NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9149, 3 September 1888, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF.

The social in aid of St. Patrick's new Presbytery realised over £50. Large speculative purchases of wheat have been made in Christchurch during the last few days at 3s f.o.b. The natives at Whatawhata are said to be suffering seriously from the ravages of typhoid fever, and are "dying off like rotten sheep." On Saturday afternoon clouds of smoke were seen rising beyond Devonporfc. Upon inquiry it was found to be caused by some burning gorse. A Napier paper says the skull of a man was found recently on the beach near where the Northumberland was wrecked, by a gentleman out for a stroll. * The New Zealand Times declares that the "new blood" in the Lower House has proved a great failure. They are charged with introducing larrikinism into Parliament. A Coast paper learns on good authority 1 ' that the syndicate said to be in negotiation for the purchase of the Westporfc Coal Company's property is the Peninsular and Oriental Company." Only fifteen of the Napier unemployed have accepted work on relief terms out oi 150 alleged to be out of work, and the majority of these, who have gone to Woodville, are single young men. The Outgo Daily Tinier is informed that intimation has been received by cable that a profitable arrangement has been made for the publication of "Gilbert Rock's" short novel " Colonists" in London in October j next. _ An exchange says that Mr. W. L. Ree3 is achieving more for the colony than the Ministry"or Parliament combined have been able to accomplish during the prolonged session of Parliament now being brought to a close. Three sulphur springs have just been discovered in the Otira Gorge, Canterbury. Two of them are hot springs, and one is a cold spring. They are situated within ten minutes' walk from the Otira accommodation house. After '28 years' work in connection with the carrier department of the Auckland j Post Office, Mr.' R. S. Lincoln retired on his pension last Friday, when he was presented by the carriers with a handsome desk, and by the clerks with a fine album. A Christchurch paper says that city consumes about 4000 tons of Newcastle coal per month, and there is not a month's supply in stock or afloat* The Westland mines cannot supply all the coal that will be demanded, consequently prices must go up. It is rumoured (says the Christchurch Telegraph) that the owners of the Allan line are negotiating with the Government of the Dominion of Canada for running a service of steamers from Scotland to Montreal and from Vancouver to the East and Australia. " If Wellington could be properly sized up (says the Hawke's Bay Herald) it would be found to contain more swindlers, fraudulent bankrupts, loafers, immoral persons of both sexes, and howling hypocrites of the theological profession, than any other town of this unhappy country." Thus " Puff" in the Evening Press on the rise in the wheat market :—" Wheat's going ahead finely ! Cargoes to arrive have been sold for 40s ! It is quite like old times ! Except that we havn't got the wheat to sell. Great tracts of land that should carry 30 bushels to the acre have produced nothing for years past except four crops of promissory notes a year? The Christchurch Telegraph says the suggestions of Mr. Bowen in regard to simplifying Fnglish grammar in order to "relieve young students from the tyranny of grammatical theories as now taught in our schools, so that little children's souls may not be vexed by subtleties modified from year to year," are deserving of attention from all persons interested in education. An exchange says that this season has been one of the worst seasons experienced among the whalers in Cook Straits for some years, only one small whale having been captured by Mr. Keenan's crew. Several large ones were sighted, but they were too ■wild to capture. As the season has closed, all the whalers have gone off to the Mahakipawa goldfield to try their luck in that quarter. The following is an extract from a letter from London to the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company, dated July 13:—"A shipment of Waimatuku Dairy Factory cheese, sent home by the s.s. Kaikoura, was sold on July 13 at 53s per cwt., while on the same day the quotations for best new American cheese were 46s to 50s per cwt. A very fine parcel of New Zealand cheese from Inch-Clutha was sold at 65."