NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8529, 1 April 1891, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF.

At.t. Fools' Day. ; H.M.s. Rapid was docked yesterday. , Wanganui and New Plymouth residents complain of a plague of mosquitoes. Mr. J. S. Allan, the well-known artist of Wellington, has been adjudged a bankrupt. All search for Mr. Spurdle, who has been missing for somo time at Wanganui, has been entirely fruitless. The weasels have taken to anew line near Ashurst, and are working destruction amongst the young tuis. The s.s. Richmond is in port from Rarotonga and Tahiti, and reports things quiet at both these Island centres. . Professor Brown, of the Auckland University College, has returned to Auckland after a visit to Melbourne and Sydney. In Wanganui there is a Chinese night school, at which nine pupils are taught free of charge by two philanthropic ladies. Mr. Seddon was banqueted at Rimu on Monday night. One hundred and fifty were present. He leaves for Hokitika to-day. Mr. A. Campbell, an ex-policeman at Foxton, is reported to have come in for a handsome legacy by the death of a relative. An extensive fire was raging in the Waikato Land Association's swamp towards the Ruakura station on Saturday afternoon. One of the immigrants landed by Mr. Courteney at Taranaki a few months ago, has pleaded guilty to a charge of horsestealing. At Pooncarrie, Broken Hill, speculators are sinking for coal at Speculation Lake. In a shaft 75 feet deep pieces of lignite were obtained. No less than 30,000 trout ova were received by the Hawke's Bay Acclimatisation Society from the Masterton ponds during the past year. The Hamilton Amateur Dramatic Club are rehearsing Boucicault's play " The Shaughraun," which they intend producing in the Public Hall. The wedding of the Rev. W. S. Bean, curate of Holy Trinity, Kumara, to Miss Seddon, eldest daughter of the Minister of Mines, was solemnised yesterday morning. Yesterday forenoon Captain T. W. do Elbenbruck, and several officers from the Austrian warship Saida, paid an official visit to the Mayor, at the Municipal Buildings. A Southern paper states the Governor intends to make a three months' stay in Christchurch in the summer, and has leased the late Hon. W. Robinson's house for that

period. Amongst the passengers who arrived by the s.s. Richmond were M. LeConte, a judge of the French Court at Tahiti, and Mr. Richard Exhani, recently British Consul at Rarotonga. Land is rising rapidly in value in the Hunterville township. On the street in ■which the business places seem to be locating good substantial prices are obtained for building sections. A striking instance of the losses sustained in the flaxinilling industry is afforded in the fact that the Empress mill in the Manawatu district, which cost about £ISOO, was sold for £156 the other day. The use of dumbells has been declared by the superintendent of physical education to the Wellington Education Board to be an obsolete method of imparting physical instruction to school children. A man, named John McLyrnont, who was a carpenter by trade, fell dead at his work recently on the Brooksdale estate, Tapanui. The deceased, who was 53 years of age, had been unwell for some time. For the first time a tax is to be made upon the feli-s domestica, generally known as " poor pussy." The Government of Saxony makes this advance towards thinning the ranks of the melodiously nocturnal serenades. A man named Gunderson, while bushfelling in the Harbour Block, Feilding, was struck by a dead branch and his thigh fractured in two places and his head injured. He is also internally injured, and recovery is hopeless. A Melbourne paper says: — "The bush fires are all oven and thousands of roasted sheep are to be seen huddled together in the corners of the paddocks on the various stations, the majority of them dead, while others cannot exist much longer in their agony." The decorations at St. Albans' Church on Easter Sunday were very pretty, and reflect greatcredit on the ladies in the district. Over the altar was a large cross made of white lilies, and the altar rails and lectern were tastefully decorated. A layman officiated at both services, which were well attended. The Wellington Post says: "We believe it is a fact not generally known, that Edison has taken out a patent in New Zealand for each of his more important inventions. The total amount of the fees received from him by the Patent Office in this colony, up to the present date, is about £400. In our report of the meeting of the Auckland Board of Education, which appeared in our issue of Thursday last, it was stated that the Pukekohe East School had been closed in consequence of an epidemic amongst the children. The school referred to should have been the Pukekohe West School. Collins-street, Melbourne, is now patrolled by a policeman who is the cynosure of all eyes. This infant, who is a Melbourne native, stands 6 feet 1% inches, scaling a trifle over 23 stone. He is a terror to the larrikin element, who generally give him a wide berth, as his vice-like grasp is someching to be remembered.