MEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIV, Issue 8929, 19 December 1887, Page 6

MEWS IN BRIEF.

H.M.s. Rxvbk it Lyttelton. . • Yesterday felt the hottest day of to#

season. ... -14 The Victorian wheat crop will average 14 to *> *»* * What better, although "till m » weak .tote. The fault in the reception of Admiral cairfax was that there was too much manage-

""(Jver a thousand exhibits have been received for the Sunday Schools exhibition in N Thursday, the 16th insfc, was about the hottest day they had in Wellington this cut to the distinguished ; visitor was quarantining his coach horse# and the ship's dog. , .... Opening of Calliope Dock postponed till the middle of February,when H.M.s. Calliope will be docked. , , It is said that one of the special settiers" is about to publish a pamphlet entitled " Take-in." The Admiral's visit is limited, as he will bo present at the New South Wales centenary celebration on the 26th of January. The actual cost to New Zealand of the scheme of naval defence is estimated to be between £21,000 and £22,000 a year. The Wbauganui Chronicle says :— "There is something almost ludiorous in the extraordinary collapse of the Opposition in ParliaThe efforts of the Garrison Band and Railway Band at Napier will result in £77 being added to the funds of the Napier Hospital this year. , T . Shearing was finished last week at Johnson's Tamumu run, Wairarapa. Hawkes Bay, when it was found that 38,000 sheep had been shorn. An exchange says "So addicted have we in New Zealand become to borrowing that people borrow to put the money on the totalisator." w .,. t _ . The cost of the Wellington Military Training College for the last 18 months was £1580 St 9d, and six persons availed themselves of its use. .. ~ -.. ,1. The maize crop in the Opotiki District this year looks very well indeed. It is expected that Opotiki will export more tnis coming season than ever. . The Waikato News is very anxious to know how Mr. J. B. Whyte voted on Mr. T. Thomson's motion for giving Vailo s railway schema a trial on the Waikati) line. Mr. John Grigg, the teacher of musio at the several Thames public schooh, has been presented with a neat testimonial and address by the children of the Tararn Sohool. Mr. E. Baker, of Wellington, who has been on a visit to Auckland, has taken back with him, and is exhibiting, samples of the Iron produced at the Ouehunga Iron Works. Bv resolution the town school committee of Whaoganui resolved that, on re-opening, the schools should go back to the old time table, the schools opening at nine and closing Mr. R. Cameron, of the Auckland Savings Bank, has received a telegram that his boy, attending the Napier High School under Mr. Neil Heath, has won the gold medal and two The revenue earned by the State Forests Department since the appointment of the Chief Conservator of Forests baa been iboSO, and the expenditure £12,003, while there are liabilities of £1195 The Aparima Dairy Factory Company used up nearly fifty thousand gallons of milk last year, but their operations have resulted in a laree loss. The cost of making cheese was l|d per lb. The spectacle of a big, hulking lather of a family riding to town jWhanganui) in a bogey, with his two boys in the shafts as beasts of burden, has been seen on two or three occasions lately. The New Zealand railway revenue for the four we«ks ended 12th nit, was £68,403, as against £69.007 last year; expenditure, £48,564, as against £51,067. The total length of Government lines now open ia 1752 miles. , mi The Whangaani Herald, commenting on Major Atkinson's action in regard to education retrenchment, says: — "The Premier and Treasurer, Major Atkinson, is carrying things with a high hand, and riding rough shod over the country." It is rumoured that ft number of farmers So VVsoganni, who are dissatisfied with the prices received for their fat stock from those standing between them and the consumer, com template opening a butchery establishment on the co-operative principle. The many friends of Mr. Henry Anderson, journalist (says the Wellington Evening Press), will regret to hear that he is suffering from what has been pronounced, after a consultation of physicians at the hospital, as malignant cancer at the root of the tongue. A New Plymouth paper, tbe Dally News, referring to the Public Works Statement, ■ays of the Ministry;— '* They have departed from the policy of rigid economy, by which they gained office, and they have adopted the 'tapering off* policy of Sir Robert Stout." The Wellington Post has it on the very best authority that it is the intention of the Government to put in hsnd shortly the reconstruction of the General Post Office. No allocation from loan will be asked for to enable this to be done, but the cost will be provided for out of the Consolidated Fond. As an instance of the extent to which mechanical ingenuity has advanced, it is stated that it is now possible to construct a complete sewing machine in a minute, or 60 in one hour ; a reaper every fifteen minutes or less ; 300 watches a day, complete in all their appointments. More important than this, ere is the fact that it is possible to construct a locomotive in a day. _| It takes a smart man to let down Sir c. Whitaker. The other day he and the Hon. 'Mr. Scotland were exchanging compliments in the Legislative Council. The latter said Sir Frederick could not obtain election for liny constituency in the colony, for the reason that he knew too much. Sir F. Whitaker retorted that Mr. Scotland would also fail to obtain election, for the very opposite reason, fthat he knew too little.