NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13648, 16 January 1908, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF.

Monowai from the South to-day. [:■ , Manapouri arrived irotn Westport; I' . ■ Manuka leaves Sydney for Auckland today. ■ [; Taviuhi due from the Eastern Pacific to-morrow. " There are now 70 or 80 boys at the Levin training farm. Some cases of typhoid have been notified on the banks of Rangitikei River, near Halcombe. '' ' A; large stingaree, measuring about 4ft, wan caught%t the Wanganui. Heads Wharf the .other morning. - j It has' been.estimated that"there are at ■ -V" least. 3000 less cattle in North Otago than .- there were previous to the late drought. A notice in last week's Gazette fixes the date for payment of the income tax for Friday, January 31. t". The walking craze has reached Eketahuna. Last Thursday ' two ladies walked from'. Eketahuna to Woodvifle, a distance of 27. miles. According to Dalgety's Review, the* Guernsey has come to stay in Australia. It "is. spoken of in- the highest terms wherever it has.been tried. iv, ; The Inglewood Oil and Prospecting Companya bore has now reached a depth of 500 ft, and the drill is proceeding through papa formation. J From April 1, 1007, to December 31, L '"■ 1907, the Ashburton County Council purchaser! the tails of 1020 rats at 3d each, v or £12 15s for the lot.

In future cigarette-makers, under the amended regulations of the Tobacco Act, "shall pay £1 for an annual warrant for every 100,000 cigarettes made by hand. A rather heavy mortality has occurred lately among calves in and about the , i, Maungakarainea district. Tin's is attribut- ':. Ed to the stock eating too much young . fern. The dead body of Hugh Lundy, five • - years of age, was fourld floating in the harbour off Milson's Point, Sydney. The deceased had been missing for several days. Whita fishing at the mouth of the Rakaia on Thursday, a party of Ashburton anglers succeeded in landing a fair number of fish, the heaviest of which turned the scales at over 131b, The register ot medical practitioners in New Zealand appears in the Gazette this week, and occupies 21 £ pages of type. The ' . list of registered dontists also appears, and takes up 17£ pages. West, the winner- of the £150 chop at the recent axemen's carnival at Eltham, is 19 years of age, and hails from Dannevirke. , - The timber used cost the association £77, and, was sold for £5 2s 6d. . As evidence, of the extreme dryness of ; the season it is interesting to note that the Horowhcnua Lake, at Levin, is lower than •it has ever before been. Owing to this fact the boateheds have had to be >'■■}. . dosed. w / The Supreme Court at Palmerston received 13 petitions for dissolution of mar- . riage duringulast year, eight decrees being issued. Four petitions for restitution of conjugal rights were granted, and one 'a. "was, refused. The Gazette contains the announcement

of the appointment of Messrs. John Strau- ' S ehon, D. Barron, the Hon. G. F. Richard:'a''*- son, and Mr. P. E. Cheal to constitute the Surveyors' Board. The two firstoamcd were appointed by the Government. ,A big meeting of Maoris will' be held at Karatia, on the Wanganin River, tomorrow, when the allocation of the land /' in the Ohoiu Block reserved for papakainga3' will be considered. Judge T. W. Fisher,' Under-Secretary of Native Af- '-„' fairs, will attend. , : ; , : According to ' Mr. Clement' Wragge, the present season is the commencement of an--7 other drought cycle, and until 1912 Austra- • lia is to,haye a.severe time of it. If credence' is given to' Mr. Wragge's prediction |t r should prove a valuable guide to New ';'."• « Zealand farmers. • 1-/-/ -When explaining the conditions of the terms of the lease in connection with the sale of the Trocadero, says the Hastings •''<' Standard, the auctioneer made it clearly understood that any Chinese purchasing. the lease would have to pay an additional rent of, 10s per week. A Cromwell visitor to Oamaru during ' . the holidays states that there was an enormous- amount of drink about the town auiring the time he was there, and it was v reported that a Dunedin browing firm had ' sent about 1000 Email casks, of five gallons i*);:■'■;._ each, to the place just before Christmas. In Marlborough the rain came too late for very many of the pea crops, 'as out of EOOO acres jn the district this year not 10 j,er cent, will he really worth pulling. Round about Blind River, too, the barley I" 'Is beyond salvation, being stunted and fe:'" 'ihrivellcd. , Dr. T. M. Hot-ken,' of Dunedin, in a let- ',',■■' 'ter to a friend in Christ-church, states that ie is writing for publication the "Life and Journals" of the Rev. Samuel Marsden, the ;,': -first, chaplain of Australia, and the first ' clergyman who preached the Gospel in New EeaJead. Dr. xlocken says that the jour|f §iS^fe|l«' : have special interest, ■ and throw much /light on very early New Zealand. ...