NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 9308, 18 September 1893, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF.

fcAKXRUPTC? sitting of Supreme Court this

morning. •• , ~ Opening of the Hollo way dramatic season at the Opera House. In Queensland the Treasury notes issued and circulated amounted to £836 500. In the match, officers v. officers, fired at the Mount Eden rifle raDge, the latter iron by 55 points. The" Gisborne papers state that householders in that town are complaining about the scarcity of water. - Wages of employes at the Wallaroo (S. A.) smelting works and copper-mines are to be reduced unless the price of copper rises. A flow of artesian water, estimated at 1,000,000 gallons per day, has been struck j at Sax by Downs, Queensland, at a depth of 543 ft. The operations of the Queensland Government Savings Bank for August show an increase in deposits of £45,800 compared with July. Private Theo. Fairs won the Schapp Beit, presented to the Victoria Rifles on Saturday for the second time, with a fine score of 108 points. There were in the lock-up last evening four persons on charges of drunkenness, andThos. McGarry on a charge of being drunk and disorderly. It is estimated that between £SOOO and £9000 will be paid in accordance with the provisions of the Queensland Civil Service Act to Civil sen-ants who are being retrenched this year. A youthful shopbreaker named Smith was caught red-handed at Messrs. Foster's grocery store, Manukau Road, Parnell, early yesterday morning. He made a bolt, but was captured after a smart chase. The Brisbane Chamber of Commerce has decided that, while approving of inter-colo-nial free-trade through a customs union as an abstract question, the present time is inopportune for a united effort to procure it. News from Thursday Island states that Jimmy Hoy, diver, has been paralysed at Darn ley Island beyond hope of recovery. William Pritchard, another diver, had a narrow escape through the life-line fouling J the anchor. Splendid weather makes the J pearl-shelling prospects good. It is reported that a rich gold assay has been obtained from the Tasmanian Crown section, Zeehan. A largo ironstone formation, outcropping for half-a-mtle, has provided ' the assays. The report is not confirmed, but the gold can be obtained by panning off. Some experiments on the effect of cool storage on pineapples recently made in Queensland jive hope of being able to make , profitable shipments to London. The temperature was 46' Fab.., and rough pines > packed ripe after five weeks' storage proved excellent eating, and those packed green , appeared capable of standing for an addi- ■ tional three weeks. !

A Chinaman, says the Manawatu Standard, who had made a small fortune at market gardening in Palmerston, and left for his native land four year? ago, returned here last week. He says that he found it impossible to find rest for the sole of his foot in the Flowery Land after his colonial experience, and he has made up his mind that nothing will induce him to try the experiment again. A sensational case of horse-stealing is reported from Herberton, Queensland. John Kerr and a man named Fletcher made off with a mob of 33 horses belonging to miners and selectors. A party overtook them 13 miles distant. Kerr was captured by a constable and black tracker* and two miners, and was brought up at the Police Court at Herberton and remanded for eight days. Fletcher eluded capture, and is still at large. The Masterton larrikin appears to be very active just now. The Wairarapa Times says :—A few days ago all the trees planted on Arbor Day at the Main School were wilfully torn up by the roots, and the fishponds were entered and the contribution box broken and rifled of its contents ; on Saturday last sever 1 palings were torn off the school fence, and last night several lamps were put out soon after they were lighted.''