SOUTHERN ITEMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10252, 2 October 1896, Page 3 (Supplement)

SOUTHERN ITEMS.

Tuo Highland pipers resident in Welling ton have decided to form a bagpipe band, Sections in Reefton that; could have) been had before the advent of Mr. Ziman for £100 are stated nob to be now purchasable under £1000. The three co-operative building societies already in existence in Wellington have proved so successful that a movement is on foot to form a fourth. A large wooden flour mill, owned by Mr. A. W. Renall, was burnt at Masterton on September 3. It was valued at £ICOO. There was no insurance on the building. A Masterton resident has presented to the Masterton Museum several relics of the favourite old passenger ship Olliver Laing, which traded between London and Welling* ton in the fifties. The syndicate which was formed in Wei* lington to bore for coal in the vicinity of Picton, has decided, after consultation with the Assistant Government Geologist, to abandon the schome. The foundation stone of the now ward at the Christfihurch Hospital, the cost of which was bequeathed by the late Hyman Marks, was kid on September 10. The total cosb will be about £8000. ■; The Gisborne Borough Council has framed proposals to be submitted to the ratepayers, in reference to the proposed water supply for Gisborne. The amount to be borrowed is set down at £18,500. The area reserved for landless natives in the South Island is, roughly, 'between 80,000 and 90,000 acres. Within the Inst three years 193 natives of Marlborough, resident in the Sounds, have been supplied with land. A two-storoy eeven-rooraed cottage in Union-street, Foxton, was burned down on Sept. 24, It was occupied by a widow named Dunckley and family, one of whom, a crippled girl of 15, was unfortunately burned to death. A curious wedge-shaped implement, used by the Maoris for splitting wood in the manufacture of their canoes before the advent of the white man, has been presented to the Masterton Museum by Mr. A. Stowart, of the Opaki. A new company, to be called the New Zealand Petroleum Oil' Boring Company, is reported to-have been formed in Melbourne to work the oil deposits in the Taranaki district, Representatives of the company are now in New Plymouth. At a meeting of the Christchurch Acclimatisation Society it was resolved that Mr. W. Izard, who is shortly leaving for England, should bo authorised to expend £250 for the importation of red deer, pheasants, partridges, and Californian quail. On Monday, the 28th of Sept., the Christchureh City Council passed a motion congratulating the Queen on having reigned longer than any former English Sovereign. A verse of the National Anthem was sung by the Council after the motion was carried. . The office of the Marton Mercury was destroyed by fire between two and three o'clock on September 27. The insurance on the building is £250 in the South British, and on the plant £700 in the Victoria Company. The proprietor suspects incendiarism.

Jackeytown, near Palmerston, has been blowing lately about a youngster who has not missed or been late at school once for the last fire years. . Waipawa goes one better by producing a youngster who has not been absent once for the last seven years, and another who has a similar record for six years.

The screams ot an infant ab the house of 1 a Bell Block settler one night recently attracted the attention of its parents, who, on going to see what was the matter with the child, found that ill had boon attacked by a weasel, which had fastened on the child's nose between the eyes, and bad actually nipped a piece of flesh out. j■• -•■ A remarkable occurrence took pines at Messrs Henderson Bros,'paddock, Marton, when two horses which were beings driven in a plough dropped dead almost simultaneously. It is considered that the horse that fell first died from the effects of the bot fly, and that the other one burst it blood vessel caused through his being frightened at his companion falling. "k i. •■;■' -. The Mew Plymouth Industrial Exhibi* tion was opened by the Premier on Monday,. Sept. 7th. He dwelt at considerable length .in his , speech on the history of Exhibitions, and the great strides Palmerston had made during the last 20 years. The exhibits chiefly comprise b omo ; manufactures, most of which are intended for the Wellington Exhibition. The display was vory creditable, the entries numbering 600. The celebrated Rontgen X rays were in working order at the Exhibition, •,-',',.. '."■■, I°'*, 2 :

The Invercargill Supreme Courb was engaged in hearing a claim , for ; .£IO,OOO . daraapes, brought by G. M. 8e11,..»,' runholder, against the Union Bank, for dishonouring certain cheques issued by him in payment of shearers' wages,',, and which plaintiff alleges the Bank manager undertook to meet. Mr. H. D. Bell, with v Mr, Mac Donald, appears for the Bank, and Messrs. Solomon, Gun, and Hall, for the plaintiff..;On the 24th of ,• September the jury returned a three-fourths verdict for £1. Mr. Justice Benniston refused to certify for costs. t

;An attempt was made at! Wellingtoi on Tuesday, September ■ B, : :to;raise; the : ; barque Coromandel, which capsized in the harbour some time ago immediately,after arrival therewith a cargo of coal from Westport, The' divers ; had •; made the vessel as water - tight as poßsibe, and'*'pumping, operations were carried on all day. Towards i four . o'clock ; the \ vessel ' showed | signs •' of floating, bub when it appeared as if success was about to crown i the efforts of % the 1 purchasers - of the; hull ' and cargo, 1 1 the | cofferdam; over; the forohatch ' gave I away; I and the Coromandel refilled with water and I slid back into ties old position,