NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10405, 1 April 1897, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF.

Otster season opens to-day. Flora from the South this morning. Melaneeian mission yacht left for the The Pahiatua people want the rolunteer encampment at their town this year. A miner named Williams unearthed a 470z nugget close to an old shaft near Braidwood, New South Wales. A miner named Griffith Thomas committed suicide at Helenaburg, New South Wales, by hanging himself to a tree. A young man named James Andrew Uasßingham shot himself at Mittagong, New South Wales, the other morning. An aboriginal named Jennings, recently sentenced to death at Sale, Victoria, for a capital offence, has confessed his guilt. A telegram from Fitzroy (W.A.) states that a man named Thomas Jasper has been ■hot dead by natives at a station 18 miles distant. Owing to a fall of ore, John Harvey, a turner, at the Central mine, Broken Hill, sustained injuries which will probably terminate fatally. r , Adelaide has raised a fund of £10,060 in aid of drought-distressed farmers. Of that amount £5729 was collected through the Register newspaper. At a meeting of creditors at Dunedifl the Assignee stated that the bankrupt had paid a money-lender £60 or £70 interest on a loan not exceeding £17. The other morning a man named Charles Russell was thrown from his cart in George-street, Camperdown, and received injuries which resulted fatally. The area of land selected in West Australia during January and February totalled 67,691 acre?, being nearly as much as the selection for the whole of 1895. The Mount lyell Company treated 5667 tons between February 12 and March 11, yielding 387 tons of matte, containing 238 tons copper, 15,7440z silver, and 1106oz gold. A settler named Guttman, who resides near the Olinda township, Victoria, has come into a fortune of about £13,000 from bis father, who has lately died in Germany. Recently Mr. Thomas Campbell, a member of the West Australia Club, while fishing at Emu Point, Albany, landed on a hand line a kingfi-h which turned the scale It 180lbs. , i A Mr. J. Sexton, of Gladstone (Waira- j rapa), has a curio in the shape of a cross | between a goose and a swan. The feathered 1 hybrid has a swan's head and neck and the < body of a goose. _ ' As there appears to be still some mis- | understanding on this subject, we may ; state that the season for shooting native ( game commences on the 17th of April, not 1 on the Ist April. A Danevirke cyclist named A. Henderson, had hie right arm broken in two places below the elbow and his left elbow dis- ! located, as the consequence of his colliding with a spring trap on the Matakiwi Hill. At Waimate the licensee of the Makikihi ( Hotel was fined £5, with £2 3s 6d costs, for t permitting dice to be thrown, and £5 and 1 £1 10s costs for selling liquor to an in- i toxicated person. Both convictions were ( endorsed on the license. 1 So many thefts of bicycles have occurred ' lately in Wellington, not only from the ■ streets, but from the interior of buildings, J that it is believed an organised gang is at „ work, who systematically ship them away v to other ports and Australia. i Alarm has been raised in Australia as to j the increasing prevalence of consumption, 1 and an inquiry by a Royal Commission is ? proposed. It is satisfactory to note that in J New Zealand the death rate from consump- c tion is decreasing, having fallen from 8 95 per 10,000 of population in 1885 to 7'40 per 10,000 in 1596. At a meeting of volunteer officers held in the Drill-shed last night, it was resolved, " That in the opinion of this meeting the t selection of a representative for the Auck- j land district it the Bisley team be by ] { competition amongst the efficient volunteers c of the district—the best aggregate in four t matches of not less than 100 shots, to be c selected." 11