BREVITIES

Evening Star, Issue 12396, 9 January 1905, Page 7

BREVITIES

The register of deaths at tho Timaru office contains no entry during December. It is a long time since a month elapsed without an entry. A speaker at a luncheon at Tai Tapu on Friday remarked that he understood that the dairying industry had so far progressed in the district that the settlers painted their houses with cream, A phenomenal increase in land values has apparently taken place in the Wakanui district, Ashbuxton, recently. .Three years ago .the Government valuation of land in No. 1 and No. 2 Wards was £472,363, while on the recently-published roll the total was £737,391. Owing to some difficulty being expressed in getting contractors to insure their workmen, and realising that a local-body is responaible for a contractor in the matter of insurance, the Gisborne County Council have decided to take out' ah insurance of £5,C00 on contractors and workmen. The proportion to be paid by contractors is to be fixed by the.clerk hi accordance with the time and amount of the contract.

In reply to- a deputation which sought to induce him to ask Mr Hay, Secretary of State, to speak at a club banquet on Wash--ington's birthday, President Roosevelt said he was not in favor of Cabinet Ministers making publio speeches. To a Blackpool applicant, who wished his twins exempted from vaccination, Al-. derman Grine suggested a happy expedient: "Let one of them be vaccinated, the other not; and see which goes on the better." The parent aisapprovtd' of the plan, and a certificate was granted. So severe was the heat in Melbourne on Christmas Eve that the authorities removed j the dried-up foliage used in the streets for I decorative purposes, lest it should catch fire. The maximum temperature during the day was 102deg. .£■•-'• I The New South Wales Government be- j lieve that an area of about 200 square miles of country between Narrandera and Wifcton , might profitably be irrigated by the con-' struction of canals. Surveyors are now en- I gaged laying out the canals. ■ [ It is understood that Mr Carruthers, the j New South Wales Premier, will visit Tam- ■ worth and Quirindi districts in April next, for the purpose of making an inspection of the Peel River Company's Estate and part of. Warrah and Colly Creek Estates, with a view to closer settlement. | A number of pelicans' eggs have been found on the Narran Lake, m the Brewarrina di;+rict. New South Wales. This is Ibo first time, to the knowledge of the oldest white man or blackfellow, that these huge birds' eggs have been discovered around those parts. , The police discovered a man named William Stewart in the Sydney Domain in an unoonscioiis condition. He was taken to the Sydney Hospital, where it was found that lie was suffering from the effects of ptomaine Eoironing. Stewart subsequently stated that e had eaten some tongues for tea, and these are believed to have caused his illness. Sydney advises that the doctor sent by the Board of Health to the Clarence district has diagnosed the patient there to bo suffering from true plague. The armorod cruiser Galatea, which was built in 1838 at a cost of £266,604, has been placed among the ob'olete ships oi the Imperial Navy, and been ordered to be sold out. j The London County Council are now carrying out a scheme for "custodial hemes" for mentally defective children. As a counter attraction to the publichouse, a committee of Birmingham citizens is fitting up part of the public baths of that city as a concert room. A Henry VIII. farthing of the second coinpage realised seven guineas at auction at London the other dav.

Tory {California) have discovered a sixth satellite -to Jupiter by means of the Crossley reflector. " Admiral Dubassoff represents Russia on the International Commission sitting at Paris, vice Admiral Kazankoff.

The London V Chronicle' says that Premier Bead's reply to Agent-General Grainger's assertion breathes the same spirit of loyalty as SirWilfrid R Laurier's recent message that Canadian loyalty is ncjt for sale. At- the inquest at Auckland on" Saturday on Mrs Dillon the jury returned a verdict tbat deceased died through heart failure brought, about by excessive excitement caused by assault. Murton, the sailor, was then brought before Mr Ewing, J.P., and_ (the previous charge of manslaughter having .been withdrawn) he was charged with the murder of Mrs Dillon and remanded till Friday next Norway's coastline (1,700 miles in a straight line) becomes 12,000 miles if followed round the fiords. In thes£ fiords are over 150,000 islands. Insects will never attack books which are dusted once a year with powdered alum and white pepper. Three parts of alum should be used to one of pepper. -