NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 9262, 16 January 1889, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF.

«—— /Yesterday was a scorcher. ! There are 650 more immigrants en route for Queensland. H.LB.M.s. Nayezdnik is due here from Sydney to-day. It is intended to divide South Australia into four land board districts. Mr. Edison has patented in New South Wales all his latest improvements in the telephone. Mr. Joseph Barns, one of the earliest settlers of Wellington, died yesterday morning, aged 6S. Sir Thomas Mcllwraith and party arrive! at Hongkong on January 2, and left on January 3 for Yokohama. The only occupants of the police cells last evening were a man for drunkenness and Morris Sullivan for assault. Twelve young men have been committed for trial in Adelaide for an attempted criminal outrage on a married woman. The Queensland Government has accepted the tender of Messrs Ibbotson Brothers and Co., Sheffield, for 1000 railway buffers. Edward Hanlan leaves for Toronto in the next 'Frisco mail steamer, and George Perkins leaves for England on January 26. In compliance with a telegram from Australia, the departure of 100 emigrants from Yokohama to Australia has been postponed. . The funeral of D. M. Stuart, solicitor, son of the Rev. Dr. Stuart, which took place at Dunedin yesterday, was very largely attended. The Queensland Government has decided to invite tenders for enlarging the gallows at Boggo Road, so that three criminals may be disposed of at once. The direct steamer Tainui, of the Shaw Savilland Albion Co. line, is expected to arrive from Hobart to-day. Bishop and Mrs. Cowie are passengers. The actual revenue of Now South Wales last year was £5,556,360, being £364,635 over the Colonial Treasurer's estimate, or an increase of £303,550 over ISS7. Lord Carrincton says that he would never have come to New South Wales as Governor had he known that such responsibility rested with him over death sentences. Yesterday afternoon Sir George Grey showed Mrs. Fairfax and some of her friends the various treasures in the Library. They were greatly pleased with their visit. It is proposed to reduce the compulsory school age in Victorian State schools to 13 years, and to increase the days of compulsory attendance from 30 to 40 in each quarter. Snakes have made tbeir appearance at the Melbourne Exhibition. It is said that there are numbers beneath the building. A black snake was killed in the Lancashire Court last week.

During the year ISSS the insolvencies in Victoria numbered 209 ; voluntary sequestrations 170, and compulsory sequestrations 24. The total liabilities amounted to £123,773 9s (3d, and the assets to £59,099 16s 7d. Mr. J. C. F. Johnson, the Minister of Education for South Australia, has had a satisfactory interview in Sydney with Mr. Roberts, the Postmaster-General of NewSouth Wales regarding die running of through mail trains from Adelaide. The following is the state of Her Majesty's prison, Auckland, for the week ending Jan. 12 On remand, 2 males ; awaiting trial, 2 males ; boys, 5 ; penal servitude, 3S males, 3 females : hard labour, 106 males, 24 females ; imprisonment, 1 male ; default of bail, 11 males ; received during the week, 22 males, 14-females; discharged, 3 males ; 9 females; total in prison : 165 males, 27 females. During the past couple of days there have been in town two young Maori chiefs of high rank, namely, Tamati Waka Nehua and Hohaia Patuone, both hailing from the Whangarei district. The former is a grand nephew of the renowned friendly chief the late Tamati Waka, of the Bay of Islands, while the latter is a son of Eru Patuone. j The cause of their visit to town is business in connection with native lands.