NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8663, 4 September 1891, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF.

The price of a seat) on the Hobnrb Stock Exchange is 200 guineas. Over 500 rabbits per day are being pub through the Dunback (Otago) Rabbit FacNew Zealand ors are a musical people. They paid £7889 as duty on musical instruments last year. ' The robbing of tail races in the Grey Valley still continues. There is no suspicion as to tho culprits. One hundred and thirty thousand pounds is tho amount paid in dividends to the shareholders in McCracken's brewery in three years. Sir Alfred Stephen, Lieutenant-Governor of New South Wales, is 90 years of age. He belongs to a long-lived and illustrious family in the legal world. .It is proposed in Hobart to establish a Tasmania!) mining bank for investment in proved mines and mining concessions and general mining business. Tho South Australian Minister thinks another Postal Convention will be necessary before the telegraph rates between the colonies will be made uniform. Judge iMcFarland, of Victoria, thinks the man who uses the knife on another should be punishable with more than five years' imprisonment, tho limit of the existing law. The Woodville Examiner states that a gentleman who wished to invest £00,000 in the bush districts, has decided to leave the colony as a result of the now taxation and the uncertainties attendant, on it. In fining a publican for serving a drunken man, in Canterbury, Mr. Beetham said it was a curious fact that a man might be very drunk to everyone else, and at the same time not drunk at all to a barman. The Manawatu Standard is of opinion that Palm erst on is getting more like London every day. Two instances of local residents being stuck up by blackmailers occurred tliero on a recent Saturday night. A return of persons dealt with in South Australia under the First Offenders' Act, which provides for the suspension of punishment during good behaviour, shows that of 29 offenders thus dealt with since ISSS, only two have lapsed into crime. At the Wellington Supreme Court yesterday, Walter Tucker, charged with false pretences at Masterton,"ana Robert Shilling charged with forging the name of Alexander Grant, sheep farmer, of Hawke's Bay, to a cheque for £16, were acquitted. In notes of apology fox* nou-attendanco »t the welcome meeting to Pastor Birch at Union Free Church the name of Rev. J. Walker (New Zealand Alliance) was inadvertently given. It should have been that of Captain Field, of the Salvation Army. A splendid supply of artesian water has been struck at Caiwarro station, _ on the Queensland border, at a depth of 768 feet, estimated at 1,500,000 gallons a day. The water flows two feet clear over the casing (six inches) before descending, and is of excellent quality, but steaming hot A travelling correspondent informs us that Hornbuckle," the absconder from one the Melbourne banks, is at present in the American navy. He left Australia for Japan, where he lost the major portion of his money in horse racing. From thence he went to Auunca with £300. This he spent, and then joined the navy. A boy named Palmer had part of his right hand blown off by a gun accident at Murrurundi (Victoria). He found an old gun barrel, got some powder, and put it in the {run. He then put the barrel in the fire to sec it go off, tho result being that two of hi. 1 fingers wore blown off and his hand was shattered. The Nelson Evening Mail has been looking over the list of the members of the House of Representatives, and is struck by the preponderance of town influence over that of the country. 'At lea?t two-thirds of the members, says the Mail, earn their livings by town occupations, and not one of the special representatives of labour is a representative of country labour. The cooking class in connection with the Dunedin Southern Club and Gymnasium is receiving a good deal of support. The class evidently supplies a want in the district, as & large number of young women who reside there" are engaged in factories and warehouses, and consequently their opportunities of receiving knowledge of domestic economy are limited. Says the Rangitikei Advocate:—On account of the almost unparalleled scarcity of cattle on this coast a gentleman in the district conceived what may be considered the somewhat out-of-the-way idea of endeavouring to obtain a number from Nelson to pub on tho market, and he has made inquiries there, with the result of discovering that there are none or very few to be bad. Speaking of the New South Wales Legislature, the Sydney Daily Telegraph says : " For the most part the members returned to Parliament as representatives of labour have acted with creditable discretion, and showed a desire to proceed with important and necessary legislation. They have with few exceptions, abandoned the frothy claptrap of the electioneering stump, and left to a few of the Opposition members a monopoly of that kind of thing."