NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9098, 5 July 1888, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF.

Jonathan Roberts is still at large. A ghost is troubling Ashburton just now. They are playing a farce entitled " The Escape of Jonathan Roberts" at the Christ- • church Theatre Royal. ; Frost fish have been plentiful in the South during the' last few days, owing to the bright moonlight and frosty nights. Sir Andrew Le Fleming has for some time been successfully e> -i ting his skill in horse taming and training ui Canterbury. The Bay of Islands and Kaipara districts have been brought under the Destitute Persons Act, 1877, in respect to the native race. There are about 200 cases of diphtheria, in Lyttelton at the present time, mostly of a mild character. The doctors blame the drains. A grey seal was killed on the beach near Kaiapoi lately as it was basking in the sun. It is' seven feet six inches long, and has a very handsome coat. The find of manganese ore which was made last month on the property of the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company, promises to be valuable. A Wellington inventor proposes to make telegraph poles (hollow), and various other things, of cement moulded on a skeleton of steel wire netting. An employe on a North Island station was drowned last week in a peculiar way. He was riding over a swollen river with a lot of plough fittings round his nock,' and was washed off his horse.

The Wellington and Canterbury frozen meat companies are getting guarantees from stockowners for a supply of stock for the coming year, upon the condition that the rate of freight snail not exceed Id per lb. Mr. G. Willmer has paid a graceful tribute to the memory of the late Mr. H. A. Watt in some verses which he has dedicated to the members of the Christchurch Caledonian Society, who have decided to frame a copy and hang it in their rooms. A Southern paper says : — 55 Whenever a Wellington man advocates economy in the public expenditure, he goes for the discontinuance of the 'Frisco mail service. The typical ' Wellington man' does not know Auckland is in New Zealand." Patterson, the patient at the Hospital who met with an accident in Karangahape Road some time ago, is still in a semiconscious state. Ryan, who was attacked by erysipelas after having a tooth pulled, will, it is said, lose the sight of one eye. Mr. H. W. Farnall challenges the Rev. J. S. Hill to a debate on the Anglo-Israel question, ; on condition that after the discussion the vote of the audience is taken on the matter. To be of any value, the vote should be taken both before and after the debate. It appears (says the Press) that a wellorganised system of sheep-stealing has for some time been in progress in the Wairarapa district, and the police seem to think that they are upon the track of the offenders. Several farmers, it is said, have been osing sheep by the hundred in a year. The Mercer Recreation Grounds, containing 84 acres 3 roods, have " been brought under the operation of the Public Domains Act, 1881, and Messrs. W. H. Porter, M. Gallery, Robert Martin, Thomas Porter, M. Hunter, . Thos. ; Nelson, and R. Tregoweth have been appointed a Board of . Management. < : • .