would be given for the mobilisation of the whole Austrian army, and the troops that are ready would set out for the Danube. The English fleet would force the passage of the Dardanelles ; another squadron would proceed to the Baltic ; troops from India would he sent to the Suez Canal ; England would offer subsidies to half-a-dozen Powers, great and small, and would take into her pay Portuguese,-Spanish, Danish, Swedish, Greek, and other troops. But let economists be re assured. These proceedings of another age are no longer usual in our time. The European Governments —Ministersaml Parliaments—have no longer such boldness. Everything will be arranged, for everyone will submit in silence to accomplished facts. Europe is eager for peace.

A POWERFUL GUN.

A new gun, invented last year by Sub- Constables Kernan and Patched, of the city of Waterford police force, is stated to have been patented. It professes to be the most formidable instrument of war yet contrived, and if it should stand trial will effect an extraordinary change in the condition of warfare. It is rash to predict offhand the failure of any scientific project; but the success or failure of this invention might easily be demonstrated. It is said to require three men to work it, and to be capable of throwing 800 shots per .minute, so that 3,000 men working these guns would be able to deliver nearly a million shots'per minute at'an enemy: The gun contains a number of chambers, and appears to be a the mitrailleuse. If its performance is equal to its promise it is odd that the new in vention should have excited no scien tific criticism. Such a gun would en able England to face the world in arms.

BEAUTIFUL FOR EVER.

{Daily News. )

We have, of course, no intention of discussing the charges brought in the Marlborough Street Police Court, Lon don, against the lady known as Madame Rachel, who appears to have begun an. artistic operation which still remains in the crude condition of a sketch. It is interesting, however, to observe that ladies still have a taste for' being enamelled. Probably we might explain this curious fancy as an instinct sur viving from the time of the early Britons. They enamelled themselves something in the style known to ama teurs as cloisonne. Everyone has seen real or imitated cloisonne enamel. The process is : something of this sort : a decorative design is drawn on paper, and that is applied to the surface of a metal jar, and the lines indicated on the pattern are covered with raised wire, which is soldered on to the vase. The interstices between the raised wires are then filled up, according to taste, with pastes of various colors, white, blue, and red, and these are fixed by the operation of fire. The ancient Britons tooled rather-in this Eastern style. They incised the patterns in their flesh, and filled up with woad; at least, in the absence of strictly technical information, this is generally held to have been their method. We believe that modern ladies who submit themselves to the manipu lation of Madame •Rachel and of other artists are not enamelled in the varie gated and fantastic style which, after all, is perhaps a little barbarous, and might attract more notice than admira tion. Even in New Zealand the native beauties are comparatively little tat tooed. The men, in the spirit of the truly thorough-going designer, often etch themselves all over, reminding one of the conscientious artist who blackened his body from head to foot when he played the part of Othello. The women are content with a few scratches about the lips and chin. When this is so among the Maoris, we can scarcely ex pect English beauties to submit to incisions, tiring, and the other processes of the earlier and more earnest schools. Something in the Limoges taste, or perhaps in the famed Battersea enamels, is what they want. They would like to secure a perfectly smooth surface, and a level tint, warranted to wash. If this is once obtained it is plain that a lady’s complexion is fixed for life, and that,’ if she is beautiful at all, she is beautiful for ever. The charm of changing color, and of blushes, she may have lost, but then she can never look pale, if she is enamelled pink, and can never cease to be like herself. Thus she has a great advantage over ladies who use rouge when they want to give their cheeks a little red, or who counterfeit the lilies of the complexion by means of white powder. A tear, the winning tear of beauty, will make a white lane down the cheek, and will destroy the illusion. The great Athenian beauty, Phryne, once played a trick on ladies who did not carry may u rage the length of ena melling. After a dinner party, when people were playing at innocent games, it was Phryne’s turn to set the forfeit. She decreed that each lady was to dip her hands in her finger glass, and then

pass them over her face. The result was a wonderful mingling of whites and reds, and the general discomfiture of the painted rivals of Phryne, who for her part needed no borrowed lilies or roses. The incident is not likely to occur; but there are practical as well as aesthetic objections to the habit of painting.

TELEGRAPHIC.

[By Submarine Cable.] r - ,

LATEST FROM EUROPE.

[Per Press Agency.] - r \ The. Eastern. Situation. .is Dc • London, April 30. Mr. Hardy, Secretary for War, says the British Government takes its stand on the treaty of 1870 ; that the treaty of San Stefano is without a single ele ment likely to secure a permanent peace.- The interests of Mussulmen and Greeks must not be forgotten. England has resolved to adhere to the principles hitherto maintained. May 1. British warlike preparations are in cessant and increasing. \ .

Russia is urging the powers to agree upon a policy for the partition of the Turkish Empire. -.v. :: Russia accepts Prince Bismarck’s mutual withdrawal scheme ; the details are being arranged between England and Russia directly. The- Prince of Wales visited,, the Victorian Court at the Paris Exhibition and complimented Mr. Casey. A large meeting at Manchester adopt ed a . resolution against the British Government being an obstacle to the maintenance of peace, and protesting against the employment of Indian troops in Europe. The Duke of Connaught; is betrothed to Louisa, daughter of Prince Frederick Charles of Germany.

Paris, May 1. The opening of the Exhibition was a brilliant affair. The steamer Cambria arrived in the harbor of Maine, from the Baltic, with 60 officers arid 600 men of the Russian navy, under the command of Count Grifenburg. It is believed she is des tined for privateering. Vienna, April 30. It is reported that an early Austrian occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina may be expected. Constantinople, April 30. An affray has taken place between the Turkish and Russian troops near Constantinople. ; St. Petersburg, May 2. General Todleben has failed to ar range the withdrawal of the- British ironclad squadron, and the Russian army regards war as inevitable. The Mussulman rising continues.

AUSTRALIAN.

Melbourne, May 6,

The Alhambra arrived in good condi tion, after a long passage, caused princi pally by want of fuel.

INTERPROVINCIAL.

Auckland, Monday. , Re colonial defence, Sir George Grey has forwarded the following resolution of Ministers to the Governor, in reply to the Imperial telegraphic despatch : “ Sir George Grey presents his re spectful compliments to the Marquis of Norman by. New Zealand Ministers re ply to Her Majesty’s Government that the colony will undertake the expense of the proposed armament. Her Ma jesty may rest assured that her New Zealand subjects will, in the event of any crises, loyally and resolutely in all respects do their duty to the Queen and country. Sir George Grey requests that the Marquis of Normanby will be so good as at once to telegraph a copy of this memo, to Her Majesty’s Govern ment for their information.”

A young daughter of Dixon, publican, struck a match, and ignited her night gown. She is so injured that it is doubt ful if-site will recover.

Cooper and Bailey’s performing ele phant Titania died just before" the Golden Sea sailed with the circus com pany. It had swallowed the contents of

THE EVENING ECHO, TUESDAY, MAY 7, 1878,