NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9099, 6 July 1888, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF.

Sir John Pender is known at home as the Cable King. Mrs. Dudley Ward left for the South by the Te Anau yesterday. She is now convalescent. Mr. H. Mouldy has been lecturing to the good people of Kawakawa on the " Golden Chariot." The heaviest fall of snow known for years on the Australian Alps took place last week, near Harrietville. It was three feet deep. - ' ■, . „ , The Rochester (Victoria) Licensing Court has decided to close five out of nine hotels at that place in accordance with the local option poll. . ~ , The Broken Hill mine has paid fourteen £1, five £1 10s, and two £2 dividends, since its' opening, the grand total in two years being £408,000. . The Chinese storekeepers in Wellington are so disgusted at the increased duty on opium that they have unanimously resolved to stop importations. It is reported that the Government have agreed- to have Dudley Eyre (the Wanganui levanter) extradited, but an information will require to be laid. The inquest upon the body of Charles Smith, who died at the Asylum on Wednesday, was held yesterday, resulting in a verdict, of " Natural causes."

All down the coast southward from the breakwater it is reported that portions of wreckage from the Hawea are strewn, there being a good bit of cargo among it. The new gumfield at Katikati still continues to give profitable employment to a considerable number, both Europeans and Maoris. About 60 persons are at work. The Canterbury police are continually • going on wild goose chases after the convict Roberts. Reports of his being seen in various parts of the country are frequent. News is to hand from Perth of an extraordinary rich find of gold in the Golden Valley country. An immense figure is reported to have been refused for a share in the claim. ,' :

The steam-roller was at work yesterday morning on Quay-street East, from Queen - street; to No. 2 jetty by Firth's Mill, and this section of the road will be open for traffic in a few days. '..'" ' " Ryan who is being treated at the Hospital for erysipelas through having a tooth pulled is " about the same," as is also Patterson, who met with an accident in Karangahape Road some time ago. Mrs. Stephens, of Birkenhead, who fractured her thigh while stepping off a tramcar in Symonas-street on Wednesday, and who was sent to the Hospital by Dr. Stock well, is doing well. A party from Melbourne is about to undertake an exploring journey through Western Australia, starting from Albany, and going in a north-east direction to the Northern Territory and Queensland. The Christchurch Library, as well as the Auckland one, is troubled with thefts of books from its shelves. Within the last •week five volumes have disappeared from the shelves of the reference department of the Christchurch Library. A writer in the Argus has suggested that the first pioneers of Australasia, resident in Victoria for a quarter of a century, should take part in the opening ceremonies of the " Centennaries;" they to be divided into groups, with appropriate banners, including * group of the gold diggers of 1851. Our millers, says a Southern paper, should keep their eye upon Manila and Tahiti as possible markets for their produce. Between July, 1887, and May, 1888, 22,000 barrels of flour were shipped from San Francisco to those places, which »re several thousands of miles nearer to New Zealand than to California.

i " In some autobiographical reminiscences of the Australian Natives' Association, Mr. Field : Barrett recalls the time when it was found almost impossible to obtain a quorum of five members. In fact the only way the secretary could do so was by adding, " P.S. —I have a bottle of whisky "' on each circular summoning members. | A contemporary says :—"■ If gold mining in Auckland does not prosper, it ought to do so. If our farmers had as many visits I from 'professional experts,' with their : critical—very critical—opinions and their i advice gratis published afterwards, they would pick up enough wrinkles to be able to grow wheat at both ends of the straw." There is a Christian Chapel at Round - Hill, a goldfield in Southland, occupied by • Chinese. It is the only building there in European style. The missionary, who built it has left the district, as a hopeless case, but he provided a locum tenens, whose only duty for a long time past has been to visit the chapel once a week to wind up the clock. '-* * '"/ :

The Sanitary Inspector, Mr. Goldie, gives the following summary of infectious eases for the month of June :—Typhoid 10, • scarlet fever 9, measles 3, diphtheria Ponsonby is credited with 2 typhoid, 2 ' diphtheria, a:ad 1 measles ; North Ward, 2 , typhoid ; Karangahape, 4 typhoid, 6scarlet; South Ward, 1 scarlet East Ward, 1 , syphoid ; Grafton, 1 typhoid, 2 scarlet; j Eden Terrace, 2 scarlet. To the Press Association telegram giving .he result of the meeting on educational retrenchment, which was held on Monday, the editor of the Taranaki Herald appends the following note : —" The meeting no doubt was packed with schoolmasters and their friends, as such a decision would never be arrived at by thinking, uninterested persons."