NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8629, 27 July 1891, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF.

' Tint; Greymouth coal export) for the last week-was 2975 tons. The Auckland Board of Education has a jredit balance of £8341. \ , A telegram ; from Greymouth states that the work on the Kotuku is going on

'• briskly. , ■ •>■ The Greymouth dredge is at last in good ■v' working order, and easily lifts 200 tons per hour. Three miners have reported the discovery of a new tin field near Kangaroo Hills, 'Queensland. - GeeloDg fruit-growers are following the • lead of Bendigo, and co-operating with a view to the export of fruit. Customs officials call Victoria a " plantation," in accordance with a regulation passed in 1660 relating to colonies. ( . The Women's Right movement has taken root in New Zealand. The ladies of Dunedin have started a Savage Club of their own. It is estimated that Melbourne's river improvements saved it a million of money on a single day during the recent heavy floods. St. Paul's Anglican Church, Auckland, celebrated its jubilee yesterday. _ The ■ foundation stone was laid on the original site on the 27th July, 1841. , Reports from the inspectors in the northern districts of Victoria indicate that the operations for keeping down the rabbit pest are being satisfactorily carried out. : One of the finest scenes on record during the floods in Melbourne was a mother cooking porridge for her five youngsters in the open air, a few yards from Tier flooded home. _ -' , - The Government 'geologist of South Australia has reported against the probability of finding coal at Teatree Gully, South Australia, where it was said a discovery had been made. The manager of a theatrical company was fined at the Hobart Police Court for marching a " convict gang " through the streets in connection with the performance of ; ' " His Natural Life." „ All the officers of the Naval Defence Force in Queensland have, it is reported, received three months' notice of dismissal, in consequence of a policy of retrenchment which is to be adopted. A return has been called for by the South Australian Legislative Council to show the amount of the public debt of South Australia which the Commonwealth will take ever under the Convention Bill. The case of Joseph William Kennedy, • who is charged with forging and uttering valueless cheques, comes on for investigation to-day. It is understood -some fresh : ■ charges will be preferred against him. / - Mr. Joseph Ivess, of newspaper planting ' notoriety, has commenced the issue of the Parkes Examiner. Parkes is an up-country '. town in New South Wales, and Mr. Ivess' new venture is to be published bi-weekly. The Queensland Colonial Sugar Refining Company intend ceasing operations at the end of the season, and are willing to sell their plantation at Ingham, Northern Queensland, as a going concern, for the sum of £70,000. A man ' named James Wake was found dead recently in an Unly (South Australia) tram car from heart disease. He had gone two trips with the car before it was discovered that he was dead, the driver imagining he was drunk. , ■ ' A horseman in Sydney had a very narrow escape the other day. The animal he was riding shied at a tramcar, and he was thrown right in front of the wheels. He . was pushed along for about ten feet, but luckily escaped unhurt. . An of Mr. John Fisher, butcher, was arrested on Saturday by Detective Chrystal on a charge of alleged embezzlement of £19 18s, the property of his employer. He will be brought up at i the j Police Court this morning. . A schoolmaster named Morris, who has • a very small opinion of New Zealand Education Boards, has thrown up his situation at Upper Kyeburn, and started on a lecturing tour of the colony. He intends to travel through the colony, paying his way by collections. , ' . \ v .■ An octopus, the tentacles of which measured five feet in lenghtj was captured .on the beach between Kaiapoi and the mouth of the Ashley, by a youth named Tomkins, lately. This is the second • octopus found within a few days on the '% beach. The Sandymounb (Otago) people have issued a; circular letter to local bodies, inviting their co-operation to bring pressure j to bear on Parliament to institute a thorough and exhaustive inquiry into the working ; of the charitable aid system, so that its evils may be done away with as speedily as possible. ; ' - The meanest man in South Australia was recently summoned for £4 16s for the funeral expenses of his wife. He actually pleaded that he only married the woman till : death, and that as soon as the breath' was out of her body she had no further claim upon him. The Court did not recognise this ingenious plea. Mr. J. K. Logan, Inspector of Telegraphs, speaking at the public celebration in honor of the extension (says the Daily Times) of the telephone to Ewenburn and Gimmerburn, said that the New Zealand Government adopted the telephone system at a very early period—in 1878 and, in fact, New' Zealand was the first country in the world to adopt it, the line connecting Portobello and Otago heads being the first ever constructed. • '