NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8698, 15 October 1891, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF.

The farmers of Southland contemplate forming a union of their own. Caterpillars are playing 'sad havoc with the growing crops in the Hawkosbury district. , The Woodvillo paper states that carpenters are not to be had jit any price in that district. , Tho blight has already appeared on tho peach and apricot trees in Napier, destroying all prospects of a plentiful crop. Over 6000 cigars found concealed aboard the steamer Taiyuan in More ton Bay were reccntlv seized by the Customs officers. 1 It is"stated that at tho Murchison goldfields, Western Australia, some men on the richest reefs are making from £40 to £50 daily. , Complaints arc made that the newspapers and periodicals at the Masterton public reading room are being systematically At Sydney a man named George Berry was fined £25 on each of two chains of ha\ • ing received certain moneys as subscriptions to the totalisator. In reply to a deputation Sir Henry Parkes said that a Bill should be introduced to check tho sale of cancerous meat as early as circumstances would permit. . , A boy 14 years of age broke out of a South Australian gaol, and made away on a stolen horse. The arrangements in the gaol appear to have been primitive. Tho West Australian revenue returns for the quarter amounted to £117,946, against £79.401 for the same period last year. The net increase is £38,544. The Victorian Postmaster-General stated in the Assembly that while the Sydney I Post-office clock cost £5470, the Victorian Post-otfico clock and bolls only cost £3830. House accommodation is so badly wanted in Adelaide and suburbs that an agitation is on foot to ask tho South Australian Government to erect a number of cottages. A carrion crow killed and ate a brood of chickens at Alanaia recently. The owner of the brood noticed his roosting place, and after a tough fight captured him after nightfall. . At the annual meeting of the National Shipwreck Relief Society, N.S.W., Lord Jersey presented 15 silver medals for acts of bravery performed in saving life during the year. An inquest was held at Russell yesterday upon the body of the man Colquhoun who died there suddenly the other day, and the jury returned a verdict of " Death from natural causes." At the Central Police Court, Sydney, a quarryman named Patrick Costello, was sent to gaol for six months for kicking, half choking, and striking his wife on the head with a saucepan. An enterprising reporter on one of the South African newspapers donned Salvation Army uniform on the occasion of General Booth's landing at Capetown, in hopes by that means of getting an early interview. In an address at Sydney lately Archdeacon Langley said he could not understand why the Government allowed the police to prosecute the Chinese for playing fan tan while rallies at bazaars were allowed to go free. According to Sir George Baden Powell, an English member of Parliament, the Australians could pay all they owe by selling one fifteenth part of their 1600 million acres of Crown lands at a very moderate price. The Timaru Herald says that the farmers on the Level Plains are complaining bitterly of the ravages of the grub among the young crops, and say that unless rainfalls in sufficient quantity to drown off this pest the wheat in many paddocks will be utterly ruined. An information lias been laid against a member of the Palmerston Licensing Bench for a breach of the Licensing Act, in sitting upon the Bench and taking part in the consideration of an application for a license for an hotel of which he is alleged to be the part owner. While William Berry, aged 65, was awaiting the arrival of the Geelong steamer at the Queen's Wharf, Melbourne, a man asked him for a match, and before he could reply he seized him by the throat and held him "down while two others ransacked his pockets, stealing four sovereigns and some deposit receipts. A boy, fishing in the Murray at Albury, went to examine his night line. He found something of great weight attached to the hooks, and on pulling in the line he' discovered the dead body of a man. The body, on examination, proved to be that of Donald M'Eachere, who drove into the river a few weeks before and was not seen again. Mr. Bruce Smith, speaking of the Salvation Army, said that he had often been asked why he took such interest in the movement, and to this he had always replied that he looked upon General Booth as one of those men w ho had the distinguished pride of having created a new religion. Men like Wesley and Knox created now Churches, bat General Booth created a religion. _____