NEWS IN BRIEF

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9131, 13 August 1888, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF

The sound of skating was heard in a prominent rink yesterday. The return rush from Melbourne has set in, according to a Sydney paper. Mount Morgan shares were sold in BrisDane on August 6th, at £15 17s fid. Owing to the exodus, there is said to be a scarcity of good miners at the Thames now - - J • v There are 11,720 miners employed in .New Zealand at the present time, of which number 2993 are Chinese. In Sydney complaint* are made that Chinese cooks are ousting white men in the hotels and restaurants. The bricklayers' strike at Brisbane has been settled by the masters agreeing to pay wages at the rate of 12s per day. The Silver Crescent mine, Broken Hill, has struck a rich lode, which is supposed to be a continuation of that of the Proprietary claim. . , No less than seventeen valuable Lincoln sheep, belonging to a Hawera grazier, were worried to death by dogs in one night recently. „ , ' ... At the Wanganui rink the other night a young lady, an expert skater, fell and broke her wrist in two places. She had her hands in a muff. , ~ Recently the police made a raid upon a Chinese gambling den in Lower Georgestreet, Sydney, and succeeded in capturing eight Europeans and three Chinamen. A practically inexhaustible supply of water has been obtained at the Silver Crescent Mine, Broken Hill, and it is proposed to convey it bv means of pipes to the town. The Moonta (S.A.) Copper Mine proprietors have returned their profits for the half-year at £32,000, on which the proprietary has to pay a Government royalty of £800. . Australian papers are "on the Maritime Council. The Sydney Evening News speaks of the " Maritime Council Dictatorship." The Melbourne Argus calls it "a wretched bit of bounce." '■ Puff," in the Wellington Press says :— There was a stout member for Punstan Who weighed more thAji twenty and one stun, .But he saw an embargo l*ut on Central Otapo. Which squashed the Door member for Dunstan.

The whole of the extensive works at the Kaipara Woollen Factory are lit- by 230 electric lamps. Outside the coal used in the engine (-25-horse compound) the cost is Site a-week. They previously used gasoline which cost them £-20 per week. > -Twenty thousand people visited H.M.S. Nelson in one day when she was docked in Melbourne recently. A boy fell to the , bottom of the dock, a distance of thirty feet. The back of hi* skull was smashed in. and he expired in a few minutes. The Lanelands Foundry Company, Melbourne, has conceded to the demands of the ironmoulders, who are out on strike, and several smaller shops have signified their intention of giving the increase of Is demanded by the men. The minimum rate was 10s a day. and they struck for lis. At the conference of judges held in Melbourne lately, it was resolved on the motion of Chief Justice Higinbotham, "That, having regard to the climate of these colonies, The question of the official costume to be worn by the judges be referred to a committee consisting of the Chief Justices, tor consideration and report." A block of land, having 119| feet frontage to Collins-street, Melbourne, was leased.the other day for 25 veers' to a firm of tea merchant* a't £3700 per annum. The lessees are to spend not less than £40,000 on the whole property, and at the end of the lease the buildings will be token over at a valuation. In the last issue of the New Zealand Gazette (says an exchange), statements of the affairs of fourteen goldmining companies fit various parts of the colony are published. Out of that number eleven are destitute of funds, having neither cash in hand nor cash at their bankers'. What a hopeful prospect this is for the goldmining industry ! _^_____ — ____