NREWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 8799, 12 February 1892, Page 6

NREWS IN BRIEF.

iONF. thousand two hundred and fifty dogs Wore registered in Bruce County last year. In three days upwards of 200 free railway passes wore issued to the unemployed in Melbourne. A woman named Mary Brown has been arrested on a charge of stealing a dress and cloaks valued at over £3. A completo set of bound Picturesque Atlases (42 numbors) was sold at Ekatahuna for £4original cost £15 15s. A petition is to be forwarded to the New South Wales Government by the farmers at Tenterfield, to abolish the marsupial tax. Additional regulations are published in the Gazette for the entry of seamen and boys of New Zealand birth into the Royal Navy. . . The Victorian Government is desirous of proceeding with public works with a view to finding engagements for the unemployed. The Young Men's Christian Association have invited Messrs. Moody and Sankey to pay a three months' visit to Queensland at their expense. Last month the Bathurst Stock Board paid £136 for the destruction of 914 kangaroos, 3631 wallabies, 10,976 hares, and seven native dogs. , Latest reports show that good gold is being discovered on the North Queensland fields, and the rainy season is expected to develop some valuable finds. A prisoner named John King,_ who has been sentenced to two months' imprisonment for larceny at Kamo, was brought up to town by tho Wellington yesterday. The fruit crop in tho Albury district (Now South Wales) is not likely to bo so good this year as in previous seasons, owing to the prevalence of blight and oidiutn. During the month of January 30,994 gallons "of milk were supplied to tho Mudgee Co-operative Factory, Now South Wales. This shows a decided falling off. The settlers of the Forty-Mile Bush intend going in for sheep-breeding on a large scale. At tho Masterton ram fair tho principal buyers wore from the bush districts. The fruit bonuses provided by the Victorian Parliament total £108,000, of which £75,000 is for planting, £15,000 for exports, and £18,000 tor canning and preserving factories. The Oamaru Mail re[>orts that the brown beetle is committing great depredations on plum and cherry trees in North Otago district. Apples and peaches escape almost untouched. The victory of the labour candidate for East Adelaide has led to the formation of a National Defence League " to protect our rights and property from ill-considered and rash legislation." Business is very quiet at Kaitangata. In addition to tho decreased wages of the men the mine is working short time only, and the tradesfolk are already feeling tho effects of the depression. The harvest soiree of tho Otahuhu Wesley an Church was held on Wednesday evening, the Kev. Mr. Rishworth presiding. A musical programme and a sale of fancy work were the features. A man named R. Brown, of Horsham, Victoria, was killed by being run over by a train recently. The deceased left to go to Doven, where he lived, and it is supposed he fell asleep on the line. The Government propose to reserve the fine scenery in the Manawatu Gorge from further destruction. Although the forest Reserve will be opened for settlement, tho forest adjacent to the gorge will bo permanently reserved. A sample of wheat, forwarded by the Adelaide Chamber of Commerce, was on view yesterday at the Auckland Chamber of Commerce rooms. The wheat was tine and plump, but appeared to want more careful dressing. It is reported that though tho Government of Victoria do not relish the idea of increasing the railway rates in the face of a general election, they have come to the conclusion that it must bo done, if tho deficit is to be dissolved. Speaking on the subject of tho nuisance caused by unclean fowlhouses, Mr. Fraser stated in the Wellington Council that ho had been informed by medical men that many cases of typhoid fever could be traced directly to this cause. A gentleman, who was shooting on the outskirts of Kaitangata recently, observed a hawk carrying a nearly full-grown chicken in his claws. Thinking to frighten the bird off his prey, he fired, but with no result, and the struggling victim was borne away. It is reported (says the Southland News) that a well-known business firm in Invercargill is bringing an action to recover £10"000 damages from a banking institution. The case will not, however, come on :or hearing at the approaching Supreme L'ourt sessions. Recently a black snake, seven feet in length, was killed just off tho track at the Warwick Farm Racecourse, New South Wales, by one of Mr. Forrester's trainers. A valuable foal died some short time back, it is supposed from the effects of a bite from this reptile. No further tidings have been heard of the missing guindigger, Robert Twelftree, who mysteriously disappeared from his camp at Ruakaka, near Waipu last week, although Constable Abrims and a party of gumdiggers have been searching the neighbourhood for traces of tho missing man. Many stationowners in New South Wales are glad to get rid of their sheep for a mete song. They are cutting the throat.-* of hundreds daily, as the rabbits have tho place overrun, and now, as water has given way out back, they are coming into the river in millions, and will very soon have the frontage as bare as the back blocks. The Sydney Evening News states that the Victorian unemployed are swarming over the New South Wales border at Albury. Scores of them are humping their swags, and looking for work ; others are without swags, and are reported to be making for the New South Wales Parliament, where several of their kindred have been very successful. The feeling among the working masses in West Sydney is intensely bitter against Messrs. Andy Kelly and Fitzgerald, for fixing protection on them. There is not a workman with family whose household has not been made to suffer from 6s to 10s per week through the increased prices, while the prospect of decreasing employment is showing itself all round. A fatal gun accident occurred in the • Carcoar district, N.S. W., lately. A young man named David Ogle inserted a cartridge in a breech-loading gun and then fired the weapon, tho result being that a young woman named Sarah Jane Keens, who was opposite to him, was killed instantaneously. The coroner's jury censured Ogle for his carelessness in playing with the gun. At Bogandillon Station, a few days ago, a contractor named James Sealey went after horses, and it is conjectured that in order to lead one of the animals he took the hobbles off, fastened them to it's neck and strapped the other end round his wrist. The horse he was leading took fright and dragged him out of the saddle for 100 yards. Sealey was picked up dead, with his skull smashed in. x '