NEWS ITEMS.

WaikaremoiUia district has now got a. constable.

After seventeen longs years of continuous persistency Onehunga has at last got Parliament to pass its Cemetery Bill.

A child of Mr Lewis, solicitor, was badly scalded in a boiling spring near the Utuhimi Creek, Rotorua.

Andrew Carnegie, the American millionaire, has purchased a million dollar castle in Scotland. He lias just moved into his new acquisition and settled down there, apparently for all time.

Immense battalions of beetles have made their appearance at Warnambool (Victoria). The noise made by the beetles is described as " resembling a bund of music playing in the distance."

A boy in Melbourne pointed a pistol at his brother in a joke. The pistol was loaded, ami the elder brother, aged OJ years, received a bullet in his head ami

died

The Christclnuch bakers propose to form a committc to regulate the price of bread. They proposed the Mayor, ono baker, one miller, and ti member of the Trades Council. The Trades Council, however, refuse lo send a representative.

Judge Robinson has decided in the District Court at Nelson that a shopkeeper who sells seeds cannot be expected to guarantee the crop. In the case in dispute ii man claim £70 damages from a storekeeper who sold him onion seeds which did not como up true Spanish.

The first German Regiment has been making interesting experiments to dis cover whether wireless telegraphy can, with advantage, he applied to military purposes. One troop was stationed at Potsdam and the other on a hill about twenty-seven miles away.

It has been suggested in England that some of the big prizes of the turf should be given for horses of mature age, carrying heavier weights than they do at present, and running over longer distances. It would, he said, have an incalculably beneficial effect on the breed of horses. The proposal meets with much approval.

The Paris Journal des Sports has made a scientific calculation on the amount of work done by Mr Miller, the winner of the recent 72 hours' 'cycle competition. Miller covered 1812 kilometres in the time, and this has been calculated to be equal to that of pulling a two-horse omnibus on the Paris streets during the whole of the time. Another calculation gives as the equivalent the ascension to the summit of Mont Blanc eight times and a half !

Commenting at the Supreme Court on the aQ'nirs of an Auckland bankrupt, who earned 25s a week, and lost over £400 in mining speculations, His Honor Mr Justice Conolly said it was nothing more than gambling, and it was just as if the money had been lost on tho totalisator. The Judge suspended the order of discharge for twelve months, and intimated Hint had it not been that the creditors recommended bankrupt's discharge he would have refused it altogether.

The Oamaru Borough Council has by resolution apologised to a ratepayer for libelling him, and also resolved to refund him £2 2s solicitor's costs incurred for consultation as to his right of action for damages. The Council used strong language about the ratepayer for supplying water to a ueighbor who had no supply; and it turned out that he had been paying full water rates for both premises.

An officer with Sir Herbert Kitchener's army in the Soudan wrote to his friends in England a few week's back : — " An important feature of London life has been transported here to the desert. We have got up a great stage in the open air, and light it with colored paper lanters and signaller's limelights. Once a week tho whole brigatie spend two hours here, from 8 to 10 p.m., in their shirt sleeves. The bands take part, cf course, and v?e have reels, pipes, songs, and pieces."

While an employe of the New Zealand Hardware Company at Invercargill, was hunting for a special sine of nails under the counter, where the light was not very good, he struck a match, which happened to be a faulty one, the head flying off into one of the nail cans. There happened to be gunpowder in the can, and the consequence was an explosion, which inflicted serious injury to the man, who fortunately missed tho full force of the blast from the fact that just as the match was struck he turned his head to answer a question.

The. new American naval programme is startling in its immensity. Only this year it was decided to build three battleships, four monitors, sixteen destroyers, and twelve topedo boats. Now comes a fresh scheme for fifteen large craft, to say nothing of torpedo craft. England has every reason to welcome the growth of the American navy, which will at once jump from the seventh place among the fleets of the^worlrl to tho fourth. Nor will it long be fourth. The omens point to a tremendous development of America's sea power in the near future. She is now an Imperial State with an imperial policy, and she is going to be able to take care of herself. It will not be long (remarks tho Daily Mail) before she has a policy in China.

The Auckland Chamber of Commerce is agitating for a return of the delayed telegram system, or if that cannot be done that tho Government should adopt the following arrangement : — Tho ordinary telegrams be as present Gd for tho first 12 words and Id per word in excess of that i number; that a delayed telegram be also adopted at per word for the whole message, no charg'j to be under Cd. The matter was considered by the Council of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, which resolved to make inquiries on the subject.

A somewhat extraordinary story has gained currency with respect to the conduct of a youthful duke, says a London paper. It states that this young peer was on board his yacht in the Channel, and that he went below, returning from the cabin with "an armful of pisto)3." He is stated to have shot at the captain, and to have distributed his armful of weapons to 'he sailors, whom ho wanted to follow his example. Tho most satisfactory feature of the remarkable escapade is that the duko has now been placed under restraint.

Mr Poynton, S.M., at Invcrcaigill last week sentenced George Matthews, solicitor, to three months' imprisonment for failing to comply with an order lo maintain his children. Evidence was given by wellknown citizens as to defendants anxiety to obtain work at his profession, and to his weak physical condition. Mr Poynton said defendant seemed to think because ho was a lawyer lie must do nothing else. A man should much rather clean tho gutters or gather bottles than allow the State to keep his offsprings. He was perfectly .'satisfied that sheer laziness was responsible for the neglect. If his business was not paying he should go rabbiting. Defendant pleaded that he had no strength, and was under medical treatment, but His Worship said he had heard that story before, and he would impose a sentence of three months' imprisonment.

The Victovian Department- of Agriculture has published a report, by Mr 1). McAlpinc, the pathologist, on "fairy rings " and the fairy ring puff-ball, a fungus which produces a curious disease in lawns and grass plots, forming decayed areas in the shape of large rings. The disease is found in bowling greens around Melbourne, and on the lawns at Flcmington racecourse, and the germs have been carried to at least one public park. This is its first appearance in Australia, and, as it is easily transmitted, the matter is of considerable importance. The name of "fairy rings" owes its origin to an old belief in the Mother Country that the rings were caused by some supernatural agency, and that fairies held their midnight revels within these circle.". The rings begin small and increase in sue. At Praiirau green, where they were first noticed seven or right \e,m a^o, tho lmgcst is J4 feet in diameter, and they may go to 000 feet.

One of the most interesting features in connection with our etuise (said an olliecr of 11. M.5. Mohawk, just. rcUitneil from a South Seas cruise, to v representative of the Sydney jMorning Herald) was the \isit to Toeupia. This island is without a history. Its people, certainly are not kanakas, woolly-Inured, or stunted in stature. The whole island, which certainly seems to give color to the Darwinian idea of a submerged continent in so far that the formation is mountainous with valleys, has about SOO people on it. They are gigantic in stature. One we measured was 6ft 10in, and the women are proportionate. They have long, straight, hair (the men), which they dye a flaxen color, and which, in thick folds, hangs over their copper-tinted .shoulders. The women, on the contrary, have their hair hair cut short. They may be related to the Samcmns or the Maoris, but they certainly differ m) much from the Polynesian as to malic their histoiy most interesting:. Strange to say, also, they havo no weapons of defence at all A remarkable law amoußsl them is iliat they marry only once, the superstition being that if a married manor woman dies, no matter how many children there may he, tho deceased's spirit hat gone ahead, ami is waiting for the other half.

Auckland ministers are protesting against the practice of unnecessarily holding funerals on Sundays.

The German-Americans of Chicago have set in motion a fund of £SOO,OOO, with which to purchase a battleship, to be presented to the United States Government. The ship will be named tho Teutonic.

The Wanganui Borough Council proposes offering premiums of £50, £25, and £15 for competitivedesigns for a town hall and opera house. The total cost of the building find accessories is not to exceed £.'{Boo, exclusive of architect's commission.

Plague has now claimed 100,000 victims in India. This is only the number of deaths officially reported ; but, as it is generally known now, many cases and deaths have been concealed, and considerable mortality has been attributed to fever and lung complaints, which there can be little doubt has been really due to plague. A man named McCann was sent to prison for three months at Dublin for throwing a can of paraffin oil over his mother and setting her on fire because she was late with his dinner. Tho old woman is 70 years of age, and prisoner, it was stated, had previously broken a chair over i her head.

A consignment of fat cattle from Hawera, which was sold at the Addington yards lust week, included (the Times says) three of the finest ■Shorthorn bullocks which have ever been seen in Canterbury. The best and heaviest, a white bullock, realised £17, and a red and white, scarcely so evenly fleshed, £16 15s. The third went at £15 ss.

Mr Edward Edwin Olanville, assistant to Signor Marconi, the discoverer of wireless telegraphy, met with a fearful death at Rathlin Island, Antrim coast, by falling over a cliff 300fc high. Signor Marconi and another assistant were at the time at Bullycastlc, on the mainland, conducting experiments in wireless telegraphy with the deceased on the island, which is some miles off the coast,

A working man on one of our stations, says the Hastings correspondent of the Napier Telegraph, had some money saved up, and by realising what property he owned managed to get together £145 to go to Klondykc. Last week he returned to Hastings without a penny, and had to borrow half-a-crown from a friend lo go to his old place. A typhoid epidemic in Belfast has spread j to an alarming extent during the past few days, says a London paper of August. 22n(L "For the week just ended no fewer than 267 fresh cases have been reported to the sanitary authorities, making a total of 600 case? during the first three weeks of August, mid bringing the aggregate up to nearly 3000. This compares with 158 during the corresponding period of last year. Nothing is sacred to the advertiser nowadays. Lately, the famous Pyramid of Cheops at Ghiz'eh, for the iirst time in over 5000 years, was used as a means of advertising a certain brand of whisky, the name of which was painted in oil in enormous characters over the entrance slab. It was not, however, allowed to remain long, as the Direction Archwoloniquc of Cuiro gave the order for it to be erased, which was dnne on the fourth day after its appearance.

A very curious phenomenon was witnessed from tho deck of the steamer Pania during her lost trip from Wellington to Blenheim. While crossing the straits, the ni«ht being beautifully clear, and the "Brothers" lighthouse about twelve miles to the north-west, a strange light was seen to appear at short intervals in the water around the vessel, at a depth of several fathoms. The illumination was very conspicuous, so much so that at first the man at the wheel thought it was something tangible, and tried to keep the steamer clear of it. It remained visible for over twenty minutes, appearing first in one place and then another. The officers came to the conclusion that the light was a reflection of the "Brothers" lighthouse refracted by the snow on the hills away to the south of the Wairau Valley. This is doubtless the correct explanation. The "Brothers" lighthouse is a flash light, appearing at intervals. The reflection in the water was visible after each disappearance of the rays from the lighthouse ; and the vessel must have been in the exact line of refraction.

Mr W. R. Rutherford, of the Stock Department, who has just returned from the South, gave a Wellington Times reporter some details of a terrific dust storm which was experienced throughout the country between Timaru and Ashburton one afternoon last week. A terrific north-west gale got up and played upon the surface of the harrowed fields to such an extent that soon the air was filled with black dust, so thick as to obscure all but immediate objects. At 4.130 in the afternoon such quantities of dust were in tho air that a pall like, darkness was produced, and it was found necessary to light lamps and candles in the houses, the coutents of which were soon covered with a coating of fine soil, which made its way in at every scam and chink. The effects of the storm were felt most at Rakaia. All along the hedges and fences the soil was piled up for miles, and it could be seen that the oat and wheat crops had sustained a great deal of damage, the soil having being liberated from the roots, while the grass-seed, which had not been set so deeply, was found to have blown away altogether.

Captain Murray, of the barque Akaroa, which arrived at Wellington from Liverpool on Sunday, did not sec anything on the voyage out of the overdue barquo Lake Ontario, now 153 days out from Liverpool to Wellington. The Akaroa reached Liverpool four days after the Lake Ontario had sailed, and was seven weeks loading at that port. The overdue vessel would probably be deeply laden. The Akaroa had only about 4ft 4Jin forebnard coming out from Liverpool, and for the last four weeks of the voyage she was practically under water the whole time, while the crew had to crawl along the rigging to get from forward to aft. With such an experience as this it is hardly to be wondered if the Lake Ontario has come to grief. It is the opinion of nautical people that it is time something was done to stop the system 'which allows vessels to leave Liverpool so deeply laden, and that an amendment should be made in the Act which permits the existence of regulations which arc ;i nicnnco to both crow Hiirl property. Captains of vessels have, it is said, warmly protested, but have been told in reply cither to proceed to sea or give the command up to homebody else who is prepared to take the risk.'

A curious fact, is to be noted in connection with the composition of the staff ot Sir H. Kitchener, the Sirdar. The First Egyptian Brigade is comnuuled by Briga-dier-General Mac Donald, and his BrigadeMajor is Major Keith-Falconer. General Mac Donald, an lnvernesshire man, commenced life as a draper's Assistant in Aberdeen, but exchanged the measuring tape of a shopman for the rifle of a private in the Gordon Highlanders, find at one of the first engagements fought by Lord Roberta's little army on its inarch to Cabul he distinguished himself in such a fashion as to bo offered the choice between the Victoria Cross and a commission. He chose the latter, and now the quondam draper's assistant wears the sword of an Egyptian General. Major Keith-Falconer ib a brother of the Earl of Kintorc, who now represents the ancient and noble family of tho Keiths, the last of whom vas Frederick the Great's celebrated Field-Marshal, who fell at Hoohkirch. This present juxtaposition of the humblytorn Mac Donald arid the high-born KeithFalconer is curious indeed, and says much for pure personal merit as the best means of military advancement in these nonpurchase days.

Hidden up in the contingency vote of the Tost and Telcuraph Department was a vote of .£14(3, travelling expenses of the Picmier's Seeretaiy to Kngland. This was | one of the items unearthed by the deter mined demands of tho Opposition for details of the large sunn; lumped together under the heading "Contingencies." Last session Mr tieddon, when pressed un the subject, said "Taking the l.iilway and steamer farce, etc., for himself, MrsSeddon, iand his Secretary, and transports of luggage, the amount was £790 : gratuities on steamers and trains and at hotels, £120: hotel expenses m America, Great. Britain, and elsewhere of Mrs Seddon, himself, and .Secretary, £'210 That (the total expenses, including £'220 paid out of his own pocket) would be found to total £1970. The number of days he was absent was 149. He thought it would have been preferable if the expenses of the Secretary had been charged separately, and if that had been done the account against himself would not have been so large." Yet in the face of this statement of last session, on the strength ot which the House passed the vote of i'lToO for the expenses of the Premier's trip to England, another vote is now discovered, increasing the expenses by £14(i. There can be no doubt that the expenses of the Secretary were stated to be included in the lump sum of £17i30, for at page ',110, volume 100 ot Hansard, tlic statement is again made by Mr Seddon. The House distinctly understood that the total cost of the trip! was i!7SO, and before the present session I is over an explanation will be demanded us to why the item of £146 was not disclosed.

A phonograph is being made for use at the Exposition of 1900 which is expected to be of sufficient dimensions to be heard by 10,000 persons. One of the schemes for future engineers to work at will be the sinking of a shaft 12,000 ft, or 15,000 ft into the earth, for the purpose of utilising the central heat of the globe. It is said that such a depth is by °o means impossible, with the improved machinery and advanced methods of the coming engineer. Water at a temperature of 200dcg. Centigrade, which can, it is stated, be obtained from these deep borings, would not only heat, houses find public buildings. Great excitement was caused the other day at Bergen Beach, a summer resort of New York people, where Mrs Christcnsen, a handsome and young woman, ascended a balloon, despite thft protestations (if her husband. As she rose the wind curried her over Jamaica Bay. She attempted to use the parachute, which did not work properly, and she dropped into tho bay. The tiilc curried her out to sea. and she was drowned. Six thousand people witnessed the accident. It seems to be a very easy thing to block the wheels of justice in New Zealand if_you are only of the " right color." Soinu little time ago, a young man named Lcathart was sentenced to six months with hard labor for disgusting conduct in the Cemetery Gully. There were no redeeming features about the case, and the Magistrate commented upon the mau's conduct as being gross. But cro a month of the six had gone by, the prisoner was released by the order of somebody in authority, and is now at large about town. The thing is a scandal. But then the whole administration of the Justice Department is scandalous. —Auckland Observer. A New York telegram in the London papers states that uti amusing incident occurred upon the occasion of General Joseph Wheeler's cavalry charge into the Spanish lines at Santiago. General Wheeler was the most dashing commander of cavalry on the Confederate side during the rebellion, but the force under him upon this day at Santiago was composed wholly of Northern Yankees. In the excitement of the moment General Wheeler imagined he was 30 years younger, and again leading his rebels against their Northern enemies, and he shouted out, " Now, boys, give the Yankees hell!" The men behind him laughed aloud at the mistake, and the ' general appreciating it at the same instant, : said, "Oh, well, I mean tho Spaniards." [ The Rev. P. Mclntyre, chaplain of the '■ United States warship Oregon, in a sermon F preached at Denver, Colorado, charged Admiral Sampson with being anxious to unjustly secure a share of the prize money for the destruction of the Spanish fleet off Santiago. Mr Mclntyre gives the Oregon the bulk of the credit for the annihilation ' of the Spanish fleet on July 4th. He said: 1 "Sampson wrote a report of the battle, 1 and reported himself within four miles of * the Cristobal Colon when she pulled down 3 her flag. He did that to get his share in 1 the prize money, for a ship must be within - four miles to share in the prize money. So 1 Sampson will get lO.OOOilol of prize money, " and Captain Clark, who fought the Oregon 5 as never man' fought ship before, will get ' only SUOdol ; and you, who have just exactly as much to do with the battle as ■ Sampson did, will not get a cent." M v Mclntyre said that when the Spanish ships 3 ran out of the harbor the lowa was within a two miles of them and the Oregon about b three miles. The Oregon, he said, tore up s to the front like n shot, and mot the lowa i moving to the rear, where, he added, r Captain Evans kept her throughout the 1 battle. The chaplain offered no explana- ■ tion of the alleged manoeuvre of the lowa. <