NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11534, 20 November 1900, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF.

gpEZ mail arrived. .'.-'• ■' 'Frisco mail due. Mararoa left for Sydney. ><; Talune for the South to-day. Ovalau for the Eastern Pacific this evenThe Mararoa took away a large number of tases of frozen fish for Sydney. }' i A movement is on foot at Wanganui for - the establishment of an Irish volunteer corps. , Fruit trees in the Taranaki district have been badly knocked about by the recent heavy gales. _ ' _ According to the Clutha Free Press -a , shark, 10ft long, was caught at Port Molyneaux last week. . ■ , , The sum "of £315 has been collected in Tasmania to a fund called the Tasmaman soldiers'national memorial fund. The timber cut within the Jutland district last year amounted to 3,876,533 ft. Un this royalty was paid to the extent of £900. While a mob of cattle was being driven on the Rocklands station (Queensland) recently, a black boy and horse were struck by lightning and killed. ' Water has been struck at Adavare (Queensland) by the bore, at a depth of 3400 ft. It • is estimated that half-a-million of gallons per day will be obtained. Some comment has been caused by the fact that while the Dunedin City Council offers £800 per annum for a city engineer, the Christchurch Corporation wants a city sur- : veyor for £400. . ~ What is known as the earth-eating disease is assuming serious proportions among aboriginal natives in Northern Queensland. The . medical men are urging that steps be taken to suppress the habit. On the day following the Melbourne Cup no fewer than 14,468 postal notes were cashed by the Bank of New South Wales at Melbourne, acting on behalf of Tattersall s, for a face value of £6148 16s. _ ■' ' A sufficient sum has been raised in Nelson by shilling subscriptions to erect a brass memorial tablet to the late Trooper L. M. Tarrant, a member of the First Contingent, who died in South Africa. ; • - The Horowhenua County Council is taking steps to raise a loan of £4000 for the purpose of carrying out a water-race scheme, the survey in connection with which is now being made by Mr. Laing-Meason, C.E. As showing the rapid rise in the value of stock in the Manawatu district (says the <» Evening Standard), a local settler brought a mob of cattle to the Palmerston North saleyards just over a month ago, but could not sell them at the reserve. On Thursday the 1 game cattle came back again, and brought '£1 per head over the reserve they were previously offered at. As an example of the impassable state of the East Coast roads, a contemporary declares that a certain family, wishing to get their buggy out for a drive into the town, ■were compelled to place the buggy on a bullock dray, and the vehicle was thus con- ' veyed to the metalled road, where the horses we're harnessed to the buggy, and the journey continued. The crops throughout the Ashburton district (says the Guardian) are looking very green, and are growing rapidly, 'ihe chances are that if the rapid growth continues we shall get coarse, flaggy straw, with little grain, and as the year advances we may expect to see rust make its appearance. The advent of fine weather would, however, check this. A Balclutha gentleman has shown to the Free Press two very interesting mementos of the African war he has received from members of the First Contingent. They are a: birthday book once belonging to a daughter of the famous Boer General, Botha, and bearing the autograph. "Martha Botha " on the fly-leaf, and a Kruger half-sovereign framed in a Netherlands railwav ticket. The following is the state of Her Majesty's prison. Auckland, for the week ending Saturday. November 17, 1900:—On remand, 3 males; awaiting trial, 19 males, 3 females; sentenced to penal servitude for life, 2 males ; sentenced to hard labour, 131 males, 13 females ; sentenced to imprisonment, 2 males ; default of bail, 1 male ; received during the week, 18 males, 4 females; discharged, 19 males, 3 females: total in prison, 158 males, 16 females.