NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11150, 24 August 1899, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF.

Suez mail arrived. Ketch Envy arrived safely. Barque Wenona in distress. Te Anau from the South to-day. Mararoa left Sydney for Auckland. Hauroto left for the Islands and Sydney. The survey of the workings of the Maratoto mine has been completed. A nine-months-old calf was killed at Wharau lately, weighing 3001b. White grubs are doing a great deal of damage to the grass in the Hawera district. Melbourne City Council is negotiating for the purchase of all city electric light rights. Grayling have invaded the Teremakau River in shoals, many of them weighing about lib. The Brisbane boot operatives have decided to ask for the legislative enactment of a minimum wage. A change of mine management has taken place in connection with the Alpha Gold Mining Company. _ Probate duty amounting to i/Moo was paid in Melbourne in the estate of the late Nathaniel Smallpiece Sloman. The Armidale, New South Wales, police on Sundav made a raid on certain persons alleged to" be engaged in cock-fighting. While making excavations at the Victoria Markets, Melbourne, a coffin containing the body of a fully-dressed man was discovered. It is stated' that the Rev. J. Campbell's Emission to Svdney re the thermo-hyper-phoric process of gold-saving has proved successful. Preaching at Mount Gambier (South Australia), the Rev. R. A. Coldwell strongly condemned the wearing of low-necked dresses by ladies. No trace of the crew of the ketch Annie, which capsized on the Tasmanian coast, has been discovered, and it is feared all have been drowned. An analysis by the South Australian Government Analyst shows that some samples of stone from "the Worturpa field yielded 15dwt of gold to the ton. At Cheviot a petition to Parliament for a railway to the district is being promoted. Another petition is being circulated for a licensed hotel in the district. The foreign missions committee of the Presbyterian Church has carried a resolution protesting against Cardinal Moron's charges against Protestant missionaries. The Americans, after trying the system of school work without examinations, have decided that ft is advisable to return to the system of periodical examinations. An interesting communication, which appears in our mining columns, has been forwarded to the Government by the attorneys of the Thames Hauraki Company re the company's contention in connection with the drainage of the Themes deep levels. There were in the lockup last evening, three persons on charges of drunkenness ; and a prisoner, named John Martin, en route to -uount Eden, to serve a term of six months' imprisonment, for disobeying an order of the Court in regard to the maintenance of his wife.

At yesterday's meeting of the Education Board' a copy of the draft regulations for inspection and examination of schools, as gazetted, was received from the Secretary for Education, Mr. Geo. Hogben. The regulations are to come into force on January 1, 1900. A number of Hawke's Bay settlers have applied to the Agricultural Department for the rliea plant (employed in the manufacture of cordage, nets, fishing lines, and other purposes for which strength, lightness, and power of resisting water are essential), with a view to giving the plant a trial in that district.