NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 12550, 18 April 1904, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF.

i Mimiko left for Loudon. !'. ' ;. '. ■' ::,-i- ---' Tarawera left for the South. Waikare arrived from Sydney. Mararoa for Sydney this evening. Taviuni for the Easter Pacific to-morrow.

At Yeppoon (Q.) an old man named Chas. .Westmoreland has died from snakebite. About 40 people have arranged to leave South Australia for Zion city in May next. 01 60,372 kanakas imported into Queensland 37,756 have been returned to their homes.' " r , ' '■' " •

Tile Tasmanian revenue returns for March totalled £76,896, being an increase of £6400 ever the previous month. •■■-.■ During the quarter ending March 31 there were 22 cases of suicids in Sydney, as against 15 for the preceding three months. Very little wheat is being received at Sydney at the present time. Farmers are evidently holding back for higher prices. Two Victorian " spielers " have been connoted at Hobart and sentenced for obtaining money by means of the confidence trick. - ■Another of the victims of the Mount Kembla mining disaster died on April 7, after 18 months' suffering. The death roll now stands at 100.

A smoke concert isi to be tendered at Christchurch to the men employed on the Antarctic ship Discover}' and relief ships, and a dinner to the officers.

• The Queensland Treasurer, in a letter to the Chamber of .. Commerce, projected a scheme for the continuation of work on the harbour improvements at the port of Brisbane. ji ■■■. ■' .

While the Mayor of Wanganui (Mr. Ha trick) is in England, lie will make inquiries regardng the advisableness of procuring motor cars for a municipal service for the town of Wanganui. •

Au Eketalnma fanner received a pleasant surprise the other day. He had a line of sheep for sale, and put a reserve of 6s 6d on them, but at the sale a South Island buyer started bidding for them at 9s.

The South Canterbury Acclimatisation Society, in view of the fact that the opening of the shooting season this year occurs on a Sunday, is taking steps to induce, the Governor to niter the date by proclamation to the following day. During i presentation ceremony at the Wellington Education Board's Buildings on Friday last, Mr. Arthur Dorset stated that during his term of office as secretary nearly a million and a-half of money had passed through his bauds. >. - ■ .."'. - The expenses in connection with the Ureter? Commission totalled £6138, of which the costs of survey amounted to £4243. the allowances and expenses of European Commissioners £850. and the payments to native Commissioners £150. , "

,-' ; Mr. T. Leach, Rangiora, recently harvested * 10-acre crop of beans, which (a local paper state) grew to a height of 9ft. The yield is estimated at 60 bushels to the acre. The land on which the beans grew was reclaimed swamp, from which flax producing 80 tons to the acre was cut. The members of the Auckland Camera Club have elected officers for the coming year as under: " Patron, Sit J. L. . Campbell; president, Mr. E. W. -Payton: vice-presi-dents. Messrs. P. Wright. M. Trenwith, J. Martin, and, Dr. Purchas: committee, Messrs Frith, Dillicar, Graham, and Potte,>; -'•-:' - ■'''-.''.; ";- : -. The Launeeston Board of Agriculture has carried a resolution recommending the Government to communicate with the Governments of the other States with reference to a joint offer of £50.000 or £100.000 for a practical cure of rust in wheat,. the modus operandi to come within the reach of farmers. - The inspector of stock at Nelson recently observed a number of rabbits exposed for sale in the town, and he at once notified the local press that all the back country, from •whence the rabbits came, was being systematically and simultaneously poisoned, and that there was j a considerable risk in using them for food. , X . ~ i-i Two Christchurch ladies lost a purs* in «ne of the city refreshment rooms last week, and they promptly applied for the aid of the police in its recovery. Later the purse was discovered caught in the fork made by the sloping legs of the table at which they had been; sitting, it having apparently slipped off the knee of its owner. \ '