NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11571, 8 February 1901, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF.

Tavtoni left for Fiji. • • , ,' I Talune left Sydney for Auckland. • TeAnau arrived from the south. - 'Frisco mail expected on Monday The Whangape arrives from Calcutta this morning. . , .... The Supreme Court criminal sittings commence on the 18th inst. . • . , A farmer in North Canterbury is expecting this season to reap 4000 bushels of oats off 40 acres of his land. There are eight persons in Gulgong Hos- ':■ pital, Victoria, suffering from enteric lever, . caused by drinking bad water. - It is stated that the minute guns fired m : Wellington on ' Saturday were distinctly heard at Featherston, 50 miles distant. A bush fire was caused in the,Corowa dis- ( trict New South Wales, by a sheep ' treading on a bos of matches. The fire was soon • ■' extinguished. . # In January the number of marriages in Wellington was 54, as compared with 63 in ' the corresponding period of last year. The j deaths were 64, as compared with. 45 in the same month of 1900. ~ On Christmas Day Mrs. Crane, a resident j of Beaudesert, Queensland, left her home to , visit a friend. ;, Her body , was " recently discovered under a tree, horribly mutilated by crows and wild dogs. • ". The birth-rate in Wellington for January i " was the highest during that month in the last lour years. The number registered was 151, as compared with 116 in the cor- ;.-. responding period of last year. The Westport Harbour Board, at its last '■ meeting; passed a resolution, on the motion of Mr. ,o'Regan, in favour of opening a State coal mine, and the chairman was directed to make representations accordingly to the Coal Mines Commission. A strange'disease has broken out among cattle in the Macorua district of Victoria. The eyeball becomes covered : with ulcers, even the pupils being hidden. -The animals fall away in condition, and suffer great pain and blindness. . Older milking cows seem to be immune from it. The committee (Messrs. W. J. W. Philson and W. J. Speight) appointed by the City Council to take charge of the arrange- ;i ments for the procession in connection with the late Queen's death reported the result . of their work to the City Council last night, and they were accorded a vote of thanks. : A cottage occupied by Mr. Lambie, at St. ' Anaud, Victoria, was completely destroyed j iff fire in a few minutes on January. 20. i The remains of Mrs. Lambie, who had only i died the previous afternoon, and which were coffined .- ready for burial,, were also consumed. The occupants of the house barely .'■' escaped with their lives. : A movement is on foot in Melbourne 'to | commemorate the late Queen's reign by a: monument, probably resembling that erected i at Lahore (India), in May next, showing i Hop Majesty seated in a canopied chair. I On one side of the throne would be a statu- I ette of Britannia, and on the other side a statuette representing Australia. .-.'" The export of dairy produce is rapidly increasing. By the Papanui, which left ■ Wellington last week, 675 tons of abutter and '■ 600 tons of cheese were taken to the Home markets. ■ By the Delphic, which left Lyttelton on January 22, a record shipment of butter was taken, namely, 950 tons,* representing nearly £65,000 in value. : Several members of the Victorian Assembly, having become anxious \ as ;•; to whether they could draw their salaries without taking the oath of allegiance to the King, Sir Turner has assured them that.payment will continue to be made as usual, and that he sees no reason to convene a special session of Parliament for swearing in members anew. . ■■■ ' "Teacher" writes to the Wellington Post : "The lists of proposed increases to teachers' salaries do not give us sufficient information. How about those whose names do not .appear? Are their salaries in accordance with the new scheme, or are they jtoba reduced? or, which is very probable, are some of them in excess of proposed staffing, and liable to retrenchment— is, dismissal?" : -.. ■-. :■■. ■■■■■ ■■. -. '