NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13191, 31 May 1906, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF.

«o The Tauranga- butter factory lias been; -'' ' closed for the season.

"-'■%-:.'">. ■-'~. >,; , Bittern* are plentiful on the Opihi Fiver | bed, Canterbury, this winter.. The-largest miniature-rifle range in Ausr,i . tralasia has ju*t been completed at Christie ' church. «-.»,, *•..-.. . An extension "of telephonic commrhnca- '.<■ ti-on. for Gordon,! Shaftesbury. Aratiatia, and Ma,nawaru has been authorised. :.;. A quantity of silver and brushware, evidently stolen, was foiled by gardeners h'• from a lake in the Carlton Gardens, Melbourne. , . • '["he wet weather lias had the effect of bringing the "ducks down'on the I\iake, P. .i.nd should it continue good sport will be piovidfeL -". '. ; ; * : -*: ~ . ■•" ,'H'? ; "- New' furnSaces are ceang erected at the ' ' English and Australian Copper Colay's wo.r>,3 at Waratah. and other extensive improvements are. being carried out. Tii,iloral prospects hr. Queensland are very promising. The lambing is expected to be prolific',-ac; the iivrease in the number of sheep t>.'« be shun. >« very large." On, one of the census 'papers collected, in Hawse's, Bay the .following appeared under fclW heading of poultry: —" JSo poultry, tij^pj!^i^.tl : two parrois, and thousands of > _...-fleas?*'-V ■ ..■-...... ■„,,,...!''",•"' •':■'. . ... '- f * Out" of- 60 odd '' State ■ schools in the Hawke's Bay ; district, only six competed for the pri?es offered'by ; the Hawke's Bay Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. , :; /- 1 The run known as "The Pinnacles,"about L 10 miles ..from Te Puke, on tlie-Kaituna River,, has, been sold by Messrs. Brown '.'- Brothers to Messrs. Kdkin ' and >lcKcilzie, successful Masterton . farmers. A feature of the census returns in the ;, Hawera district is the evidence they give f. of the'large, proportion-of Australians who during the past few years have found employment ib .the. milking industry. There are some splendid oat crops in the . Wakatipu (Southland) district this -year. Mr. W. Shaw's crop at ' Melviu's,' Lower (■':■ "hotover, will average," it is : said, over 90 ... bushels to the acre, while. several farmers :;•■; on the Crown. Terrace and Flat expect vields ■' of over 100 bushels to the acre. ' Now that tl,e settlers have practical'.y - threshed out on Waikakahi, it has been found (says the Oamaru Mail) that the returns, are by no means up to expectations.' The_ average yield on the settlement, about .50 bushels (wheat) to the acre, compares r. meet. unfavourably.with that,of last year - beting almost 20 bushels to the acre "less. Tltere have, however, been a- few satisfactory returns, the homestead block yielding ;/; -in one paddock 60 bushels, and in the other , " Ail bushels. ."•'•••