TELEGRAPHIC BRIEFS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1951, 11 April 1889, Page 16

TELEGRAPHIC BRIEFS.

B. H. Jaggar and T. Ferryman have been committed for trial at Auckland — the former for stealing 92 cases of kerosene, of the total value of £68 18s, the property of Arnold, Cheney, and Co!, and the latter for receiving stolen goods. Although Government House was renovated some three years ago, the painting of the adjacent Government buildings has rendered it necessary to do up the former again, the contrast being too great. About 150 men are at work inside and out, time being short. The Timaru Education Board in reply to a circular from the Southland Board, declined to make a recommendation re uniformity of text books throughout the colony, deeming it unattainable. Be the Taranaki Board's circular, one member strongly dissenting, it was resolved not to concur in the action of the Minister in vetoing the proposal of the Taranaki Board to offer scholarships open to pupils in private schools. It was resolved to make a strong appeal to the Minister for a liberal share of the unallotted balance of last year's building grants. A miner named James Frew, working at Orepuki, has been committed for trial to the Supreme Court at Invercargill for rape on a girl (Eva Ferguson) 12 or 13 years of age. Mr Parker, of Canada, delivered an interesting address on Imperial federation at the New Zealand Insurance Buildings, Auckland, on Friday. He explained the principles and objects of the Federation League, and urged the desirableness of the usion of the Anglo-Saxon race. The petition to Parliament, drawn up by the Wellington Graduates Association, praying for the establishment of a University College in Wellington and suggesting that the Ministerial residence and grounds in Tinakori road should be set aside as an endowment, has already received several hundred signatures. Amongst the petitioners are their Honors the Chief Justice and Judge Richmond, Archbishop Redwood, Right Rev. Bishop Hadfield, the rector of St. Patrick's College, the lady principal of the Girls' High School, the head master of WellingCollege, the chairman of the Education Board, the leading workers in the cause of education in the city, and numerous holders of degrees, besides barristers, solicitors, merchants, and students in various professions. Two stacks of wheat, valued at £112, were destroyed by fire on the Levels estate, near Timaru. The fire was accidental. The wheat was insured in the National office. The party of Tahitian natives who arrived lately by the island steamer Richmond, from Papatee, and who are now in Auckland en route for the Paris Exhibition, have excited considerable interest in both Europeans and Maoris who have witnessed them strolling along the streets seeing what was to be seen; the women clad in the simple loose white gown universally worn in the Society group, and with hats profusely adorned with feathers and wreaths of flowers. The Maoris about town, in particular, evince great interest in them, they regarding them as a kind of distant cousin from over the "nioana nui." The party are 11 in number — four women and seven men ; the principal man being a young chief named Aririe, from Tautira, a district in Tahiti. An ambitious scheme is now under the consideration of the Waitemata (Auckland) Naval Volunteers. It is proposed to purchase a trading schooner of 30 or 40 tons, and fit her out as a cruising gunboat. A saltwater snake of about 4ft in length has been caught at Auckland by the Natives, and is supposed to have drifted from tropical latitudes. Mr Wood, of East Tamaki, Auckland, has lost six stacks of oats, valued at £200, by fire. Mrs Doran, wife of an engineer lately on the Wanganui railway, is missing since last Monday night. Her hat has been found in the river, and it is supposed that she has been drowned. At the time she was last seen she was suffering greatly from neuralgia, and intimated her intention of walking to town and having a tooth out. The body was found on Tuesday in a water hole in the river, close to where she was seen last. At the inquest held on Tuesday there was no evidence to show how deceased came by her death, and a verdict was returned of " Found drowned. " A young woman named Kate Brewer, a domestic servant at Wellington, was terribly scorched about the back and shoulders owing to her clothes catching fire. In consequence of the painting now being done at Government House, Earl Onslow will defer his arrival in Wellington till after April 28, passing the intervening time in Auckland. His children and servants will arrive on that date instead of the 16th. A post mortem examination of the body of Mrs Gunn, who died suddenly at the Palace Hotel fatty degeneration of the heart, on Sunday, showed that death resulted from The operatives in O'Brien's boot factory, Christchurch, are threatening to strike unless the new foreman clicker, who is not a society man, is dismissed, or a fine of £10 paid by the firm. At Invercargill on Monday John Wills was charged at the Police Court with setting fire to a stack of oats. Accused, who was up last week for vagrancy and was acquitted, the proof being insufficient, called at the house of a settler named Caulfield, a few miles from town, and asked for a night's quarters. Mrs Caulfield, being alone, refused him, when he threatened to make it hot for them. In consequence of the threat he was watched passing the buildings on the farm, and a few minutes after he passed round the stack it burst into flames. He was remanded. Mr Douglas, stationmaster at Riversdale, injured by being run down by a truck, was sinking fast on Monday. It was not possible to amputate the leg, and mortification had set in. He is a young man, with a wife and two children. A flock of 2000 sheep of the Romney Marsh, breed has been taken to the Northern Wairoa 1 district from Hawke's Bay; amongst the animals are 40 purchased rams, two of which are pedigree rams for stud purposes. The sheep were consigned to Messrs M. and E. Harding. Hon. Messrs Fergus and Stevens during their visit to the North inspected the route for North Auckland Trunk railway, and also examined the Pahipuhi forest and the School of Forestry reserve and manure experimental grounds at Whangarei. A visit was made to Mangakahia Valley, which contains about 1,000,000 acres unoccupied, and offers an inviting field for settlement. Mr Fergus is not favourably impressed with the School of Forestry at Whangarei, or the special settlements he saw, the land not being good enough. He estimates it would take £160,000 to carry out the extension of North Auckland Trunk line to Welsford, near Fort

Albert. The engineering difficulties on the route, as far as Lake Omapere, he regards as important, The N.Z. Dairy Association (Auckland) shipped to the Islands per Richmond about two tons of butter, and the Australian shipment amounted to about 30cwt. On Thursday additional shipments will be made by the steamer which leaves for Melbourne, via the South. The balance sheet of the Wellington musical festival, held in December last, shows a net deficit of £140. The receipts were £476, and the ! expenses £616. An inquiry was held at Oamaru into the circumstances of a fire which occurred at the Kenton Hotel, situated about 10 miles from Oamaru. The place was insured. On the night of the 2nd inst., gorse, &c was placed against the building and set fire to. The fire was extinguished by the servant girl, who was awakened by the crackling noise. The jury found that there was nothing to show how the fire originated, but there were suspicious circumstances. .

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