TOPICAL TITBITS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1204, 29 March 1895, Page 19

TOPICAL TITBITS.

The Borough Council of Palmerston North has decided to recommend to the Minister of Lands that the new name for the borough shall be " Manawatu." The Minister of Lands is to be petitioned by the Palmerston North Borough Council to reserve for the borough the southern portion of the forest reserve in the vicinity of the Kahuterawa stream ; and Mr Pirani is to be asked to use his best endeavours in that direction. A Southern paper states that a man suffering from cancer in the face was cured by fig poultices. The milk in which the figs were boiled was drunk by the patient. Mr J. W. Walker's boring apparatus at "Waihi is now under the charge of Mr Waddell, who was for many years engaged in similar work in Victoria. A man must be downright bad when he will set fire to the grass sown by struggling farmers beginning life on a village settlement. That was done down Ashburton way a few days ago* and a lot of damage was caused. The Newfoundland Government wants Canada to bore a tunnel under the Strait of Belle Isle, between Newfoundland and the Labrador coast, before the proposed union with the Dominion. Commercial correspondents of the London Times report that trade is mending in the United States and confidence increasing. A Spanish warship has sunk an American sloop which was running arms into Cuba.

A surveyor of the West Coast has, we hear, promised to go out and report upon the possibility of taking a road over the Tararua ranges from Eketahuna to Shannon on the payment of the bare costs of the expedition.—Masterton Star. As the Tainui was being moored alongside No. 7 wharf at Lyttelton, she came with considerable force stern on to the wharf, and some plates were marked and two started. The Sydney ship Wolverine, formerly a warship on the Australian station, has put into Rangitoto Channel in distress. A conference at Christchurch last week promoted by the Progressive Liberal Association carried a resolution declaring the present system of party government objectionable, and generally supporting Major Steward's Elective Executive Bill.

Gisborne breakwater is in a serious coil 1 dition.

The next meeting of the 1.0.0. F. Grand Lodge is to be held in Palmerston North. The typhoid scourge is decreasing at; Coolgardie, and the alarm regarding the health of the town is subsiding. A rumour that the South Australian Government intended to issue .£500,000 worth of Treasury bills is officially denied. A cable message from Hobart says that a discovery of diamonds has been made in Donaldson's hydraulic claim. ' The Dunstan Times reports that a Chinaman cradling at Doctor's Point, below Alexandra, struck a rich patch in a crevice of a rock, and for three days' work obtained the handsome return of lOOoz. The Mormon elders and Mormon bishop in the Bay of Islands are said to have baptised and created two Maori priests. Over 150 Natives from various parts, including Hawke's Bay, have been participating in the festivities and rites. Lectures are being given at different barracks to induce soldiers to make themselves proficient in shorthand and typewriting. . Since the beginning of the year no less than 470 factories have been registered in Auckland (says an exchange), the largest* figure, it is believed, of any town in the Colony.

The, battle of the Unions is raging as fiercely as ever in Dunedin, and it is still doubtful whether Otago will join the New Zealand Eugby Union this year. Mr Edward Tregear stated in the Supreme Court on Monday that a mataitree 3ft through may be regarded as being about 400 years old. The Halcombe Town Board has struck a rate of Is in the pound. Woodville Police Station, which was recently transferred to the Wellington police district, has been re-transferred to the Napier and East Coast police district. Some necessary improvements are being made at the Shannon Schoolhouse, but the ventilation wants attending to. The claim put forward by an Auckland exchange that the 470 factories registered for the Northern capital is the largest number registered for any city in the Colony is not borne out by the facts. Christchurch has registered 600 factories up to date. The French Government is arranging fcr a great naval review at Cherbourg after the opening of the Kiel Canal. The great Powers will be invited to attend. The Christchurch Press congratulates the Manawatu polo team on their prowess in winning the Savile Cup, especially without accident, adding to this commendation the trite remark that " polo is not a game for milksops."

The recent rains have proved very welcome to the settlers in the country districts, and they are now confidently anticipating crops of winter grass. Masterton people suggested that Palmerston should be called " Boorotown/* Palmerston gets even with the following s —" The Wairarapa town has never for- , given Palmerston for overhauling and passing it in the march of progress." . At a waxworks show up North, they have Deeming burying some of his victims under his hearthstone, This Colony's export of wool for-1894 was the largest on record—l44£ million lbs, valued at .£4,800,000. So far there appears to have been no attempt in New Zealand to test the, live cattle export trade. This inaction' is > scarcely creditable to New Zealand graziers. —Eangitikei Advocate. The Petone Tennis Club have leased a section of land in Britannia street, and three courts are to be laid out. Apropos of the wrecking of two newspaper offices in Madrid by excited soldiery, ,' the Oamaru Mail revives the recollection , of something similar which occurred in Auckland during the Maori war, when the , New Zealander office was threatened by a> party of blue jackets, who felt incensed as some comments passed upon their conduct in one of the battles. The proprietor o' the paper refused to apologise, but' fei ft . compelled to give in when he saw tba sailors fasten a rope to his office and stara pulling.