NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 12524, 17 March 1904, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF.

St. PJudbiok's Day. : '; : >' - Trisco. mail. leaves to-morrow, ■.' -': - Tarawa from the South this' morning. The Government offices will be closed today, • • i A start has been made with the municipal drainage works .at Elthain. The Christchurch ' Beautifying Association has a credit balance of £166. ■ The Ingjewood bacon factory has an* aounced a reduction of pigs to 3}d per lb. As the result of recent warm rains mushrooms are plentiful in many parts of Hawke's Bav. ' ■ , / At the Hawera Court last week a settler was fined £3 and costs for failing to clear ragwort from his land. • - Some 80,0001b of butter were turned out of the North Otago Dairy Company's factory for the month of February. The Hawke's Bay Agricultural and Pastoral Association has - decided that a general reduction of its prizes is not desirable. .A It is stated by the Poverty Bay Herald that a large proportion of the Maoris on, Nnhaka, on the East Coast, are Mormons. The ' Public Health Department reports that there were three new cases of scarlet lever in Wellington last week, and four new cases of enteric. . Figures given by the Premier snow that ! the imports of Invercargill increased from £219,4 a& in 1893 to £292,683 in 1903, and the exports from £681,023 to £814,654. During a receat heavy flood in one of the West Coast rivers a dredgemaster and four of his crew were practically imprisoned en board the dredge for 24 hours without - food. .-...- . ■ ' . ' ;■- .. '■ ~ The Bruce Herald reports that as a result oi the recent floods many hundreds of rounds' worth of grain sheaves have been cast up on the banks of the Tokomamro River. , , ~ li ■ The Argyll Estate, Hawke's Bay, recently purchased by the Government, has been invaded by a STWrt cloud of flying ante, which will, it is feared, do great damage to the vegetation. . „ -■" ,-,. There is a woman m Pongaroa (Daunevirke) district who milks 15 cows night and mbrains, harnesses her horses, and takes the ■ milk to the factory, while her husband follows some other avocation. ..... . j It is, stated that as a result ©• the recent j agitation "for a reduction in fire insurance ; rates in New Plymouth will be raised from j a C and D status to B and C, meaning a | ' * reduction in rates of from 2s 6d to 3s per j i£ICU ~ Bluff fishermen, following the occupation of oyster dredging in Foveaux Strait, state j - that during the past few. days they have ! ; noticed acres of oat sheaves and numbers of j dead sheep floating'about on the surface of. ' :: the sea. • • ■ ■ : .\:, ... _ , . : The Hawke's Bay Education Board has under ■ consideration the question of entering into arrangements ; whereby country ; , ~ ' teachers repair their own residences instead of allowing them to get into a great state of disrepair. . , A modest lawyer was discovered awe Supreme Court- this session (savs New ; Plymouth paper). - He only applied, for £2 j "costs, whereas he could have got £s'ss—bat he nev.}i- found out his mistake till las ■. . application had been granted. j It is (savs the Napier Daily Telegraph) j over 30 years since Wairoa had a visit from : the Governor of the colony, Sir George j Grey having , passed , through there once. | Naturally great interest is being taken . in. the present visit of Lord Ranfurly. ■ The Turakina took 3014 boxes of butter from . Lyttelton 'for London on: Thursday . - last The consignment was made:up as | follows From Canterbury, 1627 boxes; , : from Otago, 975 boxes ; and from Southland, | 412 boxes. The vessel also took 130 cases of Canterbury cheese. ; iiiS'i^'''' ; ""' " ,; === •"'•' : yy :: - • • PERSONAL ITKiUR. ■ . l&acHßisHor Redwood is at present on r, i visit, to Westland. •> Mr. n P. Norton leaves tor San iran- : Cisco by the mail steamer Ventura to-mor-roT*' - - " " ~ . t . - -> Dr Marks, of Duaedrn, is at present on j '' & visit to Wellington. He will remain m ! ■ *,he city for. about a week. Miss Milly HeywQod, well known here in . ausical circles, has. left for Wellington to Join the Turakina, en route for London, to pursue her musical studies •at the Royal ' Academy. '•'■ * , '. , . Sir Donald and Lady Robertson, who have been touring the South Island, returned to Wellington by the Mararoa on Monday List. They leave for London by the lonic at the (sad of the month. • Mr. S. H. Jenkinson, of the Melbourne .Argus, who is assuming the position of -'•-.' general manager of the New Zealand Times ; Company^' arrived- at .Wellington by the Warrimoo yesterday. Mr. G. L. Stewart, chairman of the Dunedin Stock Exchange, who has been ap- , pointed to the secretaryship of the Wellington Education Board, vice Mr. Arthur Dor- : set, resigned, has been succeeded in Dunedin : by Mr. 5. W. Harvey, a former secretary of '• ; the Exchange. ; ...".; '■-■ ■„',. - ■ ;'. :.'•.;."■ „■, ; Mr.' W. J.; Culver, general secretary of the, Liberal and Labour Federation, is < touring - the South Island. New branches of the Federation have been established at Christ- ' church, Timaru, Lyttclton, and other places. Mr. Culver is somewhat indisposed, and is resting at Timaru. ' Mr. James McLaren, formerly of the ' Thames, who is receiving £1000.a year as geologist';iii' the service of the Indian Government, has declined the offer to return to New Zealand and succeed Sir James Sector as geologist for the colony at a salary of £600 a year. The '■ Government is "■' mow inviting applications for the position. Mr. R. A. Warden, auditor of the Commercial Banking Company, Sydney, was a passenger by the Warrimoo. which arrived at Wellington yesterday. ". He is on a short business visit to Wellington. ' Mr. Warden is an enthusiastic sportsman, and is partiv cularly interested in 'fish culture, having ■taken an active interest in the stocking of the New South Wales streams with trout. • Mr. F. Adams, general manager of the . Australian Joint Stock Bank, Sydney, was a, passenger to the colony by the Warrimoo, which reached Wellington yesterday. Mr. Adams, who is accompanied by Mrs. and Miss Adams, proposes to spend about a month in the colony visiting the. thermal district in the North, and seeing the beauties of the West Coast coach route via the -Otira Gorge. The Rev. H. H. Lawry,' of Carlton Gore Road, Auckland, landed in Auckland on St. Patrick's . Bay, 1844, the date of the laying of the foundation stone of St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Cathedral. To-day is, therefore, the 60fcb anniversary of the arrival, of the oldest Wesleyan missionary in tie colony. Mi. Lawry was carried ashore SS from the ship's boat, and landed on a reef of rocks near the old railway station, notfar from where the freezing works now ■:.:>■■ stand. Mrs. Hendre, matron of tho Costley . Training Institution, is about to take an extended holiday, and will leave Auckland fey the mail steamer Ventura, for San Francisco to-morrow. In a letter to Mrs. Hen- :; dre, the ' trustees of the institution express ; regret that her health has been somewhat j unsatisfactory of late, and conclude as fol-lows:—-"The trustees hope you may have a very enjoyable trip, and come back tho- | roughly recuperated to again take up the " duties of the position which you have filled with so much zeal and ability during the i past six years." Mr. Miles Doyle, who for some time past has been engaged at Thames as foreman for the Goldfields Diamond Drilling Company, - but who, is about to leave Thames, was on Tuesday evening the recipient of a handsome present from the friends he has made, during his sojourn at Thames. A number of gentlemen assembled at his residence to bid him farewell, and during the evening - they pre--1 sented him, through Mr. James Ganstine, ';■.'■-■" with a ; valuable set of ivory-handled carvers, enclosed in » morocco case, and also with a gold-mounted oocket knife, as a mark, of esteem and friendship. ' >Mr Daniel Neilson, of Onehunga, celebrated his 72nd birthday; on Tuesday, being kale and hearty. : During the day Mr. ;■;§Neil^on r received a large number of cables, telegrams, and letters from friends in New Zealand and other colonies, congratulating him., on the attainment.of his 75th birthday, and also wishing him many happy re- | :turn* of the same. v At the close of the I day's work Mr. Neilson's employees presented him with a gold-mounted cigarholder, with amber mouthpiece, and a box of cigars. He intends to take f - trip to , . Sydney, next week. The present bore the inscription, "To Mr. D. Neilson, from t Sydney next week. The present bore the inscription, "To Mr. D. Neilson, from ':. *His,:Boys. , .''7