NEWS IN BRIEF.

Evening Post, Volume LIII, Issue 147, 24 June 1897, Page 2

NEWS IN BRIEF.

INTERPROVINCIAL. The Government has issued instructions for the survey of a light railway between Paeroa and the Waihi Goldfield, a distance of 12 miles. Over 1000 entries have been received for the winter show of the Otago Agricultural and Pastoral Association. The Christchurch Press reckons that the promised reduction in the rate of freight for frozen meat will put £100,000 a year into the pockets of Canterbury flock-owners. About 150,000 trout ova are to be placed in the new fish hatchery at Lake "Waikaramoana. A coal and firewood dealer in Auckland has been fined £3 and costs for employing boys to hawk wood after the hour for closing his place on the weekly half-hoiiday. In the generous distribution of the 100 tons of coal donated by the Kaitangata Coal and Railway Company to the poor of Dunedin, in celebration of the Record Reign, 204 persons participated. The work of distributing the coal will, it is understood, occupy about 10 days. The Railway Department has under consideration the question of shortening the train journey between Dunediu and Invercargill by au hour and a quarter, so far as the express trains are concerned. In order to carry out this arrangement fewer stoppages will be made by the express than at present. An association for the purpose of discussing and dealing with subjects pertaining to dairymen generally has been formed by dairymen and milk suppliers in Dunedin. Over 100 miners at YTaitekauri are laid up with influenza. Mr. T. Mold, an old settler in the Waikato, dropped .dead as he was getting into bed. The maize crop in the Bay of Plenty district is likely to yield between 70 and 80 bushels to the acre. A railway league has been formed at Eltham, Taranaki, to agitate for through railway communication with Auckland. A canvass is being made of Patea, llawera, and surrounding districts with the object of raising £1000 to recoup Mr. Oldham to some extent for the loss incurred in the fire which destroyed his meat works at Patea some weeks ago. The men employed at the Globe Race, Reefton, struck work last Thursday for Is a day beyond the current rate of Bs. An advertisement in the Westport paper for men does not state the wages to be paid. For the last two weeks the Brunner mine has been worked full shifts, an unusual feature for some time baok. The value of sugar (including molasses and treacle) imported into the colony for the last three years has averaged £383^663 per annum. A missing cheque for £15, representing part ot the parson s salary, has been causing a small scandal at Stratford. The cheque was' drawn in December last, and was subsequently cashed by some one. The clergyman (Rev. V. G. Boyes) declares that he never received it, and the vestry cannot explain what became of it after it was drawn. The parishoners, after hearing all the available evidence, came to the conclusion that the cheque was lost or stolen, and authorised the vestry to repay the pastor.