NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11562, 28 January 1901, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF.

Mararoa arrived from Sydney. .Talune for Sydney this evening. Tasmania exported £197,538 worth of " minerals last December, the year's increasa being £173,486. , ' j '■ During a , fortnight the Kauponui dairy' factory, Eltham, has turned out cheese to the value of £4500. " '■'■:' The butter exported from Victoria for th» six months ended 1 December. 31 totalled 26,223,0841b, valued at £1,026,756. . Old age pensions were paid for the first time in Victoria on January 18. About SO , ! ■ pensioners drew their first instalments. A boy named James Canning was drowned whilst bathing with a companion in a water- - hole at Helensburgh, New South Wales, Rabbits are increasing in West Australia at a most alarming rate, and the authorities are adopting measures for their suppression. Victorians are annoyed at New South' ' Wales getting the advantage of cheap cable rates whilst they are still paving higher rates. A remarkable operation has been pep. formed in Adelaide, on a boy eight years old, an inch screw - being removed from his . nostrils. The. Mayor of Sydney (Alderman Dr. Graham), proposes to abolish the Town Hall refreshment room, and to • turn .it into a '■' municipal library. Barmers in the Gore district are complain, ing of the severity of the botfly, and horses appear to be suffering a good deal from the ravages of the pest. .' i The Austrian warship Leopard sailed from Sydney on January 17, for the Solomon ■ Islands to erect a monument to the memory of the late Baron Von : Mueller. A boy named Robert White was out shoot-. ing at Gosford, New South, Wales, when his rifle exploded and the bullet entered his - stomach. His condition is critical. A stock of over 50,000 negatives,' dating back for 35. years, was included in the property destroyed by the recent fire in Messrs. Wrigglesworth and Binns' premises, Wellington. Most of the flaxmills in the Lower Manawatu and Foxton districts have resumed operations/but there is not the activity of last year oiring to the low price offered for the output It is estimated that the wine crop this year in : the Hunter Valley (New South Wales) will average 4000. gallons to the acre, the anticipated output: being valued at £150.003. '■"The WeAport Times says that since Mri Bobbs opened up the Mokihinui district several additional splendid pitches of bush have been discovered, and a number of timber areas hive been applied . for. A clerk in the Government service, who was examined in the Magistrate's - Court a $ while back, deposed that he was only a tem- " porary clerk. It was; subsequently established that his temporary employment had lasted 12 years continuously ! A fine of £50, or in default three months ■ in gaol, . has been imposed at the Wagga " Wagga Police Court on one Vinson Dorseter, who itated that he was a registered chemist fron . Tasmania,' on the charge of j illegally usir.g the title of "doctor." The Heeshn fly. which first made its appearance in the Masterton district; some 10 years ago, and to combat which a natural - enemy was introduced, is again spreading, among the wheat crops on the Upper Plains, and in one or two instances has done,considerable damage. " Some enterprising Fortrose fishermen went out in the harbour'; with a visitor (says the Wyndham Herald), and netted some "trout, which they sold to the gentleman, who happened to be-a ranker, his special business , being to catch poachers. The fishermen, will t ' be haled before the magistrate on a charge of unlawful fishing. : A mistake appears to have been made re-. spec ting Mr. McDonald, nurseryman; who was injured on Tuesday last by falling from the platform of a.tramcar on the Khvber Pass Road. The injured person is not* the inurseryman at Newmarket, ' Mr. C. S. Mo' j Donald, but Mr. Chas. Isaac McDonald, j nurseryman, Pukekoke. !• On the experimental trawling cruise of . [the Doto round the coasts •of the ; : I North Island, which will commence ,in ! the course of a,few days, Mr. L. F. Aysanj- ! the Commissioner of Fisheries, will ho accompanied, at the instance of the Otago Institute, by Mr. A. Hamilton, marine biologist. Mr. Hamilton is Registrar of the Otago I University. '~'i- : j Last week Mr. H. S. Frasier,of Incargill, indulged in an unpremeditated swim , over-a very long distance while bathing (says the Southland Times). Starting from; : [ venal, Mr. Fraser went on and on till he reached the Invercargill Wharf. The distance is reckoned to be over two miles, and the time taken in covering it was/about three-quarters of an hour. ' -'. An example of the pluck of miners has j been related to a representative of the | Lyttelton Times by a well-known Christ- ' ' church mining investor, who stated that one of the miners on the Ninety-mile Beach had walked from Tim'aru trundling a wheelbarrow laden with four hundredweight of household goods, and accompanied by his wife and family. That was three years ago, and for the first year, after taking up a claim, he sold £200 "worth of gold. He is - now making a comfortable living on the same claim. ... ' -■.'■-.