NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10126, 8 May 1896, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF.

Upolu left for Wellington. H.M.s. Ringdove is at Russell. Flora for the South this afternoon. Large English mail arrives from Sydney Dn Monday by the Tarawera. Further protective works are to be erected on the Waipoua River banks. The recent poll iu connection with the Masterton Town Hall proposals cost £18. English speculators are turning their attention to the possibilities of miaing in Victoria.

Of the consignment of 200,000 salmon ova recently sent to Masterton, only 20,000 are expected to be saved. For raffling a mare and foal, valued at £5, at Foxton, E. T. Smythe has been fined £5, and costs £2 15s. A Melbourne milk dealer, named James Urquhart, was fined £10 for selling milk containing 15 per cent/of added water. A conference of municipal councils in Melbourne drafted a set of by-laws for the regulation of bicycle traffic in the streets. A survey party is about to commence operations to survey about 11,000 acres from Dunsdale Gorge towards Mataura— bush. At Broken liill, John Frederick Powell was sentencod to seven years' penal servitude and 25 lashes for an assault upon a child. The mails by the French mail steamer Armand Behic (M.M. line) were delivered In London in the quick time of 31 days from Sydney. At Collingwood, Victoria, George Lacey and Joseph McMahon, wore each fined £20, with 10a costs, for assisting to conduct a gaming-house. "Cancer is carrying off all the women, and drink all the men," said Dr. Youl, the Melbourne coroner; " soon the country will be depopulated." by a fire which occurred at Albion Town, about 18 miles north of Broken Hill, a hotel was destroyed, and a lodger named Walter Ring burned to death. Recently a mob of 300 freshly-dipped sheep were put in the Tinui cemetery for the night. Much indignation has naturally been aroused by the act. The whole of the rates of the Ellesmere Road Board were paid during the financial year. This is the second year that all rates have been paid during the financial year. The Australian Board of Anglican Mislions has decided on the formation of a new diocese to include Cooktown, Thursday Island, Nonnantou, Port Darwin, and British New Guinea. An old man named James Thomas, convicted at the Bathtirst Circuit Court of having in his possession implements used in making spurious coin, was sentenced to ten years' penal servitude. A coincidence in the census occurred at Kaikora, where the total population was exactly the same as in 1891, viz., 301. The relative proportions of males and females, however, wertrgreatly changed. At U'inton, George Gorton was convicted and discharged on a charge of steal.ng a newspaper, which was brought to make it known that addressed papers thrown out from a train must not be appropriated. A Lyttelton resident obtained come potatoes from an American barque lying at the port. A crop from the seed has given the extraordinary yield of 35 tons to the acre, some of the tubers weighing over two pounds. The Selwyn County Council has granted Nelson Brothers a slaughterhouse license for their proposed freezing works at Hornby, though the application was strongly opposed by a number of residents in the district. Last year New South Wales exported good* to the value of £21,934,785, and imported goods of the value of £15,992,415. These tota.ls show that the colony monopolised over 33 per cent, of the whole trade of Australasia. Sheep-stealing is stated to be extensively carried on in the Eketahuna district. At one recent meeting one settler stated he had lost sixty sheep this year, and mentioned the case of a neighbour who had lost over 100 fat wethers. A youth named Andrews was jumping a pony over a hurdle at Casino, New South Wales, when both horse and rider came down heavily. Andrews fell upon his head, and was rendered unconscious, and remained so until his death, which occurred about au hoar afterwards. The natives at Parawanui have just concluded a tangi over the death of Mrs. Wirihana Hunia, in the course of which they consumed 13 tons of potatoes, seven bullocks, a number of sheep, about 50 pigs, 150 geese, and other kinds of food. It took both bakers at Bulls to supply them with bread. A Masterton cyclist, while over for a spin last week, lit a cigar and by some means set fire to his clothes. He was in a perfect blaze before he discovered the fact, and only when the fire actually burnt his skin did he realise what had happened. He coon stopped and extinguished the conflagration, but his little outing was quite poilt.