NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 8161, 24 January 1890, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF.

, , -— ■ ]?OBT Melbourne Council intend to agitate for penny sections on tram lines. The boy scavengers of. Sydney struck for higher wages, and were all dismissed. There are 2200 members on the roll of the Queensland Railway Employes Union. William Shaw, Bettler at Katikati, has filed a petition to be adjudged a bankrupt. Dr. Jackson is elected president of the Medical Society of Victoria for the ensuing

ye yesterday the Rev. Father McManus left by the Te Kapo on a visit to ChristThe Hotel Metropole, which is said to have cost £150,000, has been opened in to erect an Eiffel tower, 300 feet high, on a prominent elevation in Sy Th? Supreme Court Judges of New South Wales are paid less than those of Victoria. , _ A large shark has been caught at Townsville, having in its stomach a portion of a man's legs. ~ . t » The harvest in the Orange district, Now South Wales, promises to be the heaviest known for years. Serious defalcations at Tungamah, Victoria. The Shire secretary admits embezzling £428 9s 3d. The quantity of coal exported from the port of \Vestport during the year ISS9, was 163,914 tons IScwt. . A Port Melbourne councillor says its wholesale robbery to oharge 3d for a 400 yards ride in a tram. An intercolonial a common reading book for schools is to be held in Melbourne on the 29th. The flags on the Canterbury Yacht Club s fleet were half-masted yesterday in respect to the memory of Mr. Kebbell. A second-hand copy of Hooker's "Flora of New Zealand" was sold at auction a short time ago, and fetched £84. The rabbits in some parts of the Wilcannia (N.S. W.) district are dying by hundreds from some unknown disease. The output of gold in Queensland last year was 737,5220z., as compared with a yield of 615,0000e. in Victoria. W. J. Stubbs, a carpenter, shot himself on the 16th instant in railway train when between Melbourne and Balaclava. The report on the North Canterbury pupil teachers' examination shows that 155 candidates passed out of 17S examined. During the year ISS9 the postage stamps and tickets printed in New South Wales numbered 119,617,568; value, £792,635. At a public meeting of women, held at Adelaide, on -Tuesday evening, it was decided to form a Women's Trade Union. At Adelaide two little children went to sleep in a cart, which took fire, and the little ones and the horse were burnt to death. . A District Court justice in Victoria thinks that ice is an adulteration of milk, while a brother justice considers it an improvement. Probate was granted on the 16th inst. at the Sydney Supreme Court to the will of the late Mr. Lieorgo Talbot, the amount being £64,053. * The meeting of the Auckland Turkish Baths Company convened for yesterday afternoon, to elect an auditor, lapsed for the want of a quorum. The Imperial Customs authorities have remitted the duty on the silver wedding present sent to the Princess of Wales by the women of Victoria. Captain Edwin gives the following weather warning at 1.15 p.m. yesterday : — "■ Indications glass fall with north to west and south-west winds." During last year 541 steamers and sailing vessels visited Melbourne, registering 921,446 tons, as against 563 vessels in 18SS, registering 842,804 tons. The rainfall at Port Macquarie and Camden Haven has been almost phenomenal, the respective gauge registers for a week beiner 1633 in. and 10'95in. Admiral Scott says that two of the new warships for Australia will be stationed constantly in New Zealand waters and the others in the ports of Australia. A movement is started to erect a memorial to the late Rev. J. E. Tenison Wood 3, the geologist. Father Woods was a pressman in Adelaide before taking orders. The Mount Morgan Company intends to erect a laree receiving stores at Rockbampton, Queensland. The company has purchased a site for this purpose. The net profits of the City Bank, Melbourne, for the half-year were £22,633, out of which a dividend has been declared at the rate of 12i per cent, per annum. John A. Jones, a clerk receiving 18s per week wages, has been committed for trial in Melbourne, charged with the embezzlement of £1200 from the Empire Building Society. The Minister for Education (N.S.W.) proposes to call for applications for the position of instructors in the workshops to be started in connection with the public schools. Mr. Teece, who examined into the condition of the Civil Service Superannuation Fund, recommends that the Government of New South Wales should grant £500,000 to the fund. The operations of the Vine Diseases Board have, says the Sydney Telegraph, resulted in phylloxera being almost completely stamped out of the New South Wales vineyards. " Victoria," says the Age jubilantly, " is now at last possessed of a Government entomologist, and there is plenty of work awaiting his hand !" Mosquitoes and cockroaches are bad this season. The Governor of Victoria, by the advice of his Ministers, has sanctioned a regulation authorising payment of a drawback of Id per lb. on tea exported from the colony on which duty had been previously paid. The latest figures of the Mormon Church give 12 apostles, 70 patriachs, 3719 high priests, 11,805 elders, 2069 priests. 2592 teachers, and 11,610 deacons, or a total of 31,877 officers for a population of a little over 150,000. Mr. G. R. Parkin, the Canadian delegate, who was in the colony last year, speaking at the London Mansion House lately on Imperial Federation, described New Zealand as " one of the most beautiful coutries of the world." An endeavour is about to be made to develope the iron industry within the colony of New South Wales. Mr. Joseph Mitchell, M.L.A., is leaving for England, his especial object being to induce capitalists to embark in the venture. lb is alleged that a chemist of South Melbourne is going to Moama, New South Wales, shortly, re the Tictiborne case, in pursuance of instructions received from home. Baring Brothers are said to be defraying the expense. Mr. McKerrow, Chief Commissioner of Railways, is expected in Auckland by the steamer which arrives from Wellington on Sunday, February 2nd, to sib upon the Commission appointed to arbitrate in the Kaihu Valley Railway disputes. Among the articles specially prohibited being sent through the parcels post to British Guiana is base or counterfeit money. It- would be interesting to know who utilises the poet for the purpose of making remittances in spurious coinage. Mr. Percival, secretary of the Auckland Racing Club, yesterday received letters from Lord Charles Scott, and Captain Bosanquet and the officers of H.M.s. Opal, accepting the club's invitation to be preBeot at the Jubilee Meeting, to be held at EUerslie od the 30th inst.