NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 8999, 12 March 1888, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF.

Honey sent to England by Colonel Noake, Df the West Coast, made s£d per lb. The heavy rains lately must have ex- ; tinguished all the smouldering bush fires. The district known as Melrose (suburbs of Wellington) has been gazetted a borough. There was in the lockup last evening one prisoner, the charge being that of drunkenness. Large quantities of grass seed are being sent into New Plymouth from the country districts. Colonel McDonnell has been lecturing at Wellington on "An Account of the Early Times in New Zealand." The. Taranaki Iron Company have sold the buildings and plant at the Henui, known as the Ironsand Works, to Mr. T. Oldtield for £510. The Catholic Hibernian Society has applied to the City Council for permission to hold their usual sports in the Domain on St. Patrick's Day. A Tongan recently broke into the house of Mr. Garrick, a Levuka lawyer. He was arrested, and has now retained Mr. Garrick to defend him. The vacancy in the Harbour Board, caused by the resignation of Councillor Tftdd, will be filled up at the next meeting of the City Council. In Canterbury, Otago, and Wellington, things in the football line are quite brisk at present. The chief clubs have all held their annual meetings, and are starting operations. A party of lady excursionists to Mount Egmont returned to New Plymouth on Tuesday evening, after having reached within a very short distance of the highest peak. Owing to the absence of the Rev. W. E. Mulgan the monthly meeting of the clergy Df the Church of England will be held to-day at the parsonage, Devonport, and not at Onehunga as previously notified. The adjourned Assessment Courts for hearing objections will be Held in the City Council offices. For Grafton Ward on Thursday, the 15th Instant, at ten a.m. ; knd for Karangaha{>e Ward on Monday, the 19th instant, at ten a.m. Mr. Blackett, Engineer-in-Chief, is to inspect the harbour works at New Plymouth, and to report to the Government upon the alleged silting up of the harbour, and as to the means which should be adopted for preventing the extension of the mischief. Some 2*25 free railway passes have been Issued by the Town Clerk to the unemployed, from the 13th January to the end of last month. Over SO applicants have promised to rep?v the fare, as the tickets were issued to Te Kuiti and other long distance stations. Through an inadvertence on the writer's part a sentence in Mr. Buchanan's letter on the temperance question in Saturday's Issue Was printed "We are elated about," &c. ; and should have appeared : We are not elated about our majority in PonBonby." We are requested by the railway employees to state that Baker, who was convicted of breaking open a case of fruit at the Auckland railway station, was not, as stated, an engine cleaner. He was a carriage cleaner, and had no connection with the engine department. The Hawera Star says " There is no rush of land speculators in this part of the Taranaki land district under Richardson's Act. It is a noteworthy fact that all the applications yet made under the recently gazetted regulations are to take up lands under the deferred payment or perpetual lease system." On Saturday afternoon a crew, composed of four members of the West End Rowing Club, were pulling down in a racing gig from their shed to witness the Judge's Bay Regatta, and when opposite the _ Queenstreet Wharf their frail craft took in a big sea which completely swamped her, and left the occupants floating in the water. Assistance was, however, close at hand, and the quartette were speedily rescued. The gig was secured by a waterman, and taken in tow to Ponsonby.