NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11537, 23 November 1900, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF.

Kanaka arrived from Fiji. Mown from the South to-day* • •It has been computed that a holiday to (the railway employees of West Australia costs the colony £1812. The Roman Catholics are forming a wording bee for the purpose of putting their 6vmonds-stree\ Cemetery in order. In connection with the Commonwealth inaugural celebrations the Sydney Town Hall is to be illuminated at a cost of i) 500. A man named Eymar died at -Warren, New Sooth Wales, from injuries caured by « horse falling on him, fracturing his skull. In some of the rabbit-infested districts of New South Wales the runholders are offering 2s 6d per head for the destruction of the At the Windorah (Queensland) Police Court a Chinaman was sentenced to six months' gaol for supplying blacks with opium. . . According to a table prepared by the Age, 140,877 votes were cast for the Opposition at the last general election, as against 92,834 for Ministerial candidates. At Captain Claude Smith's Nandillyan Station (New South Wales), 3500 hoggets, 14 months old, were shorn, and averaged a fraction over 131b of clean wool each. The Hawke's Bay Caledonian Society is to be wound up. Its funds, amounting to about £60, are to be handed to the Hawke s Bay Highland Society on certain conditions. The Government recently acquired an estate at Whareama (North Wairarapa) for settlement. It is expected that this property will be open for selection within a week or two. , _ , \mongst the curiosities at the Palmerston thow was the fact that the best troop horse was named Lord Roberts, while General Buller beat Lord Kitchener in the spring cart horse class. . The tailors and tailoresses at Fremantle, West Australia, ceased work the other day. They demand 9d per hour on small jobs, and lOd for coat jobs. So far 36 tailors and 40 tailoreitses are out. Whilst bird-nesting at Sailor s Gully, near Bendiizo, a lad named John Maslin fell down an old shaft, 90ft deep, and fractured his skull. The operation of trepanning was performed, but the lad died a couple of hours afterwards. ~„•,• . . A The residents of the Woodville district are anxiouslv awaiting the decision of the Government respecting the acquisition of Crosse's estate, under the Lands for Settlement Act. which is of great importance to the district. The trawling operations begun by the Government last year, under the supervision of Mr. L. F. Ayson, Inspector of Fisheries, are to be resumed in January next. Particular attertion will be devoted first to the North Island. «-..., « While driving a cart at Wickham, New .South Wales, daring a storm, a young man named Harrison, aged 20 years, was struck by lightning. The vouth was knocked off the cart, and the horse was felled to the ground. Harrison was unconscious for two ours. , ~ „ The Masterton fish ponds were practically a failure last year. The collection of ova was so small that outside orders could not be supplied, and a Government order for 60,000 had to be refused. The Wellington Acclimatisation Society will take the whole question into consideration. Some days ago Alfred Maurice Stevens (an accountant) disappeared mysteriously from his home, at Moonee Ponds, Melbourne. A week later his body was taken out of Saltwater River, and in one of his pockets a slip of notepaper was found containing the following message: " I feel that my brain is going. Better this than the other." The New South Wales Government astronomer states that throughout the past month in all parts of the colony there has been a very severe drought. Only one-, jeventh part of the average rainfall has been recorded. The rainfall has been 85 per cent, below the average for October. Even in the most favoured spots the fall was 41 per cent, below the average, and in some places no rain fell. There was quite a phenomenal hailstorm at Geraldine the other afternoon (says the Timaru Herald), accompanied with thunder and lightning. The first lot of hailstones that fell were as big as marbles, and the storm lasted till the town was white as with snow, and snowballing (or more correctly '• hailballing") was indulged in for nearly an hour after. Since the storm a very cold wind has been blowing, making one think of midwinter.