NEWS AND NOTES.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume IX, Issue 1645, 8 June 1887, Page 2

NEWS AND NOTES.

Before the Resident Magistrate at the Court this morning, the police business was very light. Louis Adams, for being helplessly drunk while iv charge of a horse and dray, was lined £2 and costs : — W. Kennedy for allowing two working bullocks to wander on Glover road, was fined 5s anil costs. The Court then adjourned till 11.45.

Puff in the Wellington Pre-s says of the New Zealand made cartridges :—": — " They're not exactly Und ! They go off rather well ! But they're eccentric in their movements! They shoot backwards through the breech instead of forwards through the barrel, and they do all sorts of other funny things! The Volunteers say they never know which direction they're going to get shot from !

The Dunedin Star Parliamentary correspondent says :— Ministers will strain every nerve to carry the seats at present held by their opponents. They recognise that the Press of the Colony is decidedly adverse to them ; aud, before the general election comes on, a weekly newspaper in the Ministerial interest, which is intendrd to be a colonial journal, will be issued in Wellington. It will be edited by '• Jnck " Andersou. The leading meDibers of the Ministry also intend to stump the country. Sir J. Vogel will probably direct his attention to Canterbury, Mr. Larnach to the mining districts, Sir R. Stout and Mr. Ballance to Otago and the North Island respectively.

The Paris correspondent of the London Daily Telegraph writes :—" Austrnlians who complained some time ago of the superabundance of rabbits on their grassy plains and scant woodlands, could not do better than to arrange for the shipment of a few cargoes of their prolific rodents to France. It appears that the French rabbits are at present afflicted with a dropsical kind of disease called the gros venture. It was at first thought that the disease was produced upon the animals that fed on green stuff which had been saturated with aqueous elements uurin» the rainy season, or owing to marshy soils" But it also appears among the rabbits in southern or inland places, where the soil was either sandy or rocky and the vegeta tion was parched by sun and drought. S3o widespread and disastrous has the rabbit disease become that many landowners are thinking of destroying their warrens altogether, and importing new breeds from abroad. Should the work of extermination be carried out both by natural and artificial means, rabbits will no doubt become abnormally dear, and Parisians will have to pay high prices for their favorite dish of lapiu saute, which makes its appearance so frequently at the restaurants."

"'" ' Eight hundred pounds is to be expended in the public illumination of Melbourne on Jubilee Day. The annual report of the Cnnard Company just issued shows a working profit of 4>182,229, which is all absorbed, and does not admit of a dividend. A Blue Book just issiied shows that the total property of the life assurance companies of the United Kingdom amounts to the enormous sum of £164,000,000, or nearly double the entire national iucome. An interesting discussion took place at the Hawera Parliamentary Union on Tuesday night. The Governor's address was read, his Excellency being in the chair. The address was moved by Dr. Chilton, and seconded by Mr. Mendelsohn. A lively debate followed, in which Messrs. Robbins, King, Yorke, Hutchison, Bayly, Hammond, and Finlay took part. The appointment of Ministers by his Excellency (Mr. Fantham) was announced as follows : — Messrs. T. Hutchison, Premier ; I. Bayly, Minister for Lands ; L. E. Prichard, Colonial Treasurer, and their acceptance of office was signified. A number of new members were introduced. About 20 members and a few visitors, including several ladies, were present.

Mr. Ellery Gilbert notifies that he will be in Hawera to-morrow, staying several days. Mr. Skeet, dentist, will visit Hawera on Monday next. Messrs. Kennedy and Co. will sell by auction through Messrs. Nolan Tonks & Co. on Saturday next. 25,000 feet of building timber at their yards near the railway station. The usual monthly meeting of the Freemasons will be held on Thursday evening. Mrs Babbage, of Croftmore, an experienced teacher offers to give lessons in music, drawing, and French.