NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11954, 1 May 1902, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF.

/St. P-Fittir and St. Jamas' Day. Elingamite loft, for the South. Manapouri due from the Islands. Ta Anau from the South to-day. The game shooting season opens to-day. The steamer Waimate has left London for Auckland. Over 700 tons of kauri gum have been leceived in Auckland this month. home people at Hastings developed symptoms of poisoning after eating smoked fish ti few days ago. The executors of the will of Mr. T. J. (-limner have distributed £3000 among charitable institutions of Melbourne. At Bendigo a burglar .named William Dillworth was shot in the back by a police constable while attempting to escape. Mr. W. Courtney, is advocating .that the harbour at New Plymouth should be made fit for the use of ocean-going steamers. New railway rates in West Australia show a general increase of 25 per cent, on all lines, but on. jarrah timber there is an increase of i>o per cent. The Surveyor-General has asked the Marlborough Land Board that reserves may be leased, in order to secure the eradication of noxious weeds. A child named Ernest Appleby, while playing with other children in Brisbane, was mysteriously shot in the stomach by a ritle bullet. He is now recovering. At a conference of representatives of the boot trade held in Melbourne, the necessity j for an amendment of the law relating to ap- i prentices was strongly commented upon. j Ihe New South Wales Premier, at Bat- . hurst, pointed out that in seven years the : area under crop in the State had doubled itself, and now amounted to 2,500,000 acres. Thirteen allotments in the Horowhenua East village settlement, ranging from 49 to 97 acres, will be open for application on lease in perpetuity on and after Tuesday, May 27. • " An interesting arborioultural freak in the form of a stem of silver pine foliage on which were growing three well-defined and healthy branches of totara has been found on the .West Coast. One hundred and twenty-eight sheep, of which 86 are Vermont merino rams, purchased in Tasmania by Mr. Akers, of Palmerston North, arrived by the Waihora a few days ago. The Westport News says that throughout the district at present there appears to be a fair degree of prosperity and a general desire to invest capital in the development of its rich mineral resources. At a meeting of master bakers held in Wellington, it was agreed to raise the price of bread by a halfpenny the 21b loaf, making it 34d for cash payments. The increased price takes effect from to-day. The Queensland Minister for Public Works asserts that the tick is no longer feared in that State. The disease is now understood, and can be battled with. The cattle, too, are becoming proof against it. Many settlers in Poverty Bay have found that it pays to grow linseed. One has obtained a yield of 36 bushels per acre. Some settlers are importing pure seed from Belfast in time to sow it next August. At one of the Hobart hotels a fortnight ago a, man named Davidson, while in his cups, struck the landlord, McAlister, who fell heavily, and received: a blow on the head, 'which caused his almost instant death. The mountain houses on Mount Egmont are now closed for the winter. Dawson's Fall has had a record season. The newlyestablished and less-known establishment on the Pembroke Road track has done fairly well. Builders in Nelson are at present experiencing great difficulty in obtaining sufficient surtolies of timber to enable them to curry out their contracts. As a consequence some of the carpenters are not being employed full time. An' aurora was seen in Christchurch the other night between half-past nine and ten o'clock. A correspondent of the Press says it took the form of radiating lines from a centre like a fas—blue, gray, and rose colour. That war on " bunny" has begun in earnest is evidenced by the loads of rabbits now picked up by trains at wayside stations as far north as Oamavu. Trapper?, however, complain that the price paid them is too low. ) Four cases of infectious disease in and about Wellington,' were reported to the Public Health Department during the last week— of scarlet fever and one of diphtheriabut only one case was within the boundaries or the city. For using a railway velocipede, near New Plymouth, without leave, three boys were convicted in that town and ordered to pay £2, the amount of the damage done to the trolly by a passing engine through their leaving it too near the line. ."This new duty thrown upon judges is about ths most onerous they have been asked to undertake." remarked Mr. Justice Deuniston "at Christchurch, in dealing with a case in which, under the new Act, he was asked to alter the provisions of a will. The Patea Poultry Company has handled close on 2500 birds since it commenced operations. This is considered a good record, in view of the fact that the company only started at the tail end of the season, and chat the 1002 season has not yet commenced. According to a Dunedin correspondent, a well-known Taieri farmer considers that the hicrh prices now ruling will more than compensate the farmers for the losses caused by the recent floods. One farmer sent away five trucks of chaff, and netted over £100.