NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 13055, 21 December 1905, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF.

..i •—— : —- iNBRAiEMA for London to-morrow. - . Taviuni due from the Eastern Pacific. Talune due from the South to-night., ■ Visitors crowding into the city for the Jr§;;4 holidays. .•:.'..'■_.- ..■■-, ...■-... i. The Mokoia left Sydney for Auckland yesterday. It is proposed to start a motor 'bus service between Hamilton and Frankton. The Hobart Marine Board lias under consideration proposals for equipping the principal lighthouses with wireless. telegraphy ' apparatus for signalling passing vessels. ' , ' According to figures complied by , Mr. W. IJ. Hall, Acting-Government Statistician, the interstate export of New South Wales ' • biscuits has increased from £4000 in,1899 to £35,000 in 1904. • Although about 800.rats are being examined every, week at the laboratory in Sydney, the president of the Board of Health states that no plague rats have been found since November 20. '

Farmers (says the Ashburton Guardian) are complaining of the scarcity of shearers just now. Mount. Peel Station has only 13 working out of the 28 required. Orari Gorge Station also has only about half the necessary, number.

. The Sydney branch of the Royal Mint has , received* .789'3730z of fine gold, valued at , £3,356.363 during the first 11 months of the current year. There have been issued 2,530,000 sovereigns and bullion to the value of £707,177. The imports of gold into New South ' Wales last month amounted to £413,864, .'.-■'■!'■'■■' while the export® were limited to £215,877. During the first 11 months of this year the gold imports have reached £4,143,786, while the exports have been £2,390,093. A return laid on the table of the Victorian Legislative Assembly showed that there were 1208 -permanent- employees in the Railway Department over 21, years of age receiving ;- less ' than 7s - per day, and 916 casual employees over; 21 receiving less than 75. ;; ,

The West Australian Government is being ' urged to encourage the dairying industry. The State's butter bill is put down at £1000 a day, nearly all of which passes to dairymen "in other States. It is said that a con- : siderable area of the coastal country is suited for milk production. .'■ ; ; ;