NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6004, 14 February 1881, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF.

An interesting competition between Victorian, American, English and French rock-' drills took place recently at the Melbourne Exhibition. Two hundred porkers from the Waimate Plains were driven through Wanganui in one day en route for Wellington. Wellington is in trouble. Its water, as supplied by the Corporation, is thick, strong' smelling, active with animacula?, and withal scarce. A start has been made with the telephone .in Oamaru, Messrs. J. and T. Meek having connected their office with their flour-mill by this means. One firm in Oamaru emploj'ing a large number of hands has given "its employes notice each to take a fortnight's holiday in rotation. The expenditure of the Otago Education Board for the ensuing year is estimated at £113,705, of which sum £40,000 are for school buildings. F. B. Hall, one of the original '49ers in California, when the rush to the gold-mines took place, died in Hoboken last mouth, at the age of 75. The total reduction in the property tax assessment made by the Board of Reviewers for "Wellincton City and Hutt County was -withina.trifle of £25,000. Four hundred and sixty-nine volunteers, comprising ten companies, have agreed to drill as usual, in the county of Taranaki, without receivine; the capitation allowance. The manufacture of tobacco from the raw leaf has hitherto enjoyed protection to the extent of 125 or 130 per cent., in the South Australia, on the value of the imported article. The Ashburton Mail states that there is a regular epidemic of dysentery prevailing in and about Ashburton at the present time. A number of deaths, both of children and adults, have occurred from this cause. The Library Committee of the Canterbury College Board of Governors has recommended that the Reference Library and the Beading Room shall be open on Sundays at certain hours during the afternoon and evening. The Collector of Customs at New Plymouth has caused some of the illegallymanufactured whisky of that district 1o be tested. It turns out to be about fifty-four underproof, and is altogether very queer stuff.

Signor Morley, who has been identified with some of the finest amateur musical performances ever given in Dunedin, and who has done so much to raise the standard of music, is about to leave, and will reside in Christchurch. The Uama.ru Corporation want Is 3d per 1000 gallons for water supplied to the Railway Department. The Minister for Public Works offers one shilling per 1000 gallons, which offer the Mayor, on behalf of the Corporation, refuses. The mile posts along the main line of railway in the Middle Island are numbered from Christchurch instead of Dunedin. One Otago member has strong opinions on the subject. He holds that the posts should be numbered from the central city of the main line, and will ask a question about it at the nex session. The Melbourne Exhibition commissioners have definitely decided upon keeping tl: e Exhibition open till the 30th of April, which this year falls on a Saturday. Most of the foreign Commissioners have intimated' that it will afford them much pleasure to assist in maintaining the attractions of the Exhibition for; the extra month. The names of 351 paactitioners are on the Medical Register of New Zealand, 45 of whom are said to have left the colony. Drs. Fisher, of Kaipara, and Tivy, of Christ-' church, have the honour of holding the oldest diplomas, theirs being dated 182?, and the next in seniority is Dr. Richardsou, of Dunedin, his registered date being 1529. A story of "tall" travelling has reached us. Mr. King, of New Plymouth, being anxious to reach Wanganui to catch a steamer for Wellington, left New Plymouth at 5 p.m. on Monday last, arriving i n Wanganui at. 5 a.m. on Tuesday. °He changed horses at Hawera and Patea. As he travelled by the Mountain Road he must have covered nearly 110 miles in 12 hours.