NEWS AND NOTES.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume IX, Issue 1656, 22 June 1887, Page 2

NEWS AND NOTES.

♦ An inquest will be held to-morrow morning, commencing at nine o'clock, touching the recent fire, by which the Club Hotel was destroyed. A man named William Connell has been arrested at Wanganui, charged with the larceny, at Manaia, of a bridle, the property of Thomas Sutherland. School children are being conveyed to Wanganui exhibition at nominal rates— ls for return ticket. About 50 went away by train this morning, made up of several parties. Mr. John Veale, sen., of New Plymouth, on Monday sent the Herald strawberries grown in the open air and they are pronounced to be large, well -flavored and equal in most respects to those grown in summer. A lamily in Nikolsburg, Austria, celebrated a curious " bimetallic " wedding the other day. On the same day a wellknown citizen of that town celebrated his golden wedding, and his son-in-law, living in the same house, celebrated his silver wedding. The event was made even more picturesque by the marriage of the latter's daughter in the midst of the festivities. Samuel Raplee, who lives near Cincinnati, claims to be 115 years old, and some of his neighbors, who have known him for seventy years, say there can be no donbt about his being at least 108 years old. For years he has not failed to attend church every Sunday until a few weeks ago, when he became too feeble. He was born in Burlington, N.J., and was a soldier in the war of 1812. At a meeting of the Auckland Acclimatisation Society lately the chairman. Mr. J. Burtt, drew attention to the fact that onefourth of the society's income was being expended on rewards for hawks' heads" As against this, however, Mr. Morrio pointed out that this expenditure largely increased the revenue for game licenses. It was announced that a, consignment of perch and trout had been received from Wellington Acclimatisation Society. There was some coursing on Tuesday on tbe farms of several settlers residing near Hawera. About a score of hares were started during the daj\ Some wellknown dogs from Otakebo, Manaia, aud Hawera were on the field, and there were several capital courses. There were a good number of people present, and at the conclusion of the day's sport cheers were given for the settlers who had permitted their land to be hunted over. The American papers charge — and gpt good prices for advertisements. A column in the Chicago tribune costs the advertiser £5200 per annum. The New York Herald receives for the lowest price £7300, and for its highest price, £12,000 per annum for a column. The New York Tribune for its lowest gets £4250, and for its highest £17,000 for the same space, and these papers, it is said, never lack for advertisements to fill their columns. The Americans would never give such prices if they had not discovered that they get good value for their money. Mr. Hayter, the Victorian Statist, whose Year Book is everywhere accepted as the authority upon Australian statistics, places the cost ol instruction per scholar in the following order : — New South Wales, £8 2s 8d; Tasmauia, £5 11s sd; Queensland, £5 0s 2d; *New Zealand, £4 135 ; Victorin, £4 12s 8d ; Western Australia, £4 4s 6d ; South Australin, £4 Is 7d. With regard to the extraordinary rate in New South Wales, Mr. Hayter remarks : — " It is possible that much of this expenditure may have been on school buildings ; but of this no particulars have been given." In an article on the anniversary of the Tarawera eruption, the Auckland Herald says : — " From Te Puke and the neighboring districts have come returns ot the extraordinary yield this year's maize crop has given, attributed by the settlers to the presence of the volcanic dust, whilst pasture of all kinds has never been so luxuriant as during the season just passed. The Tarawera eruption has. therefore, not been altogether unattended with gooi results, and may yet have the effect of transforming much of the poor soil in the Lake district into pasture laud of surpassiDg fertility."