INTERCOLONIAL BREVITIES.

Greymouth Evening Star, Volume XXXI, 23 January 1901, Page 4

INTERCOLONIAL BREVITIES.

Dr Ham, the newly-appointed Commissioner of Health for Queensland, has arrived in England. Christmas Day was oppressively hot in Melbourne, 95.9 deg in the shade being recorded at the Observatory. No less than 6,000 families in the city and suburbs of Sydney were to receive assistance during Commonwealth week. The premises at Balmain East (Sydney) of the Bethany Deaconesses’ Institution, to be used as a children’s homo and a training school for servants, were opened recently by Miss Snowdon Smith. An endeavor is being made to induce the South Australian Government to erect smelting works at Port Darwin for the treatment of locally-produced ore, which has now to bo shipped south. The first through train from Burnio arrived at Zeehan (Tasmania) recently. The lino cost with rolling stock £440,000. There are four large steel bridges, and one tunnel 30 chains in length, which cost £30,000. The foundation-stone of what will be the first Orthodox Greek Church in Victoria was laid the other day on a site at the corner of Lansdowne-strect and Vic-toria-parade, East Melbourne. The cost of the building is estimated at £3OOO. The annual tea which Sir James Fairfax gives to the members of the Sydney Boys’ Brigade took place at the Town Hall on Saturday night, 22nd December. About 200 of the boys attended, and many supporters of the brigade were present. Canon Pritchard, who was to retire at the end of last year from the incumbency of the cathedral parish of St. Saviour at Goulburn to proceed to St. Paul’s, Ipswich (Q.), has been presented with a purse of 80 sovs and a valedictory address.

During the past two or three days, telegraphs a Wellington correspondent, a Masterton firm has sold about 4000 sheep from various parts of the Wairarapa districts to South Island buyers. A Mangaweka correspondent says ; “South Island buyers are very busy up this way just now. I hear they have bought up 25,000 sheep in Eangitikei district, for which they gave top prices.” Corporal Coutt, winner of the Queen’s scarf, in his lecturers in Taranaki, paid a high tribute to the action of Major Davies in rescuing a man of the Third Contongent whoso horse had been shot, under a heavy fire —an incident which, he said, is not generally known. Tommy Atkins was described as a mixture of good-nature and roguery. If you went into hia camp starving he would give you his last biscuit, and at the same time while you were eating he would contrive to steal your spurs.