NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11844, 23 December 1901, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF.

■ ._ • ... ««•"■««•"♦«■*»«■■» firaz mail arrived. \; • . .V " , 'Frisco mail gone. £$}': Eakanoa; arrived from Fiji, Zealandia arrived from Sydney. Elingainite for Sydney this evening. . H.M. surveying ship Penguin is in port. There are 57 prohibited persons in Wanganui. . The Heiiald will not be published on ..- Wednesday. The city is becoming crowded with visitors for the holidays. , : The mail steamer Sierra is due from San Francisco on Wednesday. ' r ' The average size 01 freehold farms in New '.- South Wales runs £ 78,000 acres. v The late rains hav.-> caused ; the growth ';\ of a large number of mushrooms in Otago. : 'The' mail steamer Ventura : ; brought over 100 passengers from Sydney to Auckland on •v; Saturday.-/; : ~: , -: ■ \ . The first Newcastle, coal ever landed at •.;, the Napier breakwater is now being dis- '■ -charged there. ■ ■.'..-'.■■'' " , •••,.. . : The Elingamite brought up a large num- ■"•;.' ber of passengers from Southern and East Coast ports yesterday. x : : ■ * ' The mail steamer Ventura left for San ..--. Francisco on Saturday, an hour late ? owing , to the late arrival' of mails. ■.'.:■.• :•' Recent rainfalls have benefited Hawke's Bay, the Wairarapa, North Canterbury, : Oamaru, i and Central Otago:''■•'•'..,• The steamers arriving at Onehunga from New Plymouth, are bringing up a large number of visitors for the holidays. , „ The wool that has arrived in Oamaru to date is reported to be about 1500 bales short of what it was at this time a year ago. Shearing is well advanced in Woodville district. Most of the settlers find the clip the best they have ever had in the bush dis- ■;..'.':*■ trict. '■■.'. ■;.:■.', -V, ffiU f:^l: - P^'^^yf^h

The Makuri branch of the Farmers' Union has decided to give one shilling per member towards helping the unfortunate Cheviot settlers. • -$..''■"-■■■_- :V' ; -y^>

' On December 13, Dr. Eisner, of Moree, New South Wales, was found dead in bed, death being due to asphyxia, consequent on heat apoplexy. _ , .The export of_timber from Greymouth for the current year will not fail ;; short of 24,000,000 ft. This '•."■represents ; a money value of about £90,000.

;.. ; . District Judge Kettle suggested in Master- ;' ton that the sitting of the District Court : might be held in a marquee, as there was no , decent courtroom available. The manager of the Government poultry farm at Milton reports that of the various breeds of fowls raised there, the greatest run has been on buff Orpingtons. , / , The Wellington city water inspector has resigned because the Council has disregarded % his protests against i the enormous waste of water through defective cisterns. . ; " ' : ■• At Ashburton the Zodiacal light had a ■:'' very striking effect in the western sky-on § Thursday evening. A peculiar electric light : also played over the roofs,'or several buildings. The Hawke's Bay Herald points out to its readers that Patea possesses the only grading store in the colony where the butter is loaded direct from the chambers to the ship's hold. ; The demand in Wellington for poultry for , Christmas has evidently induced certain persons to pay nocturnal visits to the hen-roosts. A number of poultry-owners in the city are (says the Post), bemoaning the loss of their . choicest birds. i ; : The white ant, according to Mr. Brunker, is a formidable opponent of education in New . * South Wales. Speaking in the House dur- ■'" :;■ ing ; the discussion on the loan estimates, he charged that animal with having eaten up a v! great many of the public schools in the country districts.