NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11871, 24 January 1902, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF.

Ie Anatt arrived from the South. It is 59 years ago since the New Zealand Constitution Act , was proclaimed. , There is every prospect of a large number of visitors at the Nelson Jubilee next month. ■, . . , ''•:.' The by-law prohibiting expectoration on the city footpaths is now in force at Wel- ; lington. ■.■•;■■■ : y .-■.■■■';'■■■ ■ A mushroom 2ft 9ia in. circumference was gathered by a Masterton youth on Saturday morning. . A great bush fire broke out near Warialda, New South Wales, on January 15, and for a time the town was in danger. In the Divorce, Court, Sydney, on 'January 15, before Mr. Justice Owen, 22 decrees "■■ '■■ nisi previously granted were made absolute. A flow of 2,000,000 gallons of water per day has been secured from the Oreel bore, : Narrabri, < New South :] Wales, : now down :'27ooft. Three pairs of young ostriches were lately: hatched at the < Hawkcsbury Agricultural College, New South Wales, being the first hatched in the State. The Picton (New South Wales) water supply is in a shocking state, and the .Govern-, ment medical officer : reports it to be unfit for human consumption. : _•.■ , "... A man who has been arrested in Brisbane is believed to; be identical with Charles Creagh,' who made a. sensational escape from the Central Police Station in 1899.>.y ■ - Mr* Charles - Schwartz, of Newtown, ; Sydney, claims to have invented a steerable aircar, for which a prize of £40,000 is offered -in connection with the St. Louis Exhibition. . ■;■•: Several families residing in the neighbourhood of Cleveland Darlington, Sydney, are alleged to have been poisoned by /"cooked corned beef supplied from a certain : ; shop. • ;' /./': '■'":''■"'-' ,:-x January} 14 is described as having been the severest day:ever felt at Manilla, New South Wales. ?; The heat was intense, and ■was accompanied by a hurricane which did great-damage. An Australian paper states that Mr. William Hart, who owns about half the shares :"■.'; in the "/ Tasmania ■■' gold' mine, has averaged / from £400 to £500 a week in income from it " during the past 22 years. ' y The othei evening Mr. Curtis, a resident , / of Maitland, New South Wales, was knocked down and badly burnt by. a flash of light- ; ning, while his wife was partially paralysed, "and a daughter also injured. • The Timaru Post learns that a good deal of wool has been sold 'privately since last • sales, growers apparently concluding that . there is little to / hope foi in the shape of any material increase in prices. The Victorian Minister lor Agriculture has instructed Mr. French, entomologist, to in- ; vestigate the reputed discovery of ■' calcium carbide as a remedy for phylloxera with a "view to introducing it there. ; The codbn moth pest is not nearly so i much in evidence this season as during the last :•; few years in the;Wairarapa. ; In orchards where no i spraying has been done very few apples have been attacked. / ./ , :, At Emerald, Queensland, on January 15 /there was a cyclonic .storm. The sun in the shade registered 109. Buildings were : unroofed everywhere, and the framework of the new Leichhardt Hotel was blown down. There was no rain. A boy named Alexander Hill was drowned ha. Throsby's ; Creek, Newcastle, New South //Wales;'/ A:lad:named Arthur Poole went : to the rescue, but owing to the strength' of the current he was obliged to let the drown- .= ing boy go, and save himself./: : u During the year-1901 Archdeacon MacCuTlagh, of Bendigo, had 71 marriages, 308 -baptisms, and 128 funerals, preached _ 329 sermons, and made 1031 pastoral visits, mainly to the sick. ; This is not a bad re- > cord for a clergyman in : his 70th year. / An accident of a serious nature happened at Broken Hill on January 15 at the Central : mine to William Pratten. He was assist- ■ ing to fix a machine drill in the stope at the ' 500 ft level, when the machine came away and fell on him, inflicting serious injuries to

his spine. ■ As the result of a squabble between some ~ lads at Norsewood recently, three of whom "■' were going/to " give beans" to another lad,, the one set upon fought with such vigour that one of his assailants is at present an inpatient of : the Waipukurau hospital, where ' he is ■ likely to ; remain some i time. Whilst two /lads, Joe and Andy Fraser, sons of Mr. Angus Fraser, of Masterton, .were: chopping some light trees a log fell on the former's, foot, crushing the boy's little toe./ The wound proved rather serious/and the injured toe had to be amputated. : ' ' ■ On arrival of the barque Lota, from Sharpness, at Sydney, on January 15, the sad news •:y was reported of ; the death •of her late mas.ter, Captain Nash, ■ from natural causes, on the 7th inst., .when the vessel was in lati- /■ tude 43 degrees south, longitude 149 degrees 40 minutes east. The remains of the deceased officer were solemnly transferred to the deep the following day. . On Monday when some visitors from Wellington were'being driven from Mr. Wratt's place at Taonui, where they had been stayZing, it was, after a while discovered that one ' of the youngsters had been left behind. The head of the party remarked, " I knew all the - time we had forgotten something." ! With much laughter.the carriage was turned back, : and the missing one picked up. At Naseby, Otacjo, a few days ago, a ■ ■ young man, by way : i of a joke, attempted to, throw some liquid ammonia out of a bot + le on >to/the coat of a/friend. :■,.■■■ The . latter, turning at that : instant, received the /liquid., directly ;>ia/ the eyes, and the rinjuries are of so serious a nature.that the /sighti of one of the man's eyes will: prov bably be permanently impaired. ' ' -,: It is : expected that under federation there will be a revival of the . influence of the ./country press of Australia. In a few years 'the . political ; interest of the/continent will centre in the: Federal capital." , The country paper will have as good a chanceso /far as situation is concerned—to keep its eye on the Federal Parliament as the big / dailies of Melbourne ', and Sydney.