NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11129, 31 July 1899, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF.

Suez mail arrived. 'Frisco mail to-morrow. Pakeha arrived from London. Mararoa arrived from Sydney. Waihora for Sydney this evening. Ovalau due from the Eastern Pacific. The Coromandel Hospital ball will be field next Wednesday.

A fire occurred at Government House, Wellington, yesterday. A sitting of the Supreme Court, in banco, Jill be held this morning. There are 112 names on the roll of Victoria College, Wellington. The Feilding Telephone Exchange is expected to open to-morrow. A bowling green, which it is estimated will cost £300, is being laid down at Petone. There are now 93 inmates in the Ohiro Home, Wellington — males and 27 females. Stone from the reef in the Broken Hill mine (Waiomo) has been forwarded to Auckland. A fur seal, weighing over 4cwt, was washed ashore at Long Beach, Canterbury, recently. The' operation of tracheotomy has been successfully performed on a young girl at Hastings. From a return presented to Parliament it appears that the reclamation in Wellington Harbour has cost £115,984. The Lyttelton Times urges the Government to settle the claims of those who were injured in the Rakaia railway collision. Preference shares, to the value of £3000, have been applied for in connection with the proposed Industrial Hall at Christchurcb. A man, named John Lardne., was fined £5 at the Police Court on Saturday morning. for deserting from the New Zealand police force. The quartz from the new reef cut in the United section of the Imperial mine, at Karangahake, has given very satisfactory assay results.

The Masterton Borough Council has decided to adopt the Wellington city by-law with regard to loitering on the streets for betting purposes. At a public meeting, held in Palmerston, it was resolved that it was advisable to establish a free public library and readingroom in the town.

The bi-sulphide of carbon and petroleum treatment oi .phvlloxera has been recommended by the Victorian Minister for Agriculture as the best.

The great success which has attended gold dredging in New Zealand has caused an immense number of river-bed leases to be applied for in Victoria. Some of the Pahiatua village settlers are clamouring for the to change their leases in perpetuity into freeholds, or to lease and live off their sections.

The Wanganui Herald learns that the patent rights of the Gibson cattle-branding patent for Australia alone, have been disposed of by the Hon. J. G. Ward, for £130.000.

Diphtheria lias made its appearance in the Allenton district, Ashburton, five cases from one family having been in the Ashburton Hospital last week suffering from this complaint. A bankrupt engineer, Frederick Cronin, in a statement made to the official assignee on Saturday, stated his liabilities to be about £100. and his assets £26, furniture, subject to a bill of sale.

A curious accident is reported to have happened a few days ago at Timaru, to a Miss Hennv, of Temuka. She was sitting close to a fire, and a vulcanite comb in her hair spontaneously ignited, causing severe burns before it was removed.