NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12229, 26 March 1903, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF.

Moura left for Fiji. Taviuni left for the Islands. San Francisco mail leaves to-morrow. Electoral Commission resumes its sittings During last year 3.000,000 ft of timber was exported from the Clarence River to New Zealand. ~ , ~. Sir William Lvne expects the report of the Federal Capital Commissioners to reach him some time in May. . . Thomas Leigh was drawn into a machine at Andrews' bedding factory, Surry Hills, New South Wales, and killed instantly. Mr Alexander Borthwick Murray, one of the most successful sheepbreeders in South Australia, died recently at the age of 87. V railway employee named Robert Jordan had one of "his legs* cut off by a track during shunting operations at Kiama, New South Wales, recently. There has been a splendid growth of grass at Corowa, New South Wales, since the rains, and good winter feed for stock is practically assured. The damage at Lower Burdekm (Queensland), as a result of the cyclone, is estimated lit £40,000. There is scarcely a house left at Brandon and Pioneer. The Tarauaki Acclimatisation Society have decided, on account of the bad season experienced by anglers, to extend the fishing season to the end of April. During the cyclone the roof of a sugar mill at Pioneer (Queensland) _ crashed down amongst'the machinery. There were several miraculous escapes from death. There must be a fair number of shorthand clerks and typists in the colony. Thirtyeight applied for a position on the staff of the North Canterbury Education Board The Grey River Argus says that a party of four Chinmen" from the Maori Gully district sold a block of greenstone weighing four tons to the National Bank for £223. At the Pahiatua S.M. Court last week two lads were fined £4 19s and £5 9s respectively, in default fourteen days' imprisonment, for cutting a horse's mane and tail. The New South Wales State Treasurer said recently, that owing to the drought and the state of the English money market, the Government has had a time of unexampled difficulty. The Victorian Government ■ declined to carry over its lines at reduced rates the wheat which the New South Wales Government is sending to Moama and Deniliquin, via Melbourne.

One of the leading business men in Dannevirke estimates that during the'week before last at least £1200 was spent, in amusements by residents of that town, the population of which probably does not exceed 2500.

A daughter of Mi'. Forward, of Makotuku, had a very nasty experience last week. She was in a paddock when she was rushed by a cow and was tossed and mauled severely before she escaped. One of her arms was rather severely injured. In his address the president of the New South Wales Engineering Association (Mr. Rae) said that New South Wales', with its supplies of coal, iron, and other minerals, was destined to become the principal manufacturing State of the Commonwealth. The mourners and functionaries who had to do with a funeral which took place at the Northern Cemetery, Dunedin, on a. recentSunday, found at the last moment, to their bewilderment and annoyance, that the grave had not been dug. There was nothing for it but to adjourn for a while until the gravedigger had performed the task. Last week the Dunedin Corporation, as owners of the tramways, prosecuted a conductor who was charged with stealing a ticket, valued 2d. It was alleged that the defendant-gave a passenger a previously-used ticket, thus defrauding the Corporation of the fare. The magistrate held there was an absence of proof that the ticket was the property of the Corporation, and dismissed the case.

Another argument in favour of electric trams has been brought from Sydney by Mr. Nairn, of Christ-church. He says that in the New South' Wales capital they have greatly relieved the congested state of traffic in the streets. The introduction of the penny-section system has induced many people who used to walk to ride now over a short distance. The rapidity with which the electric cars run lias brought the suburbs within much easier reach, and this has relieved the congestion in the city.