NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 10012, 25 December 1895, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF.

Christmas Day. No Herald to morrow. Herald summary Friday. 'Frisco mail loaves on Saturday. Queen-street was crowded with eightfreer? up to a late hour last night. The Christmas decorations aro much more general than for some year 3 past. Northern S.S. Co. have received a cable stating that their new paddle steamer will be completed within contract) time. Efforts nro to be made to supply West Australian goldfields by artesian boring, and if that fails by water from the coast. The four-page coloured supplement issued with the Christmas Number of the Auckland Weekly News is in groat favour. A little boy named liinea, living at Butler's Flat, near Walch#, accidentally shot himself dead whilst handling a gun. The other day Lord Brassey entertained ot dinner at Government House, Melbourne, tbo master of all the British sailing ships in port. No less than 53 deaths hsvo occurred at Broken Hill during tho last threo weeks. Influenza and pneumonia are mostly responsible. The Queensland Meat Export Company's works nt Ross River killed, for tho year ended November 30, 36,725 cattle and 33,213 sheep. A special magazine in aid of tho widow of the late Mareus Clarke is to bo produced. Contributions from several leading Australian writers have beon produced. A large quantity af ryo is being grown in the Norsewood, Ormondvillo, and Makotuku district this year, and all the crops bear a very promising appearance. A number of prominent Invercargill citizens ate to bo charged with a breach of the Gaming and Lotteries Act in connection with a recent band art union. A Chinaman named Ti Chong, who was under arrest at Tenterfield for the attempted murder of a fellow-countryman, committed suicide in the local gaol by hanging himself with his braces. An infant child of Mr. J. Harris, of Graytown, was playing in a yard where a horse was running, when the horse lashed out, kicking the infant on tho head, the result being concussion of the brain. A sensation has been caused at Forbes through two horses belonging to Mr. Sharp, police magistrate, being taken out of the stable and shot. The police are endeavouring to arrest the perpetrator of the ouorage, At a fire at Braybrook, Victoria, Mrs. Brundel and her nine months old baby were so severely burnt that they wero not expected to recover; and Mrs. Tate, an old woman oi GO, fell dead running for assistance. '•Jessica's First Prayer" will be rendered by the Young Men's Christian Association Evangelistic choir, on Friday evening, in the Lecture Hall. Mr. Button will read the touching incidents h this interesting Story. Subscriptions are being solicited in New Plymouth for the purpose of assisting Mr. E. M. Smith to go to England for the purpose of utilising the Tiranaki ironsaud, Mr. Smith expects to be able to start in a few days. It is alleged that some of the barmaids are not getting the weekly holiday to which they are entitled by law. Mr. Ferguson, inspector under the Act, has, we understa.i 1, laid some informations, and tho case? \riil come on for hearing shortly. In view of the holidays the Auckland police were reinforced yesterday by a contingent from the Permanent Force, North Shore. Christmas eve passed off, however, very quietly, and up to a late honr there was not even a solitary toper in the lock-up. Five men, working in the Sunbeam and Twilight mine, Mathinna (Tas.), were overcome by foul air. hen descending a ladder one of them, John Cheshire, fell 25 feet and broke his neck. His body blocked the manhole at the centre shaft, and had to be cut away to rescue the others. With regard to the paragraph re the funeral of the late Mr. David Robertson in yesterday's issue, it is stated that the Rev. Jas. Blaikie conducted the burial service, not the Rev. Scott West, and that he was a member of the Tabernacle, not of St. David's Presbyterian Church. At the end of autumn it was estimated that the vintage of South Australia for the season would be 1,400,000 gallons. That this was within the mark is shown by recently published official returns, which are 1,578,590 gallons, being an increase of 419,690 gallons on the make of 1894, when the quantity produced was 1,153,900 gallons. A gentleman who ha? been through the greater part of Otago within the past few weeks, and one who is a keen observer and practical man, says that he has never before geen the country looking so well. The grain crops are everywhere in splendid condition, giving promise of an unusually good harvest. Feed is plentiful in all directions. During a violent thunderstorm in Tasmania recently Harry Nelson, of Brighton Lodge, was struck dead by lightning while adjusting covers on a hay rick to preserve it trom impending rain, the flash that killed him tiring the stack. A strange tact connected with the fatality is that there was found, vividly imprinted on the skin, a picture of a tree which stood near.