NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6061, 21 April 1881, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF.

A successful trial has been made of Picton coal. The. Governor has disbanded the Waitara West volunteers at their own request. The country about Rangitikei, Wairarapa, and Patea has suffered greatly. from the drought. Mr. Coleman Phillips has been lecturing at Wairarapa on "The History of Party Government in England from 1666 to 1532." Complaints are made in the Christchurch papers as to the careless way in which the census papers are. collected by subenumerators. ; On Palm Sunday in Dunedin . sprigs of a native shrub similar to. the palm tree were distributed to . the * faithful in the Roman Catholic churches. ; The Lawrence School Committee endorses the'action of the Dunedin Schools Committee n condemning cumulative voting for election of members of school committees. : The farmers in Otago have been driven to form co-operative associations, owing to the middle-men charging from 15 to 22 per cent, per annum for interest and commission. ." The Rev. J. M. Fraser, late Presbyterian minister at Westport, but formerly of Coromandel, has been appointed to a pastorate, in Otago, with a salary of £450 per annum. The statement " that a contagious disease was prevailing at Parihaka, and sixty deaths had occurred within a few days," has been contradicted on the authority of Mr. Parris. At the monthly meeting of No. 9, Star, of Otago, L.0.L., Dunedin, correspondence was read from Katikati referring to the building of an Orange Hall, and requesting aid to that object. , In the bankruptcy proceedings in the case of Murdoch, the .cricketer, it was deposed by Bannerman that he could not say whether any profits were made by the Australian Eleven. In order not to desecrate the Sunday, "steamers are not allowed to " whistle" when ; leaving Wellington on that day. Some people have lost their passage in consequence; The following example is worthy of imitation :—Mr. Titherley, the late member for Normanby, N.S.W., has been given work as a compositor in the. Government Printing Office, Melbourne. ' •The West Coast Times says the banks are doing what they can to assist the Government to call in all the old and defaced coins, of which such a remarkable quantity is in circulation on the Coast. A man from Waikato capered about Morganstown, Te Aroha, a few days ago, in a most.extraordinary manner, and then threw himself, into the river. He was found out, and handed'over to some friends. The Minister of Justice has, we learn, declined to Interfere in respect to the sentence on Warnstcad (commonly known as Bismark") for using threatening language to Mr. Goldie, sanitary inspector. - Mr . A.. Broaden, M.P., and Mr. Lawson, late Commissioner of Railways, who paid New Plymouth a visit during the period of turf carnival, were obliged to go to Waitara for sleeping accommodation, as even a shake-down was not to be had at a premium m town.