NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Issue 6568, 5 December 1882, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF.

A b!'.ici;yakd has been opened at Te Aroha. The inhabitants of Fortroso are taking steps with a view to the establishment of a public library for that township. Mr. Matthews, the land tax valuer for the Government, is making his tour round the Mangonui county. Great complaints are made by farmers in Victoria of the scarcity of harvest hands, notwithstanding the high wages offered. The amount realised by the bazaar in aid of the Presbyterian Church at Port Chalmers was I'GSS, from which has to be deducted £2,"i for expenses, leaving a clear balance of £600. Angling is very dull in the Tapanui district at present, says the local paper, as the Pomahaka is full of snow water, and the minor streams are too low for successful angling. Bishop Redwood is now visiting the various settlements on the West Coast. While at No Town £320 was collected towards the erection of a new Koinau Catholic Chapel. The correct figures in connection with the amounts put through the totalisator at Christchurch were First day, £5297 ; second day, £7410 ; third day, £77SS ; — total, £20,501.

Some of the correspondents of theDunedin papers assort that Mr. Caldwell has been removed from Dunedin Gaol to Auckland because Captain Hume, the Inspector of Prisons, is jealous of him !

A Dunedin contemporary says Importing coal from Newcastle will soon be a thing of the past, and, we think, the sooner the better for the good of the colony. Our rich and extensive coalfields must be utilised.

The Tablet, in its account of the arrival of Bishop Luck, makes special mention of the flower cross sent by Bishop Cowie. It says that Bishop Luck, "in suitable terms, acknowledged the kind and graceful token." In a recent visit to Kurnara, Bishop Redwood, addressing the Catholics, "trusted they would persevere jn their heroic labours, and especially to extend their full assistance to the cause of education, as that was the great cause of the day."

Eight black swans, says a Dunedin paper, were seen in the harbour near Macandrew's Bay last week. An old seaman informs our contemporary that this is the first time he has noticed swaus in the harbour, and his experience extends over a quarter of a century.

The Timaru Herald thus sums up Mr. Macandrew's speech:—"The gist of llr. Macandrew's speech really is that the politics of the colony arc beyond his comprehension, and that ho sees no way out of the puzzle, except by sweeping everything away and making a fresh start."

The defeat of one of the competitors at the recent rifle competition, is thus accounted for by the Wellington Post:—"Corporal Chuck, of the Kifles, was suddenly seized with an attack of measles just at the time when he was well up for the Champion Belt, and compelled to take to bis bed, thus losing all chance in the contest."

A ferret escaped the other night from a shop in Dunedin, and was found half a mile away next morning, coiled up asleep in a hen's nest. On its rambles it visited several hen-roosts, killing three ducks, two hens, one rooster, and 18 chickens. In every case the birds had been attacked at the back of the head, and had evidently been despatched with one bite, the teeth of the ferret entering the brain of each bird.