NEW ZEALAND.

Press, Volume XLIV, Issue 6660, 27 January 1887, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND.

[PBXSS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.] AUCKLAND, January 26. Tbe Varque Johanna Broderson, from Natal, has arrived at Kaipara with fortynine ostriches. One bird was accidentally killed on the voyage, and six died through bad weather. Mr John Elliott, Chairman of the Taranaki County Cjuncil, has interviewed Sir J. Vogel at Waiwera, relative to opening up a road from Te Kuiti, on the central line of railway, to Waiters. Sir J. Vogel aaid the matter was an important one, and he would lay it before his colleagues. J. and C. Gardener’s Kaipara fruit, meat and fish canning factory at Koronika, has been burned down. Io was insured in the Imperial for JCSSG Toe land case, Manama v McArthur, has developed a proportionately great bill of cob’s. The amount claimed on behalf of plaintiffs was £1591 and the Court of Fiji, by whom the bill was taxed, rtduced that amount to £226. Fred. Ellis and William Small were committed for highway robbery to-day. and ') hos. King, has. «. oleman and Peter Hardy, for robbery of a returned Kimberley digger. WELLINGTON, January 26. Mr Price, draper, was fined £4 and 15s costa for allowing girls to work after two o’clock on Saturdays. Forty A.C.’n from Opunake and Kawhia arrived here this morning to be trained for field artillery movements. Mr Pennefathor, formerly Fecretary to the Governor, and who, while on a recent visit to England, delivered several interesting lectures on New Zealand, returned by the steamer Tekapo from Sydney. He will probably take up his residence in Wellington. The barque Marie, which arrived recently in a disabled condition from New York, hae been sold to the Union a.S. Company for £3OO, and wi'l be converted into a coal hulk The Orphanage fund chows a credit of £I3OO, all of which hae been invested on mortgage. An estimate cf receipts and expenditure of tbe Education Board for last year shows the former to have been £32,901 (including Government subsidy of £i8,125), an expenditure £28,000. ▲ shipment of fruit from Sydney by the Tekapo has been declared free from codlin moth.

Captain Manning of tbe s.s. Waihi and Captain Neville of the s.s Rotorua, this morning, made a complaint to the Collector of Customs to the effect that they were last night misled by a light between McMennanan’s (Terawiti) and Sinclair Heads, which they mistook for Pencarrow light and narrowly escaped running their vessels ashore, 'ine weather was very thick at the time (10.30 p m ), and the only light then visible was tne one referred to. The vessels named, and also tbe Neptune, cornequtntly headtd for it, under the impiession that it was the Heads light, which the captains say it mnch resembled in the fog. Ihey fortunately discovered the error in timej but only just in time to prevent their ships getting ashore. It is believed the light was exhibited by some J persons camped on the Bhore. The report of the Exam ners upon the recent scholarship examinations, which wereconduc ed in conjunction with those for Wellington College primary scholarships and Caledonian Society s ocholarships was presented to the Bsard of Education to-day. Eighty presented themselves for examination, in a detailed review of the subject 8, it is pointed out that in arithmetic, though the paper was an easy one, seventeen cindidates failed to make 25 per cent of the marks, and the answering in history was in a considerable number of cases either maccurate or worthless, and special attention is called by the Examiners to spelling, which wsb a weak pciat with a number of the candidates. Many otherwise fair paper* were disfigured by blunders in spelling and grammar, such aa ought not to he found in papers of any icnoiarBhip candidate. While mo-t of the successful competitors did really excellent work, there .was a large number of them who were quite unfitted to face JJ 10 *}. “ examination. Of 78 who entered the lists 38 failed to obtain 50 per cent, of the obtainable markß. The examiners suggest teat it be an instruction for the future that if any candidate fad to score 25 per cent, in any subject the rest of his papers be set aside without examination, or a small entrance charge might be made, the proceeds of which would furnish funds for another scholar* The unfortunate girl Hicks, the victim of the Mount Bennie outrage, waa a passenger by the Tekapo from Sydney to Christchurch to-day. .. , . . Mrs Conlon, a widow, has been missing for several days, and as she appeared somewhat strange since the recent death of her husband it is feared some harm has b*'alien her . This morning Maoris at Ngawapuaoua pulled down a toUgate and house in the course of erection for the Waixarapa North County Council.

_ OAMABU, January 26. ~ The Hicemia has been testing tbe coast in thOTeiaity oroamwu during the pact three days for Hiking grounds, but with little success.

DUNEDIN. January 26. At the Pol oe Court, the license of a prisoner under the Probationers' Act was cancelled for disorderly behaviour, and he was sentenced to six months. At the half-yearly meeting of the Colonial Bank, the report recommending a dividend of 7 per cent, was adopted. The Chairman, the Hon. G. McLean, said the present position as compared with past years showed they bad made steady progress. The Hon. E. Oliver was elected a Director. The date of the Bank’s balancing was changed to the last of February and 31st of August. Tae funerals of the f jut victims of the fire were largely attended. Ksquilant’s was a military one. A meeting of the Charitable Aid Board, to consider the action of tbe Benevolent Trustees in refusing to supply local bodies with a list of thoße receiving relief, was held to-day. It was resolved to ask the Trustees to re-con aider their decision The Mayor of South Dunedin said there were people in his borough receiving relief who were not entitled to it. Some of them were to be seen sending jugs to hotels and Eome had money on deposit in Banks. Mr Bobin, the Chairman, said he viewed with alarm the fact that now in the summer mentis there was a steady increase in the applications for relief. INV EEC aEGILL, Januaiy 26. The Chamber of Commerce to-day passed a resolution asking tie Government to reduce tie inland railway rater on grain. Thus it was not on the ground that the present Tates are too high, but btcause values of produce are too low to leave the farmer a profit on his labor. The weather continues very warm, and there is every prospect of tie harvest being a month earlier than the average in this district.