NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12817, 17 March 1905, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF.

St. Patrick's Day. •, .* Tarawera arrived from the South. Mokoia due from Sydney 011 Sunday. The local banks will be closed to-day. Taviuni due from the Eastern Pacific. v Wbakatane due from England and Australia on M'onday. ? Star of New Zealand for London, via the South, to-morrow. •A section of land in - a back street at Mangaweka, Wellington, la.it week sold for £200. During the month of February 559 persons called at the Christ-church agency of the Tourist Department. The 13,000 sheep sold on the opening day at the Otakaike (North Ota go) sale realised £14,000. an average of £1 2s IHd per head. No less than 300 men and 28 women were arraigned at the Magistrate s Court, Christchurch, last year for riding bicycles on footpaths. The barque Invergary, which arrived at Wellington from Liverpool last week, sailed 287 miles in one day, and for nine days averaged 250 miles. The Waikaraka Cemetery at Oitehunga is rapidly filling with graves. During the present week, including yesterday, the sexton received orders for no less than nine interments. A Wellington "firm has been advised from its London and Calcutta houses that the Russian and Indian linseed crops have this vear been a failure, and that very high prices are ruling. "There is something essentially pagan and unwholesome in the pessimism that characterises .most" of Australian 'poetry," says Inspector Strachan, of the .Marlborough Education Board. A lad 13 years of age, who has not passed a single standard, and hardly knows his alphabet, was before the Dune din Court recently in a truancy case. -he inspector described it as tho" most shameful case he Las ever heard of. A thunderbolt is reported to have struck a mob of sheep at Blueclitfe, Canterbury, recently, while they were sheltering under" a fence", killing nine ewes and a number of lamb:;. The ground near was badly torn up. ■ The potato blight, which has affected a number of the crops in this district (says the West Coast- Times), promises to prove not to be an unmixed trouble, as the blight is now attacking the gor.se and blackberry growth, which was threatening several of the farms.

It was reported in town on Monday (says the Dannevirke Advocate) that the passengers by the express from Napier had a £sj" somewhat alarming experience, owing to y l -,:: the speed at which the train came down the Matainau. incline. The Westingliouse „ brake was unworkable, and the train had to ■ depend on the ordinary brakes. The pas■V sengers received a,' considerable scare. A sensational accident happened to a train 'oil Hearing Nathalia station, Victoria, the - other day. A bull, which was standing on an open crossing, charged the engine, with the result that several trucks were derailed and badly damaged. Considerable damage was also done to the permanent way. I cvtunatelv the engine kept 011. the rails. Ibe bull was cut in two. At a health lecture jn Wanganui, Dr. Greenwood showed in an interesting and conclusive manner that the root of most human ills is defective teeth. Perfectly chewed food is the basis of a healthy body, and far more attention should be paid to lite teeth, especially the grinders. . He advised parents to take their children regularly to a dentist, which was as important as their education. That.the young colonial is not deficient jn resource was proved at the High School Cadet camp (says the Manawatu Standard). Several cadets were sent out with orders to try to evade the sentries and enter the camp. One boy ]>osted home with all 'speed, attired himself in some of his sister's skirts, concealed his rifle, duly returned, and was passed in by the sentries without question. The South Australian Commissioner of Police has received a telegram from Gib'j son's Camp, on the Tarcoola track, stating that the dead body of a man named Frank Nankervis had been found about six miles S";} from Oakden Hills station. Deceased, who had' relatives at Kadina, evidently perished vv. from .want of water. There were no marks gy of violence on the body, which had been dead about a fortnight. js' At. Sevenake (N.S.W.) a farmer named McHenry, recently lost four draught horses, valued tit- £160, through eating wheat. It appears that Mr. McHenry when returning home from*Berrigan after delivering a load of wheat had camped on the road. During tho night the horses strayed away from camp, and met with a waggon laden with wheal; with no one in charge. They partook freely of the grain, and- four of them died. At Lithgow, New South Wales, three men named Orchard were engaged in cutting timber, and were felling a tree of fair size, which in coming down struck a leaning tree and rebounded. George Orchard, in endeavouring to get out of the way fell, and the end of the tree caught him, crushing his chest in. When extricated he was bleeding at the mouth, and died almost immediately. He was a single man, 42 y "ars of t age." The Waimea correspondent of the Nelson Colonist states that the hop crop has improved • wonderfully during the last month, £2 and in many gardens it. will be well up to the average, though on the whole there will be a shortage. The California!* variety is ~ (showing up well everywhere, and other ./ '* varieties are in tip-top condition for picking. SyY Owing to the entire absence of wind:, during ? the season samples are likely to equal any- , : thing ; yet shown in the district. Picking in VZthe' country gardens was expected to become general this week..