NEWS ITEMS.

The other dayTaJJJbird was"!; shot near Timaru which Professor! Hutton, of the Canterbury Museum, Obas since pronounced to be a birdnew*to New Zealand— an Australian ' glossy ibis. W*p;£^Sißi The fund for the erectioiTgof a monument in Melbourne of the poet Rober Burns now amounts to £770. | There would appear to be, a good market for apples in South Africa. A late Canterbury resident fsaw the fruit sold by auction in Johannesburg at 3s 6d per dozen, and 'subsequently he bought a couple at^sixpence each. '•■-^%"'Z3 THE HABIT OF HEALTH." The,'const> n use of 'Pears' Soap.

An bid Canterbury resident, Mrs | M'Lachlan, wife of Mr J. M'Lachlan, M.H.R., died on Thursday, aged 61. She leaves a family of twelve and thirty-three grandchildren. deceased, who had been ill for some time, died on the thirty-ninth an[nirersary of her marriage. ggjg i It is stated that the twenty-three j prisoners who^were sent by the Minisf ter of Justice to udertake tree-plant-ing work at Eotorua, have, during thirteen months, planted 80,000 trees, and are expected to plant 160,000 dur« ing the coming season. In addition,' they have fenced in 1640 acres. The prisoners have been installed at Waiotapu, where they raise their own pork and vegetables, and, shortly, will be rearing sheep for consumption, ggg At Adelaide, Sarah Francisco, who was sent to gaol for three months for being an habitual drunkard, has had 231 convictions recorded against her since 1875, which is a record for that State. She has spent 10 Christmas days in prison. A certain young officer of the Australian [Rifles has learned, fbr the sum of £15 and costs on the highest scale, that loaded cigars may not be given to his friends with impunity. From the evidence in a case at the Sydney 1 District Court, wherein this lesson was taught, it appears that this particularly idiotic form of practical joking is not uncommon among the young 'bloods of Australia's citizensjoldiery. Wfth a letter in her hand anouncing that she has won £s*ooo in a lottery, a widow who fiept a small shop in Paris has been found dead in her chair, killed by the violent emotion resulting from her unexpec-ted-good fortune.