NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8680, 24 September 1891, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF.

Peter Dow, the missing Outram farmer, was found aboard the express train at Palmerston. i.- -r. i The North Canterbury Education Board has under consideration tho advisability of establishing a school of cookery. _ Mr. H. S. Tiffen, of Napier, is going in for fruit-growing on a large scale on the Greenmeadows estate, near Taradale. _ .. The Attorney-General of South Australia has instructed the Adelaide police to stop the sale of a number of Zola s novels. A Chinaman has died of leprosy ftVDomliciuin. The body presented a frightful spectacle, both feet and hands having entirely gone. . . , The habit of chaffing the more prominent and better known attendants of the dress circle in' the Wellington Opera House is becoming a terrible nuisance. Mah Kee, who was remanded from Cooma to Braid wood, New South ales, on a charge of committing murder in Araluen, 26 years ago, has been discharged. A return laid before the Invercargill Borough Council showed that the cost of maintaining the two fire Brigades for the past three years has been £335. During this period 19 fires occurred. In Geclonf, the first six months after tho closing of the 17 hotels showed a reduction in the arrests for drunkenness equal to 3/ per cent., accompanied by a marked tiecrease in other forms ot crime. An interesting article appears in the Melbourne Argus, written by Mr. Alexander Sutherland, of Carlton College, proposing that voting at elections should bo enabled to be done through the post. Proceedings are pending against a restdent of Canterbury for a breach of the 31st. section of the Electric Lines Act, in wrongfully signing and sending a telegram in another person's name, without such person s authority. . As a result of the measures taken for tho extermination of rabbits in the district of Coorack, in Victoria, there has been a remarkable increase in the number of hares, which promise to become as great a nuisance as the rabbits. . , The passengers by the nine o clock boat from Duvonport were, last night, favoured with some hymns by a number of ladies and gentlemen returning from Mr. Groves evangelistic address. The singing was generally appreciated. The New South Wales Parliament has under consideration proposals to orcvent the employment of barmaids, to n milate the laws to that of England as i» selling liquor during prohibited hours, and to close hotels on election days. About 20,000 acres have been taken up altogether in tho Catlins (Otago) district during the past six years. Nearly all the land "close to the settlement, is now in private hands. This means at least £15,000 worth of property in tho hands of the settlers. The Sydney Bulletin, in referring to Federation, gives the following figures The cost of the New Zealand Government to join the Federation, would be £180,000 per annum, and her yearly loss of revenue by the adoption ot the Victorian tariff £400,000 a-year. A contemporary has the following : — Is honesty the best policy ? K. B. Holt, late manager of the Bank of New Zealand, Sydney, whose embezzlements got him a sentence of five years' imprisonment, now occupies a financial position to which a salary of £1200 a-vear 'is attached." The members of the Vivian Company, who were advertised to give a popular entertainment in the Devonport Hall last night, did not put in an appearance. Some twenty or thirty people waited more or less patiently for about half an hour after the advertised time, and then dispersed. Mr. Forbes, of the Christchurch Museum, says that the discovery of the moa bones on Mr. Meek's farm, near uamaru, is the most important ever made. The find is a most remarkable one, as he estimates SOO birds must have died at tho spot, and he has recovered the bones of some 350. A scale blight on gooseberries has been found on some plants by an Oamaru gardener, Mr. Webster, and appears to be spreading i". the South. Mr. W. M. Masked pronounces it to be Lecanium Ribus (fitch), an American introduced species. He states that it will prove very destructive if not looked after. Professor Hutton has written to the Minister of Marine, that the various harbourmasters in New Zealand be provided with thermometers, and requested to N te9t the temperature of the sea daily for a certain period. This information the professor urges should be obtained in the interests of the acclimatisation of fish, especially salmon. , During the recess the Minister of Mines intends to consult the Chancellor of the Otago University, with a view of making •arrangements to establish night classes at the School of Mines attached thereto, on the same lines as thoso conducted by Mr. Park at the Thames School of Mines, so as to enable candidates to qualify themselves for mine managers' certificates. The man who when arrested for drunkenness in Christchurch was found to have £/3 upon him, was later on relieved of a considerable portion of it, as it was found that he was in default of an order of the Court, which had been in force some time, for the maintenance rof his children at the Burnham Industrial School. The school authorities had not been able to discover his whereabouts, but now that the police have the duty of collecting the moneys it would ecein that little escapes their notice.