NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13709, 27 March 1908, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF.

i:;'■--■■ :-■■•_', ' — « ■ ■■; Forkkic due from Sydney to-day. ' v. Monowai arrived from the South.' Whakarua arrived from London and Australia. ■ , Aberlour arrived from New York and the South..' -'.:"■ ' ,".■■.' The brandy distilling industry is to be started at Mudgee, New South Wales. A 100-acro crop of wheat at, Salter's Creek, South Australia, yielded 50" bushels to the acre. The champagne-making industry has been successfully established at the Minehinbury vineyard, Booty Hill, New South Wales. It is considered'that it will he necessary for Dunedin to spend about £5000 during the next year in gas main extensions in the suburbs. ;"';, The warehouse packers and storemen of Sydney are forming a trade union. Jt is said that the average pay is at present wily 25s a week, and the horn's very/long. Eels weighing over a ton were caught by a party of natives at the Wairarapa Lake one night last week. The lake had been opened, and the fish were caught on 'die mudflats. The New Zealand Post Office authorities nave been advised that the steamer Aeon, Df the Weir line, left San Francisco for the Dominion on the 17th hist., with 193 bags of mails. This is the driest autumn ever experienced in the Gmidagai district, New South Wales. Milk supplies have fallen by onehalf, and thousands of head of stock are being sent away for feed. The rat-catching staff employed by the Sydney Board of Health are still capturing infected rodents in the Darling Harbour area. It is therefore apparent that plague has not yet been stamped out of the metropolitan district. The largest cheque that has ever been sent out of the Dunedin Town Hall was signed' by the Mayor and Messrs. Steward and Small last week. It was for £314,400, being moneys required to meet debentures maturing in London on April 1. Strong pressure has been brought to Bear upon the Government with a view to securing the establishment of experimental farms in Canterbury and Ota-go. The matter has ieen under consideration for some time, and & decision may shortly be arrived at. .Bluff sea-beach debris is making a name in commerce. A quantity of it has just seen forwarded by rail to the order of a Northern city council, to be used for pathnaking purposes and ornamental walks. Its liKtinctive virtue is that it chokes off the growth of weeds.