NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIV, Issue 7841, 10 January 1887, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF.

. Tbb lonic sailed for London yesterday. Professor Thomas, arrived at Rotorun OB Saturday. * *' • . > k .The Fiak Jubilee Singers had a succeusfal Benson in Napier. ; - Mr. Ballanca leaves for Auckland and Rotorua district to-morrow. ••'•The Egmont Sash and Door Factory •Company (Hawera) is in liquidation. . "She takings at the Oamaru Caledonian {piety's carnival amounted to £150, ■ •' s&e Taranaki Herald says the hotel business was very quiet on Christmas Eva. . Henry Corning Richmond, hotel-keeper, Kaipara, has filed a declaration in bankruptcy. ' • - The s.s. Waverley took 1000 bales of wool from Patea to Wellington during Decomber. . , The clerk of the Police Court has received .a list of the Justices of the Peace for revision, &0. . , The Taranaki Volunteers will be inspected by Major-General Sir George Whitmore on Friday next. . „ ... Eight; Hours Demonstration Committee have issued a programme for the sports on Anniversary Day. . The Australian Miners' Association have forwarded a second donation of £200 to the Kaitangata miners. A New South Wales runholder has brought over 1500 merino sheep, and intends settling near Leeston. ... The death is announcad of Mr Fredorick Pitman, brother and co-partner of the inventor of phonography. A number of members of the Wellington Fire Brigade have been presented with recognitions for length of service. _, An attempt was mado to illuminate the Oamaru Caledonian Society's carnival with thr electric light, but the trial was a failure. £3,200.000 have been expended in defence in Victoria, while about 10 per cent, of that amount has been spent in New Zealand. Lectures on elementary anatomy and hospital nursing are delivered to the nurses of j the Wellington Hospital, and annual examinations held. The total number of claims received by the Land Claims Commission is 1630The proportion reported on favourably will not be large. Messrs. Heath and Irwin, the successful (contractors for the Hikntaia-Paeroa section of the Thames-Ta Aroha Railway, have commenced work. ■* Fishermen have been netting trout in the bay off Oamaru, and the local Acclimatisation Society are considering whether they can prosecute. Several good-sized trout have been seen in the Inaha and Waiokura streams, Hawera district, lately. Trout are believed to be well established. A pugilist has written to a Wanganui paper acknowledging that a recent match "was nothing but a pre-arranged swindle for the gate money." Mr. D A. Tola has been appointed Commissioner under the Native Lands Administration Act of last session for the Auckland district. Complaints are being made about the new dustbox contract. Princes-street was omitted for a week. The refuse is being deposited in the Albert Park. A remittance man, named James Robert Mathieson, was bound over to keep the peace for three months for threatening to commit suicide at Kaiwarra, Wellington. The Christchurch jury in the Goodwin case (perjury), who were locked up all night, were discharged, on Saturday morning without agreeing. A' nsw trial takes place today. The Wholesale Drapery and Grocery Company's store, Feilding, has been destroyed by fire. The building and stock were insured in the Equitable—stock, £900; building, £100. A 40-feet balloon was liberated at the Oamaru Caledonian Society's Grounds on New Year's Night, and was found next morning undamaged, on a farm seven miles distant* Mr : Wyberlr Reeve and his excellent company are enjoying a most successful season in Christchurch. "Dark Days" seems to have struck the tastes of the Christchurch playgoers. The foreman of the Grand Jury, Wellington, complained to Judge Richmond of the delay : caused by the non-attendance of a witness, whom His Honor directed to be called, so that he might he censured, but it was discovered there was an irregularity in the subpoena. As illustrative ,of the precocity of New Zealand children, the Rangitikei Advocate mentions that at a school in the district the scholars expressed their strong demurrence to competing at outdoor sports for cash prizes of 2s 6d,~ alleging as their reason that the sum was not large enough ♦ The Patea Mail says "We often hear the idea of fungus gathering derided as an imaginary method of earning money, but it must be admitted there is very strong ground for the imagination when we state that Mr. E. C.. Horner alone has shipped over £1500 worth since September last." Fungus is jocularly called "Taranaki wooL"