NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12400, 13 October 1903, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF.

Labottb Dat to-morrow. Zcalandia sailed -for Sydney. ' _ Westralia due from Sydney this morning. . A porpoise weighing 4031b was caught in a fisherman's net at Day's Bay (Wellington) last week. _ At present there are 28,432 acres of Crown lartcls available for selection in the Canterbury land district.. A feature of the Gore Cycling Club's sports meeting on the 21st inst. will be a race between a motor cyclist and a motor car. The'tf.s, Zealandia took to Sydney yesterday !11 bars of bullion, valued at £9100, shipped by the Waihi Gold Mining Company. Wanganui labour agencies report an unsatisfied demand for general domestics and farm labourers. The latter especially are very scarce. About a ton of butter per day is now being turned out at the Eketahuua dairy factory. As the season advances, this quantity will be greatly increased. It is probable that in each of the stenl- ' isin<- plants to be erected by the Government a revolving digester will be used, so that ground bones may be thoroughly treated. . —- A list of houses containing cases of infectious disease is now being kept at the Christchurch Public Library, and no books -! are issued to persons living in any such houses. "' Mumps are prevalent m Masterton, and the epidemic is affecting the attendance at the Masterton District High School. La grippe is also much in evidence at the present time. ; ; The quantity of hemp graded at the port of Wellington last month was 5882 bales, weighing 1181 tons. In the previous month the quantity graded was 4628 bales, weighing 930 tons. • mi One of the best trout streams in Paranoia . is the Waiaiia, near Opunake, which literally teems with fish. Mr. W. J. W. Eeid, made ' a capital basket the other evening, catching 15 nice fish, grossing 321b, in an hour and a-h«-lf - „ „ v , In 1854 the first Methodist Sunday-school official report made in Christchttrch was .submitted by the Rev. J. Aldred. There was a school'of four teachers and 20 scholars. To-day there are 263 teachers and 2600 scholars in the circuit. _ ;V As the tenders received by the Government for the construction of the railway station in Dunedin are all too high, the lowest being £5000 above the estimate, it is probable that the work will be carried out by day labour and the original design ad- ;': hered to. ■ . , It was decided by the Auckland Hospital Board yesterday, on the written suggestion of the lady superintendent, to thank Mr. John F. Sheridan, of the Comedy Company, and Mr. Alfred Woods, of the Woods- ' Williamson Company, for the kind invitations to the nurses to visit His Majesty's Theatre and the Opera House last week. Some of the men engaged in the construction work at Mangaweka viaduct got rather , . a shock the other day. They were " cele- '■■ brating" the placing in position of the last girder, which was hardly done before about '■ . ■ 15 or 20 men received bits of paper notifying that their services would be no longer re- \ quired. Needless to say their time was soon changed. • ~".■-", . The following is the state of His Majesty s Prison. Auckland, for the week ending October 10:—On remand. 4 males; awaiting trial,:-15 males, 2 females' penal servitude for life, 2 males; hard labour, 162 males, 21 females; default of bail, 1 male; received during the week, 14 males, 5 females ;_ discharged, 21 males, 3 females: total in prison, 184 males, 23 females. Says the Oamaru Mail:—ln one paddock on the Totara estate there are 18 stud Border Leicester ewes, and these 18 ewes have proved most extraordinarily prolific, for they have dropped and are still maintaining no less than 57 lambs, all the ewes having dropped more than the usual quota. '"--■- Fifteen of them dropped three lambs each, and the remaining three four each. ■