MONDAY, MARCH 11, 1878.

We are sanguine enough to believe that the time has arrived when Ash burton can and will support a daily paper. To those engaged in agricul tural pursuits a daily paper is, in the present day, not a luxury but a positive necessity. No man who intends to succeed in any business can afford to be a few days, or even a few hours, behind his competitors in that know ledge of the world’s events which elec tricity now sends so rapidly to all who put themselves in the line of communi cation with it; and, it is not to Lie expected, that the largest producing district in New Zealand, and a town that will soon be second to no inland town in the colony, could much longer remain without what has now become one of the prime necessaries of civili zation. It is not for us to say how r completely and efficiently we expect to supply this necessity, but having placed ourselves in direct communication with the most important centres of popu lation, and appointed vigilant corres pondents in the surrounding counties and colonies, we have every confidence that our subscribers will find themselves supplied, at the earliest possible date, with every item of important information affecting their interests; whilst the number of subscribers already secured, ensures a wide circulation to any ad vertisements that may be inserted in our columns. As the organ of a very large agricultural population, we shall deem it one of our most important duties to supply our readers with the earliest information of every useful dis covery or improvement in this very old, very important, and yet very improving and improvable occupation. In the exceedingly difficult business of accu rately reporting market prices, we shall spare no trouble or expense to obtain early and reliable information for our readers. We are kindly promised the assistance of some of our most com petent business men. We hope at least to avoid the too common practice of allowing our reports to be made a medium of influencing transactions in the private interests of either buyers or sellers. We shall be thankful for any information, from any quarter, that will guide us in forming a correct opinion, and enable us' to place the real truth before our readers ; more especially for reliable reports of actual transactions ; but to those who. may wish us to report in their private interest, we hope always to hold the high language of Washing ton : “ I am not worth purchasing, but such as I am the King of England is not rich enough to buy me.” As a family paper, we shall at least aim at a high standard; nothing will be admitted to our columns of an impure, or immoral character. Here we intend, at least negatively, to succeed, and to make the paper one that even a fas tidious parent would not regret to see daily lying on his family table.

Our pages will be open to corres pondence on any puestions of public 01- general interest, discussed in a tem perate manner, and free from person alities or vulgarities.

In politics, our motto will be, “ the greatest good for the greatest number,” which we believe to be attainable only by the strictest justice to all, and the elevation of no class, high or low, at the expense of the natural rights of any other class. We have less faith in party cries and party leaders than in the great advantage to be conferred on our County and Colony by a more general and intelligent interest in public questions on the part of the great body of our tellow-settlers, and we regard it as the great duty of a paper that aspires to enlighten its readers on public questions, to supply them with truth ful information, to furnish correct reports of what may be said and done by our public men or public bodies— ungarbled, either in the interests of party, or in the meaner hope of obtain ing the patronage of any of the per formers. In a community governed by such an extended suffrage as ours, we never shall be well governed, nor have we any right to expect it unless those who vote will also think ; unless the right to elect representatives carries with it a sense of responsibility in the exercise of that privilege; unless the great majority of our electors learn that they are not honest to themselves, to their neighbors, or to their country if they elect not men for their fitness for the duties of their public positions, not from any personal feeling towards them or for any personal favors to be received Irom them. When this great principle was recognised and practised in Ame rica she was governed by patriots, and in her comparatively feeble infancy she became the admiration of the world- Now that the electors have forsaken it and are not ashamed to ride to the poll in a gaudy chariot at the candidate’s expense, when votes are indirectly bought and sold, begged by hired can vassers or bullied by hired ruffians, she has been governed by swindlers, and the same institutions that were once so honored, are now the least successful that have been adopted by an English speaking race. With greatly increased numbers and wealth, she no longer commands the same degree of respect and admiration, and the system that once placed her revenues in the hands of a Washington have since placed them in the hands of a Tweed. In advoca ting reiorrn we would direct our atten to the root rather than to the branch, to the tree rather than to its fruit. Give us honest electors, and we shall have honest representatives; give us honest representatives, and we shall have honest laws administered by an honest Executive.

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

TiiE Pui.l’lT. —Two preachers of eminence from a distance occupied Ashburton pulpits on Sabbath last. One, the Rev, Robert Fraser, from Hawke’s Bay, preached to the •congregation worshipping in the Presbyterian Cnurcli, and had good and attentive audiences at both diets of worship. Tne other, the Rev. George Bond, well known in this district as a gifted an earnest preacher, conducted the ser vices morning and evening in the Methodist Chapel. The morning subject of the latter gentleman was "taken from the passage —“Lead me to the Rock which is higher than I,” while that of the evening was “The Deluge.” A fair number of hearers listened to both ser mons.

1.0.G.T. —From communications received from leading members of this order, we learn that Templary is making rapid progress in Ashburton. There are two Lodges in the

town, meeting on Saturday and Monday eve, ings, and having a united membership of ov 130. The members have a new hall in pre pect, the shares in which are nearly all tab. up, and it is expected the work of erectii will begin very soon. An anniversary cel biation of one of the Lodges is contemplate foi tlie Queen s birthday, and arrangemen for the success of the gala have already begun

Ashburton Wind. —A new-comer to Asl burton is not many hours off the railway befoi he realises the fact that the town he has reache has a specialty beyond the fame it has acquire as a rapidly rising centre of population an business viz., that its breezes are as gusti if not more j so j than any town of its inches ii the Britain of the South. kVellington boast; of a wind so impatient that it will not wait, to lift “ dcssicated dust,” but hurls in the face of the wayfarer showers of pebbles as large as pigeons’ eggs. We have heard a Wellington wag say that in the Empire City the shotted skirts of the ladies were more aj trick of necessity than of fashion; be that asl it may, we fancy that the blow of Saturday) was a - lively as any _ one need wish to be! abroad in.

The Franco-Prussian War. — Messrs; Smith and Co. ’s well known panorama of thef Franco-Prussian war will be exhibited on Wed nesday evening in the Library Hall. The exhi bition is well spoken of by the New Zealand j press, and has received a large amount ohj public patronage both north and south of the * Straits, and is well worth a visit.

At a banquet given to Ministers by thcl citizens of Dunedin on Saturday evening, Sii; George Grey announced that Mr Robert| Stout had joined the Cabinet as Attorney-j General.

A drunk sailor was drowned on Saturday) at Nelson. He fell off the wharf. Sir George Grey and his party are winning] golden opinions from the settlers, if fetes ami! mayoral receptions go for anything. He wa-I received with a flourish of trumpets at Bal i clulha, the inhabitants presenting him wit); a sympathetic address. His health was mosf enthusiastically received at a subsequent luncheon. ;

Disappearance of an Iseand.— Captah J. O. Lunginers, of the Danish ship Butterfield communicates to a Copenhagen paner an in teresting account of a novel’’experience whiel occured on December to, 1876, while on : vovoge to Valparaiso. The vessel was at tlii tune in Terra del Ftiego, about 140 miles fron Magellan’s Straits, when early in Hie mornim it narrowly' escaped collision with nu island where no trace of land appeared on the charts. The vessel hove to until daylight, when the captain proceeded with the boat’s crew to the new islan i, which had gradually diminished in size since the first observation. Around the conical rocky mass the water was hissing, and although no smoke’ appeared, it was found to be too highly heated to permit of landing. The sinking continued slowly, until at 8 o’clock the island was com pletely submerged, and an hour later the vessel passed over the spot where it had disappeared.) This volcanic island is probably due to the same causes which have produced the recent severe earthquakes on the west coast of South America.

TELEGRAPHIC NEWS.

LATEST FROM EUROPE.

[By Submarine Cabi.e.]

LORD DERBY ON THE PEACE CON-1 FERENCE. TIIE TURKISH INDEMNITY, j THE MONEY AND WOOL MARKETS [Per Press Agency.] London, March 6. | Of the Turkish indemnity, amountiif to t, 410,000,000 roubles, certain ter,| tory in Armenia will be taken as repi| senting 1,100,000,000 rouble.:,, ance to be paid in money. | London, Marc 1 8 - Lord Derby, replying to a qistion, confirmed the an European Conference at Berlin,Of the holding of which Austria opene.p-go tiations on the basis propoJ' by England, and added that the fitish Government had asked that th >vhole treaty of peace between Rus • and Turkey should be submitted 0 the Congress. j, In the course of a long debat 'Lord Derby said, that although the treaties of 1856-1861 now virtually caseii to exist, they must be held bind: g unti\ Europe sanctioned a substitut He hoped the Conference would 1 ect an !

THE EVENING ECHO, MONDAY, MARCH n, xS 7 S,



PUBLIC LIBRARY HALL. ~W ED LTE SDAY. SMITH & Co.'s NEW GRAND PANORAMA OF THE OTP 1870. First Time in New Zealand. Large Magnificent Views of the Gigantic Struggle between the French and German Empires. Admission— 3s and 2s. Children half price. Reduction made for Families. Doors open at 7.30, to commence 8. TO LET.—A 3-1-oomed house, with between four and five acres of land attached. Apply to G. W„ ANDREWS, East Town Belt. MESSRS BULLOCK & CO., Ashburton, •General Merchants, Auctioneers, Stock, Sta tion, Estate, and Commission Agents. .'Sales of Stock, Farm Implements, &c., will be held at their Yards, Ashburton, every alternate Thursday. •CASH Advances made on Stock, Produce, *&c.„ consigned for Positive Sale. BULLOCK & CO. MRS. lE. PETERSON, DRESSMAKER. ((Two doors from the Echo Office). Jill orders executed •with neatness and with promptness. WANTED Runners for the Evening Echo. Good wages .to smart boys. WANTED, by a respectable young man Board and Residence in a quiet family.* GEO. ST. HILL, BUILDER AND CONTRACTOR, Burnett Ssteet, Ashburton. Plans prepared and Estimates furnished. EXCELLENCE, PUNCTUALITY, AND' SATISFACTION SECURED BY Taking your Printing TO THE ECHO PRINTING OFFICE. EAST STREET. r CARDS, Mi P-\ , CIRCULARS,' PROGRAMMES, INVOICES FANCY SHOW CARDS, HANDBILLS, SHIPPING FORMS POSTERS, LABELS, BILLHEADS, CATALOGUES. PAMPHLETS, MEMORANDUM FORMS, And every description of Letter-Press Printing executed in a style not to be surpassed in the Colony. Colour Printing.



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