TOPICAL TITBITS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1194, 18 January 1895, Page 11

TOPICAL TITBITS.

A telephone office is now open at Mangatoki, Wanganui district. The hours are from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Speaking at a meeting of the Royal Colonial Institute, Sir William Flower stated that he believed a good revenue would be derived from black whale fishing’ in Australian and New Zealand waters if an effectual close season was determined. A worm 10 inches long, a pleasant fellow to take down with a mouthful of water, came the other day through a tap from the Nelson water supply. A telephone office is to be opened at ClareviJle, Wairarapa. The Greytown Standard wants post office employees brought under ohe provisions of the Shops and Shop Assistants Act.

The London Daily Chronicle declares that the price realised for the Tasmanian loan indicates a sure recovery of colonial credit.

The two great drawbacks in the new Pahiatua Courthouse, says the Herald, are the accommodation provided for the press representatives and the public. “We possess a reputation earned by devotion to truth, and the practice of that virtue, and we are too proud of it to risk republishing anything from our contemporary,” is what the Napier Evening News has to say of the Hawke’s Bay Herald. “One of the gravest blots on the administration of the railways in this district by the Commissioners has been the persistent refusal to mete out justice to the white pine industry.” Palmerston Standard.

A man named Joseph Wilson has been sentenced at Marton to two months’ imprisonment for assaulting Robert Hunt, publican, and breaking furniture. The evidence of several witnesses went to prove that an altercation between Hunt and the accused resulted in a set-to, in the course of which Hunt got his fingers and thumb bitten.

Stone-throwing at night appears to be a favourite pastime in Wanganui. Two large stones alighting upon a roof caused a sudden relapse in the case of a poor woman suffering from heart complaint. The idea of holding a confeience of Chamber’s of Commerce iu Hobart has been abandoned, but the Hobart Chamber will hold a special meeting to discuss the question of the free interchange of the natural products of the colonies. The Government of Queensland has received a supply of Dr Roux’s anti-toxin diphtheria remedy. Owing to lack of support the Sumner Canal scheme has been abandoned for the present. On the subject of illicit distillation, the Woodville Examiner says:—Bush whisky is often talked of in a jocular way, but it has become a live reality, and in the Pahiatua County it is well known that a large still is in full operation. The product of this still is reported to be retailed both by licensed houses and slygrog shops. The police have had the matter in hand for some time, but the distiller is too ’cute for them. The drought has completely broken up at Coolgardie. • There are 10 blind people carrying on business for themselves in various parts of the Colony. A small boy narrowly escaped being run over at Palmerston North Railway Station on Friday while some shunting was going on. i The Napier larrikin has laid violent hands on some lifebuoys placed along the Parade, and has, says the News, .‘’amused the miserable thing which does duty for a soul in him ” by tangling the lines. I The official returns for Victoria show j that the imports of the colony for the j year were of the value of £12,470,000, a decrease of £813,000 on the previous year.

The exports were .£14,026,000, or an increase of .£718,000.

The Phoenix Jam and Biscuit Factory in Maclaggan street, Dunedin, was broken into last Tuesday night, and goods to the value of about £5 stolen.

A boy literally dancing tile; life out of an eel was one of the sights of Colombo street Christchurch, the other morning. It has been finally arranged that the Postal Conference shall meet at Hobart oh Ist February. A young man named George Henderson, charged with theft, and demanded for the report of the Probation Officer, attempted suicide on Sunday.at Dunedin. A new public hall at Marton will soon be ready for use. . The Sydney and Melbourne Chambers of Commerce have taken joint action m the direction of protesting against the new code vocabulary 'of the Eastern Extension Cable Company being made compulsory. Twenty-two of the' Gisborne unemployed have been despatched to road works at Motu. ,

The French operating against the Malagasys have captured a Hova cruiser. The next meeting of the Melrose Borough Council will be held on the 23rd instant, the regular meeting day falling on Anniversary Day.

The orchards of Central Otago have an area of 119 acres, and last year the growers received for their fruit in Dunedin the sum of <£3911 19s.

The present year promises to be a fruitful one as far as criminal cases at the Wellington Magistrate’s Court are concerned. The number dealt with up to yesterday was 104.

We cannot congratulate the Victorian Cabinet on the manner in which it has received the rejection of its Land Tax Bill by the Legislative Council. It means a most inglorious surrender to the selfish obstinacy of the Upper Chamber.—Lyttelton Times.