NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13722, 11 April 1908, Page 8

NEWS IN BRIEF.

Talttne from West-port. \ ' »- Monowai sails to-day for South. fS'Sv Orange Branch rived from Sydney. :'v ■« Manapouri from Tahiti and Rarotonga. Adelaide- people wish arrangements to ■; •be made for the. American fleet to visit Spencer's Gulf. The drought in the Gundagai district % {N.S.W.) is said to be- the worst- experienced there for 50 years. The-average annual production of oysters in -New South Wales during the past five years has been 17.000,000. \ . . The guns mounted at the forts at Al- ','% bany (W. A.) are obsolete, and are to be replaced by modern weapons. ■. An . albatross measuring 12ft from wing to wing', \ was picked up in a -Featherston ,-.. butcher's. yard the,other day. rs-' - It is expected that the 'Earl" of Dudley, - \ the new Governor-Genera', of the Common-;..-wealth, will land first in Sydney, where ■ . he will be met by Lord Northcote. •'.. : ; As the result of the visit of an agent of a Queensland land and estate firm to v< . Mibsterton a number of farmers intend to , make up a party to visit the northern ii.us- , .; tralian State in June for the purpose of - inspecting lands available for purchase. ~,The Eketabuna. Express states that a cupful of ■ grass ; seed was taken from the crops of a couple of quail killed at Newman i - recently. As the grass seed' is scattered over burnt areas of land, it is greedily ;; picked up by Califomi an quail and other r *» '■■"- small birds." Nearing the. end! It is stated (saye •; .Wednesday's Waimarino Call) that no more ;* men will be engaged on the line works in *";. -the vicinity of Ohakune, and as numbers of ;"'■•" men will be leaving, owing to wet weather, the ranks of the "co-ope." will greatly dwindle during the next few months. ; : ., The manufacture:" of coal briquettes at ;; the Government works at. Westport is *": being carried on: by two out of the four anacbines installed last year. The output is 400 tons > per week. Most- of the bri- ' quettes are taken by the Railway Depart- ~ ment. ; The Department hopes at no dis- ; tant date that it will be- in a position to employ all the briquette-making plant.