NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12003, 27 June 1902, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF.

'Frisco mail leaves to-day. Te Anaii arrived from the South. St. Fillans due from New York and Aus- ' A flasmill is shortly to be erected at Mokau. . , ... Last Sunday evening there was one of the most brilliant sunsets which have been witnessed in Wairarapa for a king time. A man named William King cut his throat with a razor at Sydney, after a quarrel with his wife and lie died almost- immediately. Mr Ewington. official visitor to the Lunatic Asylum, acknowledges with thanks receipt of a parcel of illustrated papers tor the patients. The South Australian Marine Board have decided to recommend the Government to introduce Marconi's wireless telegraph system betwewen South Neptune lighthouse and Port Adelaide. ~.,-, A wa<*es board is about to be established in Melbourne in connection with the dressmaking trade. Last year there were 4432 persons engaged in the trade, of whom 1849 received 7s 2d, or less, per week. _ Seven months' supply of water is yet available at Prospect reservoir, Sydney. The consumption - has been reduced from 20,000,000 gallons per day to 18.450.000, and it is hoped to bring it down to 16.000,000. The Goulburn (New South Wales) Progress Association has lodged a protest with the Minister for Instruction against the regulation compelling ladies to divulge their ages when joining classes at the Technical College. On Friday another " rise " in the Ruamahuuga River had the effect of washing away a further portion of land at the outfall of the Masterton drainage works. The roadway has been washed away, and the river has encroached on borough property. The captain of the British ship Argo, which lias arrived at Sydney, reports that shortly after leaving London the body of the cook was found hanging by the neck in the lazarette. The circumstances pointed to suicide. The body was buried at sea. A schnapper-fishing industry is about to be established at Crowdy Head, New South Wales, where in winter time the fish are very plentiful. In a few hours one day last week a party of 12 men caught 500 fish. The fish are to be sent to Sydney market. The Brisbane police were the other day engaged in investigating an alleged case of assault on a young girl at Albany Creek. The girl in question afterwards admitted that her story was a fabrication, which she invented to save herself from punishment for being out late. The annual report of the New South Wales Government Savings Bank shows that the balance at credit of depositors en December 31, was £6,647,289. The deposits during the year were £3,473.286, and interest £171,895. The withdrawawls amounted to £3.043,515. As showing the fertility of the soil, Mr. Charles Cooper has just dug 100 bags of sound table potatoes from half an acre of ground on his Townend farm, Gore, Otago. The varieties are Derwents, Up-to-date, and White Elephant, some of the last-named sort weighing over 21b each. Experiments hi rain-producing, made on the hill near National Park station, Sydney, last Saturday week, were so successful that the experiments will be continued. . Small balloons were filled with gas manufactured on the spot, and were sent up aud exploded when at about 200 ft in the air. There are on board the steamer Strathmore, which has just arrived at Adelaide from New York, two magnificent boars and 51 high-bred sheep, including Vermont merino rams, bred by Petit, Son. and Badger, valued at from £100 to £500 each. They are in capital condition. Only cne was lost on the voyage. At Campbellfield (Victoria), a farm labourer named Charles Tasman was very seriously injured when engaged pressing hay.', While holding the handle of the press the ratchet slipped, and the handle, torn from his hand, flew round and struck his head with great violence, fracturing the skull. He is in a critical condition. A plausible theory in regard, to "fishiness" in butter, has been advanced by a Palmerston North prominent dairyman. It is that the excessive amount of ijoiash in the bush lands is responsible for this great defect in flavour. He contends that as the land is cleared, ploughed, and sown in English grasses, the defect will disappear. The steamer New Guinea, which has arrived at Adelaide from Calcutta, has on board a fine adult ourang outang and its young one, both lively and interesting animals, and a great curiosity, made pets of by the sailors as a matter of course: also an alligator from Singapore, a remarkably well-nourished saurian, most beautifully marked. It is about 12ft long, and much more lively than these usually indolent creatures are.