NEWS IN BRIEF

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11870, 23 January 1902, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF

■ AotbA left for the South. ..;•.. TeAnau from the South to-day. . .- ■ Hawked, Bay arrived from London and 'Australia. ■.'■■ .->■■"■ „'■,',. '.. , - The large "- steamer Delphic comes out of Calliope Dock to-day.. / . A grub peculiar to the district hag (says the i Masterton Star) attacked potatoes on ■ soma 'of ■ the farms round " Masterton this

, Professor Lowrie is said to have decided to do away with paying students at, Lincoln Agricultural. College in the future. v There are now 10 :; cases on i the criminal : : calendar of the Wellington Supreme Court. The first sessions of this year will commence on February 3. The Mail says that harvest operations will hardly be general . throughout the Osimaru district for at least another month. A chiming clock for the new post office at Feildiug will cost £750. The Hokitika Borough Council has decided to take a poll in respect to setting up a Citizens' Committee :to confer with the Council re a wate* supply for the town, estimated to cost £16,000.. : A collection is being made in Victoria for the widow of the late Bishop of Goulburn. Dr. Chalmers' income was so small that he had to surrender • his life policy, and he left his widow ; practically penniless. In the estimates in connection with Lincoln Agricultural College for the ensuing year, the receipts are put down at £3564 and the expenditure at £3435, while those for the farm are, receipts £1675 and expenditure £1809. .. Some Victorian youths have been fined ■under a statute of Charles I. for playing . cricket on Sunday. The Act was originally passed to prevent bull-baiting, cockfighting, 'and so on, but that did not pre"vent the local' Dogberry from inflicting a fine of 3s 4d all round. ', At. Ballarat racecourse recently five venomous snakes, the property of a snakecharmer, escaped from their cage arid disappeared amongst the crowd. Terrible con-' sternation ensued, and it was only by the skill of the'charmer- in arresting the runaways that an ugly panic was averted. The abattoirs at the Glebe, Sydney, are said to have discoloured the whole of Royelle Bay, which is now, it is alleged, of a pinkish, blood-coloured tint, and during : the recent hot weather has smelt so ' abominally that men working near that -part'of the harbour have gone home sick. Australia is evidently bulking larger in the eyes of China, for the proprietors of the English newspapers published in China have asked the Eastern Extension Telegraph Company to endeavour to'fix a rate -for : press messages with the Commonwealth, via Port Darwin to Hongkong,. - Foochow, Shanghai, and Amoy. It was stated hi error in our report of the Harbour Board discussion on the . payment to Mr. Niccol that Mr. Napier's amendment was not seconded. Mr. J. T. Julian seconded the amendment, but on being put it was lost on the voices. Mr. G. Cozens' name was omitted from the list of those . present at the meeting and the visit to 'Calliope Dock. Yorktown, the centre of the South Australian salt industry, is said to have been in a state of riot during the holidays. The men engaged in scraping the salt on the lakes - visited the town and took charge, making themselves thoroughly at home in • private residences and elsewhere. The -only constable received such a buffeting ; that he had to be carried into the Court on- a couch.

There has of late been- a considerable increase of rabbits in some parts of the South Island, due, it is suggested, to the fact v that the men who trap for the fac- ■: tories ~ falways endeavour to avoid the ..bother of destroying the young rabbits. The Minister for Lands does not believe the statement which has appeared in the press that rabbits are on the increase in the Wairarapa. • '-'. •" •■•■■ The wool ; shipped in Sydney ,' for England during the last week in December amounted to over 33,000 bales, being 12,000 ahead of Germany, the second on the list. f France had only 2000 to its credit, but it • nevertheless stands second on the list for the season * with 64,800 bales, England being first' with 159,500 bales, Germany third with 63,008 bales, and Belgium fourth -.' .with 44,400 bales. -.' A gentleman who has just concluded a ' tour of practically every part of. Southland, from Waiau to Mokoreta, informs the Wyndham Farmer that there is every pros- ,. pect of a glorious harvest The ripening will be on the late: side, but both grain and straw J promise over average returns. In the Western district, he says, he saw as v; fine fields of grain as he ever saw, anyi.where in a lengthy experience.