NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10125, 7 May 1896, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF.

&M.S. PrUDES left for Fiji. Upolu arrived from the Islands. The Flora is due from the South this

m The°Sal?ation Army are about to build a substantial hall in Waitara. The Wellington city water rate for the year has been fixed at 4} per cent. For the first time in« the history of tho New South Wales banks the coin and bullion havo exceeded £8 >00,000. At Harden, New South Wales, a little boy named George Bond was run over by a butcher's cart and killed. In the Albury police court a woman made an attempt to stab a man charged with an offence on her young daughter. A young man named Ralph Mason fell down a shaft at BendigO (Victoria), a distance of 800 feet, and was instantly, killed. Light or dark, the Sydbey Council have decided to illuminata the Btreefc lamps within the city boundary every night in the The New South Wales Minister for Agriculture predicts that the largest area ever placed under crop in the colony will gown this year. . A party of men are now engaged in sur« veying the route for the proposed new telegraph line between Wellington and Palmer(ton North. 1 . . Platinum has been found not far from Coolgardie, and a discovery of mica has been made between Coolgardie and London-

A* procession of chimney sweeps, headed by a band, paraded the streets of Christchurch on Friday, according totheir annual custom. J T L » L At Bathurst a fireman named John Ashworth, while at work on a Baldwin engine, was badly scalded by escaping steam and hot water. „ , A native of the West Indies named Santo, was robbed by confidence men of £20, and sent by train to Albury, to an imaginary employer. . Myriads of caterpillars in the Lismore district, New South Wales, are doing considerable damage to the crops, but have not attacked the sugarcane. Rich gold has been discovered under coral on Woodlark Island, New Guinea. The coral rests on a slate formation, and there the richest deposits have been obtained. Typhoid fever is still provalent in the Windsor district, New Soutb Wales, and steps are being taken to improve the water supply and sanitary condition of the town. *. „ A strange scene occurred in an bsperance (Western Australia) Anglican Church on Sunday week last, owing to strong denunciations by the clergymen of citizens of the town. . , A black opossum was seen near Ingle wood a few days since. The Acclimatisation Society liberated several of these animals some six months ago on the Kaitake ranges. A young man named Robert burrows, residing at Bunnythorpo, was admitted to the hospital last week. He had cut off one of his toes with a spade while engaged in

grubbing. . , , . The Tasmanian Treasurer is about to give effect to several changes in the Hobart Customs Department, in order to bring about a higher state of efficiency, and to prevent smuggling. In reply to a question in Synod, the Bishop of Goulburn said that he could not see his way to give any express permisiion to the clergy of the diocese to use the Rented Version when reading the lesson. A lady has been elected on the Eltham School Committee, and also on the Waitnangaroa (Taranaki) Oomocfitto6* In the latter case the lady has bten appointed thairwoman of the committee. The Victorian Government dairy expert has issued a report on the export of produce during 1895, showing that, owing mainly to climatic reasons, the exports of that year totalled less than those of 1894. In New South Wales for the first quarter of this year the number of applications re ceived for gold and mineral leases has been •JO per cent, in excess of the number .reserved for the corresponding part of last

fear. On several properties in the Otaki district the caterpillar pest is doing enormous damage; in fact, ao destructive are they that several farmers fear that they will be obliged to dispose of their stock for what they will fetch, sin.ply for the want of food. A circular has been issued to the captains, chief officers, and pursers of the Union Steam Ship Company's fleet, directing that each must forward his photograph to the head office at Dunedin. There is much speculation as to what the purpose is. A drayman named William Males, aged about 80, whilst crossing the railway line in Hobart in charge of a dray laden with boxes of gunpowder, collided with a train. The dray was smashed into splinters, and the explosive upset. The ah aft of the vehicle struck Males, and injured him to such an extent that his life is despaired of. A boy named Laurence Lyons, aged 14 years, got on the roof of a building at Wei lington on Friday afternoon, for the purpose of procuring a football, when he slipped, and tell twenty feet, receiving a fracture of the arm immediately above the i wrist, and some severe bruises about the head. When the train from Hamilton to arrnainbool was near Purdeet, Victoria, the passengers were alarmed to observe during a thunderstorm an immfense ball of fire fall within 120 yards of the rails, then it rebounded into the air to a height of several feet. There was an explosion which the passengers describe as like the discharge of cannot. A verdict of vylful murder against some person or persons unknown was returned at the inquest on the body of a child found at Canterbury, Melbourne. Medical evidence was to the effect that death was due to a wound on the neck, caused by a stiletto or skewer being run in, and consequent suffocation.