NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11230, 27 November 1899, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF.

I 'Fktsco mail day. _ Mariposa for 'Frisco to-day. Wcstralia arrived from Sydney. Elingamite for Sydney this evening. The wharf at Brick Bay is being pushed on rapidly. The first wool sale of the season takes place to-morrow. A poll on the question of the city loan proposals will be taken to-morrow. Supreme Court criminal sittings resume this morning. Two cases remain for trial. The Westralia brought 74 saloon and 53 steerage passengers from Sydney to Auckland. The fruit crops in and around the C-astlo-maine district of Victoria arc reported to have failed. The tick plague in North Queensland is estimated to have caused a loss of 334,160 head of cattle. The twentieth century fund of the Presbyterian Assembly at Melbourne has been fixed at £50.000. About 3000 persons were present at the Amateur athletic and cycle sports at the Domain on Saturday. An electric explosion occurred near C'harleville (Queensland), on the 15th inst., which was heard over a radius of 60 miles. | A large muster of yachts at Hakino Island i on Saturday occasion of the second ' cruise of the Auckland Yacht Club. | Several persons were fined' at the Central j Court, Sydney, last week, for selling jam j not of the nature or substance demanded. j The Two-mile Alliance Championship Bicycle Race decided at the Auckland Amateur Athletic and Cycle Club's meeting on Saturday, was won by H. H. Brook. The next- draughts championship meeting is to bo held at Invercargill about. Easter time, and already steps are being taken in the Southern borough to raist funds to ensure a successful meeting. There wore in the lockup last evening, four persons on charges of drunkenness, a man named Osmondson on a charge of obscene language ; and T'hos. Fletcher on a charge of fighting in a public place. Whilst the steamer Elingamite was coming to her berth at Quay-street Jetty No. 2, yesterday morning, she collided with the p.s. Wakatere, which was berthed at No. 3 Jetty, breaking the taffrail of the latter steamer. At the intercolonial rowing conference in Melbourne last week, the following resolu- j tion was carried : " That the definition of an ! amateur for the purposes of intercolonial ; rowing oi sculling shall be the definition ' agreed to at the 1896 conference, such de-! ] finition to commence as from January 1, ! | 1900." ! A collection of landscapes. Now Zealand > scenes, from (lie brush of Mr. Albert Han- i son, arc now on exhibition in Sydney. Tho j Sydney Telegraph says. " In depicting New j Zealand scenery Mr. Hanson has been sin- j gularly successful, the combination of fine colouring with striking and picturesque | form, being exceedingly good." Some interest was aroused on the Welling- ! ton Wharf the other morning upon the land- ! ing of a lady who had arrived from China 1 via Sydney by the Monowai. The petit' Chinese, gowned in native cost nine of blue > and white silks, hobbled upon the smallest j of feet, into a cab, and was driven to the I office of the Collector of Customs, where she was "cleared." The new arrival is the wife i of Cliing Willi, merchant, of Wellington. j At the inquest on the body of Frances; Bolt, who was struck lightning at 801-' wiirra. near Maitland (New South Wales), a ' few days ago, a verdict of accidental death 1 was returned. The medical evidence showed j that th? youth's straw hat was torn and I burnt, the coat was burst open and burnt, j the hair singed, the forehead, nose, and lips ! burnt, with the skin peeled off, and a scorched mark ran down the chest and legs. I One boot was torn completely off. I The possession of a dark skin does not] prevent its owner from being a thorough " white" man. as has been learned by a local | trader (remarks the Taranaki Herald). Some ' eight or ten weeks ago this trader loaned tho I sum of £15 to a well-known Pariliaka native, taking his word as his bond, and ho has just I received from him the amount, with 10? ! added, with a letter expressing his gratitude , to. the temporary assistance, and begging j the acceptance of'the added amount for the I accommodation. | A man named Kelly had a narrow escape i from instantaneous death at Winton. re-' ports the local paper. He was standing on 1 the platform of a train about to start for . isrercargill. when a friend threw him a ! ; piece of tobacco, in trying to reach which \ ho lost his balance, and fell aross the rails! about 30yds in advance of a train coming ' from Invercargill. Willi great promptitude a young man named Forbes sprang to his assistance, and just, dragged him clear as the train shot [fast.