NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9114, 24 July 1888, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF.

They had a blindfold pig-bunt at a Southerh rink lately. * A block of land in Collins-street, Melbourne the other day . realised £1900 per 'foot. - .. ; , ... , , '> - f The starting point of the railway from Albany to Eucla baa been changed to Perth. . A large shark attacked a fisherman's boat in Fort Melbourne and knocked a bole in it. It is said that the Wellington Columbia Rink is to be taken over by a locally formed ' limited company. -\; The Kauri Timber Company has fullgage advertisements in many of the leading outhern papers. • '... ? ■ A settler in Canterbury has harvested three tons of red cloveru this season; thanks to the humblebee. The Melbourne butchers have decided to raise the price of meat owing to the sudden rise in the price of live stock. Sir Henry Parkes says, that any person selling butterine as butter in New South Wales is liable to a fine of 120. / The federation of the whole of the maritime societies throughout Australia is looked upon as practically accomplished. The divorce suit instituted by Mrs. Rose against her husband, Dr. Rose, ; M.P. of Melbourne, has been settled out of Court. " A boy named Lewis, employed at Allan's saddle factory in Beresford-street, ran the needle of a big sewing machine through his finger yesterday. . : The cost of printing 1500 copies of "Lunacy in Many Lands," .by G. A. Tucker, at the Government Printing Office, Sydney, was £1707 10s. Whitebait have been caught lately in the Avon., at Christchurch. This is unusually early, and is said to augur; an exceedingly early spring. The Government architect of Tasmania - was severely caned in Hobart recently by to Mrs. Webb, at whose house he had been '% family visitor. No explanation is given. The boarded-oufc children in connection with the Sydney State Children's Relief Board cost per head £14 2s 6d during the year and the inmates of the cottage homes £22ios. , ; ■- In Adelaide it is feared that the action of the Sydney Maritime Unions with regard to Chinese seamen, will extend ,to the • coloured labour employed by the P. and O. and other companies. flf _* -Settlers, in ..the Lower Wairarapa have • been holding a - meeting to , take steps for «nited ; action to put down the wild dog. nuisance. > The bUsh is said to be full of Tabbiters' dogs gone wild." -• ,< .-t:. ;An auction s sale of ■; South Australian pastoral leases took place at Adelaide recently, when 13,162 square miles, equal to 5,410,880 acres, were disposed of at an average of £112s 4d per mile. " The mining exchanges at Charters Towers, •Queensland, are open every night, and shares "are bought and sold by auction, which provides a very reliable market, and gives confidence to those concerned. Mr. McKay, of the Geological Department at the Colonial Museum, has made a discovery of finely coloured marble, eight .miles from Wellington, Which, if the quantity of atone proves large, will be of great : value. •- , c A letter from Bradford, England, , has . been received at this office by the 'Frisco .mail, for which there is no claimant. It is addressed '' Mr. Matthew Turner Kendall Aukland compositor of the Auklahd newspaper don't know which New Zealand maile first." Mee Chang, of Waikaka, miner, and a resident in the colony for 22 years, has gone bankrupt for £82. The debtor was examined, "but," adds the report pathetically, . " a lengthy set jof ; interrogatories failed to elicit any satisfaction." It is feared that if this man " gets through" there will be a rush of Chinese through the "Court. - * The "following letter appears :in the "Wellington Press :— " Sir,—lt is with 'pleasure that I inform you that my wife, i Minnie' Smith, of Brown-street, off Adelaide Road, gave birth at twelve o'clock on the 18th instant to two girls and one boy, and I am glad to add that they are all well. —I am, . &c., William Smith, Tailor. Wellington, July 19, 1888."