NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12281, 27 May 1903, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF.

Hxrald Summary. V Zealandia left for Sydney. " v Westralia left for the South. 'Frisco mail leaves on Friday. The Hauroto is due from the Islands on , of-Maungatua (Otago) has a wallflower 42m in diameter growing in he A g toe ei stamp of a draught gelding was sold in Wyndham las* week at. the handsome price of £54. . The Eketahuna Public Library Committee intends soliciting a grant from Mr. Carnegie for building purposes. Public salt water baths are to be erected at Sandy Bay, Lyttelton Harbour. Prison labour will probably bo employed. Whooping cough has played havoc with the attendance of the infants' department of the Napier district school of late. _ During the recent scarlatina outbreak at Rosa the galea of tho houses in which " cases" were confined were marked with ft large red cross by the health officer. The West Coast Times says:—A bit of mild excitement has been caused among local milk-sellers by the dairy inspector's order that the antiquated system of de- ' livery in bottles be discontinued. The Waimate Witness says there is a native living near Manaia who is known to be over 105 years old. His name is Tiki te po Mua, and he says he can remember Captain Cook's visit in 1770. Milking 90 cows night and morning, for three weeks, is the record put up recently by two Waimate young ladies and their brother. And the milk from this farm j usually arrived first at the factory, too. The Westport Times learns that Mr. Ronavne, General Manager of Railways, says that the Westport section of railway is* the best worked in the colony, and that the rolling-stock is in better order than that in any other section. The boiler in a steam punt at Nelligen, New South Wales, blew out the other day, and shot a lot of timber into the air. Three men, who were on board, dived into the water, and escaped injury from the timber in its descent. • The friendly societies at Dannevirke are interesting themselves in raising funds for the Waikawa District Hospital. The churches have been asked to take up special offerings, and the Dannevirke band is to give performances. The Out-trim Miners' Union Brass Band walked to Melbourne, a distance of 75 miles, in order to head the coahniners' procession on Eight Hours' Day. Owing to the colliers' strike there were no funds to pay train fares. A Picton candidate for the teaching profession, a girl, walked eight miles daily to the school there for three years. She has served as a probationer during the whole of that period. If grit has anything to do with the matter she deserves promotion. Threshing mills are very busy just now (savs the taieri Advocate), and fanners are making good use of the present fair weather. There are some fields of stooks out yet in the lower end of the plain, but most of the grain crops are safely in stack or threshed. During the past year the Geraldine Road Board expended £121 4s lid in the destruction of small birds. This is similar to the amount spent in'l9ol. Still, there has been very much les spent in eggs and heads. The general results in dealing with this nuisance are very unsatisfactory. A party of Eketahuna .men recently captured 50 rabbits in a few hours in the vicinity of the Ruamahunga River. The Eketahuna Express is afraid that with a new bridge over the Ruamahunga River, the Eketahuna district, which is now practically clear of rabbits, will be overrun with the pest. A new outlet for the sale of Hew Zea-land-bred sheep has been found in the Falkland Islands. Recently a shipment of 250 New Zealand-bred rams was sent there, and they were landed in excellent condition. The success of this shipment has (says the Poverty Bay Herald) already Kecured other orders for the colony. While an elderly man, named William Brookes, was engaged shunting railway trucks at Morpeth, New South Wales, he was caught between and severely crushed by the buffers. When released from between the buffers, Brookes' lifeless body fell into the arms of a bystander. Dedeased was formerly an alderman of the borough. A farmer at Ngaire recently killed two pigs, seven months old, weighing respectively 1951b and 2081b. They put on within a fraction of 291b per month, and the only food they got was skim-milk from a .creamery. The selling price of pork is 4sd per ib, therefore, calculates the Eltham Argus, the pigs returned the sum of £7 19s 6d. The breed of the pigs was Berkshire. Wages appear to be rising all round in West Australia. The Chamber of Mines there has been complaining that " universal suffrage has enabled the workers and their anions to obtain almost paramount power, and the manner in which this power has been exercised shows an almost total disregard of the laws of political economy."