NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 10015, 30 December 1895, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF.

2*RTSO6 mail gone. Richmond arrived from the Islands, Monowai from 'Frisco on Thursday. Tasmania for the South this afternoon. It is said there are 900 shorthand writers In Sydney. Peanuts crop very well in the gardens around Foxton. A splendid crop of hay is being harvested in the North Wairarapa. Australia now has 53,000 acres under vines, which produce 3$ million gallons of wine annually. Tho Chinese of Cliristcburcb have subscribed £32 10s for tho benefit of indigent) patients at the hospital. At Narrandera, New South Wales, a man named Watt was stuck up in tho main street in daylight ami robbed of £11. At Wyalong, New South Walos, Florence Mary Quayle, three years of age, fell down a shaft 90 foot deep, and was instantly killed. , The other night) Mrs. Empson, of Wanganui, had her pocket picked ab tho Manawatu railway station, some £7 or £8 being taken. A man named Thomas Kallet, employed at Messrs. Cable and Co.'s foundry, Wellington, had bin leu severely crushed whilo removing somo iron, Some miners who wero working at Spring Creek, near Young, discovered portions of the skeleton of a woman buried a couple of feet beneath tho surface.

Last week Daniel Creod, 0110 of fcho proprietors of tho (■ oldon Gate rnino, at Mudgeo, died suddenly at Windeyer from tho eflect of alcoholic prisoning. A boy named William James Baker fell over a bank near tho Clyde quay school, Wellington, and broke his thigh. Ho was taken to tho hospital, where tho broken limb was set.

On Tuesday last, Mr. B. Wishaw, of Birmingham, received some severe injuries to his arms by an explosion of gunpowder. The accident took place at Mnkuri, and Mr. Wishaw proceeded to Wellington for treatment.

A man named James Grace, an insolvent tailor, was committed to six months' imprisonment at the Brisbane Supremo Court for refusing to give a satisfactory answer to the question as to how ho had disposed of a certain sum of money. A Christchurch cyclist recontly essayed to ride through a paddock in which a number of bullocks were grazing. Tho animals resented the intrusion, and upset the cyclist, who fortunately escaped with only a broken saddle. On Thursday last, during a fceavy nor'wester, a spark from a traction engine set fire to somo oa;s belonging to Mr. L. White, Rakaia. The oats were being threshed, and somo 200 bushels, besides a considerable quantity of good straw, were destroyed. A Cnstlemaino (Vic.) Chinese named Ah Cheo lost his horse, valued at £15, in a rather peculiar manner. The horse, which was hauling the carcaso of a bull to a hole for interment, slipped and fell into the hole. Several men worked fcr hours to gob the animal out, but without success.

Some robbers recently descended the For turn Hustler's shaft at Bendigo, and went into the H2O feet north level, where they bored a hole and fired a shot. A lot of stone was overhauled, but very little gold was obtained. The doors of the shaft had been padlocked, but the lock was prized open. A little boy had a narrow escape from drowning at Greytuouth on Tuesday last. Whilst bathing he go; out of his depth, and but for the promptitude of Fathers Savejean and Welsh and Mr. Mcßeefrey, who were boating and approached the little follow when he was sinking, he would no doubt have been drowned.

During a thunderstorm at Rochester (Vic.) last week, a man named F. Rands, whilst engaged harvesting, hadamiraculous escape. He was building a stack of hay, when tiio pitchfork ho was using was struck, and the electric current passed close to his face,singeing his whiskers. He was rendered insensible for a short time.

The special report of .Mr. C. Napier Bell to the Timaru Harbour Board on the shingle question agrees with .Mr. Maxwell's—that most of the shingle will drift pa*t the harbour, and that the-dredge can deal with the balance. Many people in Timaru believe that tho ongineers are quite in error, and that the harbour will be blocked.

The figure of a linn, carved from the heart of totara, which has surmounted the premises of Messrs. K. W. Mills and Co. in Wellington, though it lias been exposed for 33 years to wind and weather, was found by Mr. W. C. Chatfield, architect, who examined it, to be as sound a'* on tlio day when it as put up. The figure weighs between 4cwt and scwt, and is Oft in length and 4ft high.