NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10627, 16 December 1897, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF.

Hatooto arrived from Fiji. - : . : ' • Tafionileft for the Islands and Sydney. Anglian arrived from Sydney this morn* I lD fhe number of cycles registered in AuckThe number of cycles registered in Auckland is 1315. I." -J i' The point ab Caps Kidnappers is at Present strewn with birds' eggs. A proposal is now being discussed, to convert one of the three Masterton Fire Brigades into a salvage corps. All the country round Masterton is becoming sadly scorched up. The chances of good crops are growing slighter each day, The crops and feed on the Upper Plain, Wairarapa, look more dried up just now than for many years pasb in the month q{ December. The other day Edward Fuller, a young Bon of Mr. John Fuller, of Grey town, had the misfortune to fall and badly break his arm while jumping. ... . , _ . The want of rain is having a bad effect all over the Rangitikei district. The hay crops are short, and oats and wheat crops will have short straw. There was a sharp frost on the night of the 9th and morning of the 10th inst. in Wairarapa. Potatoes, dahlias, tomatoes, and other tender plants were cub down by frost. The Oamaru Garrison Eand, having failed to affiliate with the North Island Brass Band Association, finds that its entry for the Association's contests in Napier next month ftmnot be accepted. Last month 52,0001b of butter was made ab the Rongotea Dairy Factory, being 10,0001b more than was made in November, 1896. The value of, the butter for the month was about £1500. The influenza epidemic is causing inconvenience in industrial circles in Wellington, the absentee list in eome of the larger factories and warehouses having assumed considerable proportions. The number of visitors to the Art Gallery for the year ending October 31sb last was 37,270. No less than 37,648 dips were taken in the Freshwater Baths in Albert, street, and 32,199 in the Saltwater Baths. At Wellington on Monday Mr. H. Park met with a serious accident. Whilst be was backing a horse attached to a dray, on which was a load of oats, the horse plunged, and Mr. Park was thrown into the gutter and had bis leg broken. The Wellington Syndicate which owus the major part of the property at Maharahara, near Woodville, in which copper has. been found to exist, has arranged to have two tons of the ore tested in Australia. The lode is several feet wide. < December has already proved the moat "drunken" month of this year, according to the Wellington Magistrate's Court re. cords. From the first day of the month until Monday last, 52 cases of drunkenness have appeared on tho charge-sheet. Two men volunteered to herd the cattle by which Mr. W. G. Donne met his death in Central Otago. The cattle, becoming infuriated, met their fate by rushing madly over the hillside and on to the rocks, where they had to be slaughtered and cut up. _ An elderly person who committed suicide in Melbourne last week left a note behind attributing his trouble to drink, to which he had been driven by three of his children perpetually " playing" on a melodeon, Tamping harp, and mouth organ respectively. Little Zaidee Nathan, aged 11, daughter of Mr. Walter Nathan, gob out of her depth while practising swimming at the Thorndon Baths, Wellington, and sank in aboub 6 feet of water. Her screams in sinking were fortunately heard by Mr. Bertie, the custodian, who rescued her in an unconscious state..

On Monday night, while the steamer Matatua was discharging cargo at) the George-streeb Pier, Port Chalmers, Patrick Slullany, who was working in the 'tween decks, slipped and fell into the lower hold a distance of about 14 feet, and slid on the railway iron stowed there, dislocating his collarbone and injuring his elbow. As showing the force of the recent earthquake at Wanganui, it) is stated by the Herald that in a residence at the foot of St, John's Hill a piano was thrown bodily from the side of a wall to the other end of the room, A large number of fissures are noticeable in tbo Makirikiri Valley, and a number of small springs have started in the roadway and in adjacent properties. A recent) visitor from the Hunterville district) states that the shearing caused trucks to be in strong demand on the central railway line. There was keen Competition, particularly between firewood cutters and sheep farmers, for trucks,' and in one case the rivalry is said to have been carried so far that a stalwart farmer, anxious to get his wool to market, emptied struck of its load of firewood and refilled it with his bales of wool. At a meeting of the Wairarapa North County Council, on Thursday, the finance committee reported that it did not see its way to recommending any definite increase in tho wages of roadmen, but suggested to the Council the propriety of granting at the end of each year, on the recommendation of the county engineer, a bonus to such permanent surfacemen as might entitle themselves to it by attention to their