NEWS AND MOTES.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue 7628, 15 December 1902, Page 2

NEWS AND NOTES.

The Wellington bakers have raised the price of bread to fourpence per two pound loaf. A Chinaman was fined £'50 at Bunaberg, Queensland, for supplying liquor to kanakas.

It has been agreed by the UtdvtrAty Council in Melbourne that a diploma of education should be instituted for instruction in the theory and practice of teaching.

At the Taranalri School Commissioners' meeting, Me E. Fake, on behalf of the settlors in the Tiromoana and Rotokire districts, waited on the Board to ask consent to make a road through section 3, block 15, Ngaire, leased to Mr B. Dive. — Agreed to, on condi ion that the local authority apply, and the lessee of the land consents, no expense to be incurred by the Bojrd. Tenders for the (Creamery building At Boylan-road were received : Q. R. Paikes, JG24 (accepted) ; R. Whije, iL%%

Asomewhet eerioua disturbance is reported (o have occurred on the train known as the '• wild oat," coming from Masterton to Eketahuna, on Saturday night. From information (says the Express) we have been able to glean it appears that a number of men boarded jhe train at Masterton in a state of intoxication. On the journey up, high words ensued, which ended in a free fight. The language used is said to have been of a filthy character, and this was aggra vated by the fact that there was a lady passenger in the adjoining car. When near Kopuaranga one of the occupants o! the car in which the row occurred either fell off, or was pushed off. He is said to be a resident of Mauriceville, but the nature of his injuries, if any, we have been unuble to ascertain. The train was travelling at a good pace at the time. On the arrival of the train at Maurice ville the fight is alleged Jo have been continued on the station platform. The biawl i 3 characterise d by those who witnessed it us of a most disgraceful character.

There are many (says tie Pahiatua Herald) to whom the hard "work incidental to bush farming appears congenial. It is not uncommon tc« find that persons who have been pioneers in one district, have, whm the district has become settled and civilised, sold up their properties and gone further back into the bush to begin again the work of conquest. An extraordinary accident occurred the other day to a groom in the employ of tho New Brighton Trains ay Company. A horse which he was war tering in the stables was annoyed by another horse in an adjoining stall, and put up its head as if to bite the latter animal. Instead of doing so, however, it bit the man on the left side of the face, and tore the flesh off from the cheekbone upwards.

At Wellington a person was charged with selling tickets purporting to be in connection with the Mount Kemibla Motor Car Art Union. A fine of 10s, with costs 7s, Vas imposed, His Worship remarking that the 1 maximum penalty was £200.

Wo regret to learn of the death at Waverlcy of Mr Philip Bremer, a'gpd S3, one of the oldest and most respected residents on this coast.

A petition is to be forwarded to the Government by Kawhia settlers in favour of the application already sent in by Captain Fletcher that he should be granted a lease to mine for coal on certain ground on the shore of Kawhia Harbour.

On the Wellington-Napier-New Plymouth section of railways 46,125 first and second-class single passengers travelled during November, compared with 35,812 in ' November, 1901, 104,742 first and second-class return passengers travelled compared with 97,094 in 1901. The revenue derived from all sources on the section for the month increased from £33,003 17s 9d in 1901 to £36,212 11s 4d. Some flaxmillers in the Manawatu

district are paying as high as 22s 6d per ton of green flax as royalty for the right of cutting. As it requires eight tons of green flax to make a ton of fibre, the owners of flax lands must (the Wellington Times thinks) be "making their pile." The Makerua Company, which purchased the extensive flat swamp lands of the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company, is about to sell a number of flax farms, so as to enable flaxmillers to acquire their own freeholds. Mr. Justice Denniston at Christchurch delivered judgment in tho appeal by Manning and Co., Limited, brewers, against a decision of the Magistrate that a series of debentures issued by the company should be liable to stamp duty as promissory notes. His Honor held that debentures should be treated as mortgages, ekid consequently exempt from duty under the Stamp Act, 1882. A recommendation having been made by Major-General Babington for the' establishment of an intermediate force between the Permanent Militia and the volunteers, the question is now before the Cabinet. It is suggested that the force should consist mainly of men of the naval artillery corps and possibly the field artillery batteries, and that it should receive special training during the year with at least a month every year in a training camp or at the forts.