NEWS I\ BRIEF.

Otago Witness, Issue 2860, 6 January 1909, Page 52

NEWS I\ BRIEF.

King Edward will open Parliament in full i state. • I A Chicago firm is closing its Capetown branch, a^ South Africa i o now supph in o ' herself with meat. > As a result of the Johnson-Burns content the Sj-dn-ey papers are flooded with corre- , spondence for and against boxing di*pla> - Walker, tho Canadian sprinter, ran 100 metres at Pretoria, South Africa, in 10 2-s*ec. In a 25-mile race at Buffalo. New York, Dorando. the Italian, who came in first, bur was disqualified in the Marathon lace because he had Laen assisted to finish. collapsed 1 in the nineteenth mile, and r.3 tired, the race being won by Longboat. The Transatlantic traffic shows a shrinkage of one million persons a? compared with 1907. The -uiiidcncls from the London and South African scold and other companies la*t year totalled £13,070,442. The death is announced of the one time ; famous Russian priest, Father John, of Krona tacit. Fire destroyed the Hca,-lop Company's large bulk stores in ißriibane. Tlie damage is estimated at £20.C00. There was a sharp caithquake ghoc-k at Tnur->dav Inland at 9.15 p.m. on the 3rd, but no da-mage is repotted. Constable Hyde, of Adelaide, who was ' *.Tiot by a suspicious character whom he was trying to arrest, has fcutcumbed to his in- ■ jurie*. Tile Gennaa nev.spapers are incen>ed .

over the results of the working of th British Patents Act, and threaten to re taliate. j A cyclone at Blayney, X.S.W.. unroofc< and shattered many of the buildings, am devastated the show ground. The steamer Dunmore collided with j pinnace containing 70 bluejackets off Gar den Island in Sydney Harbour. Fifteei bluejackets were drowned. A violent earthquake shock was experi pneed afc Stromboli, Italy, early on thi £th, lasting three seconds. It* was accom paniod by an eruption of the volcano an< terrifying subterranean rumblings. Mucl da r nafre 1-esulted. A severe shock was fel at Caltagirone, in Sicily, where there an 30,0C0 inhabitants. Several persons wot* killed. Shocks continue at Messina am Meiito, and intense panic prevails. N< assistance has yet reached the interior o Calabria and Sicily though 24 towns art known to have been destroyed. "Belief i; almost concentrated at Messina and Reggio where many of the injured are accomnao dated ir> the prisons. Th© famished peoph eat the raw tiesh of donkeys and horses which the troops distribute. All <he municipal doctors of Italy an< all the young doctors in Rome have volun teered for service within the earthquakt zone. The noblest compatition to help :; shown everywhere. Bush fires are sweeping- the country rounc Ya-ss (N.S.W.), and many settlers ar« burned out. The women and children whe were rescued were wrapped in wet blan k-r-ts; others took refuge in the river. The dairy districts on the south coast at Singleton, Dungog Bathurst, and Wagga are suffering severely. There have been numerous destructive outbreaks. The township of Bumbaklry, in the Grenfell district, in surrounded by fires. Round Gundagai 50,000 acres of grass were destroyed. The damage by fires at Yass is estimated at over £10,000. The fire was helped by a strong ■wind, which travelled at the rate of 15 miles an hour. Novyra. is ringed by fires. Great efforts are being made by the brigade to save the town and people. At Brewarrina the thermometer v-egistered ]23deg. The intense heat has caused severe injury to the fruit crops everywhere. Thousands of pounds' worth of ston« fruits, grapes, and tomatoes have been shrivelled up and destroyed. Numerous oases of heat apoplexy are reported. Decreases in the revenue- fov the halfyear ending December 31 of several of the States of the Common wsa lth, as compaied ■p-ith the same period last year, aio reported. The decreases ,are : — New South Wales £454,000; Victoria, £323,000; South Australia, £59.300; West Australia, £102 000. In each case tho deczease i> largely due to a falling off in the re 1 urn mad© by the Federal Government to each State. The d-apairture of the old yeaT took place with unwonted decorum in Sydney. The rowdyism which prevailed Last year led to th-o police being invested with much rnoie stringent powers, and their numbers were largely augmented for tHio oec-aeion. Instead of pandemonium a-lmost a Sabbath peace- prevailed. Th© time-honoured trumpets and -other instruments of noise- were strictly tabu. The new order of t.hing.3 had 1 the effect of considerably decreasing tho crowds in the streets. The death vs announced of Mr David Gaunson, a scliciior, who for some your* played a somewhat prominent part in political life in Victoria. He was a member of the O'Loglilsn Administration. Ho wwoa o elected in 1904 as the representative of the public soryice. Tta~ Chiet Justice (Sir Robert Stout) has appointed Justices William's and DennUton to hear th« petition lodged by Mr A. R. Barclay m connection whh the second ba.llot for Dunedtin North. Ihe election Court will sit at Duivedin en the 2Sth m-st. The matter of the missing ballet papers ie in the hands of the detectives, and some ligho is expected to be thrown on the matt 31shortly. At the second wool sales at Napier 12.687 bales were catalogued. There was a larjp attendance of buyers, and bidding was keen and animated. Much ra'ui has fallen in and about Dunedin during th© past eight, days. On the 30th there was a treir.sndous downpour for about an hour in tho afternoon, and in co.ue places considerable damage was done. The streets on the hillside were ewept bare of the blinding on the metal, and the smaller stones were carpi 3d down befoie the rush of water. The result was di-orgonis'iticn of the tramway traffic for nearly an hour while the debris fewept on to the line? by the downpour was removed. S-eveial buair-c-? firms sustained pom-e los* o\x ing to the fl.iodLng of their ce'lais or thiough the la'ii finding its way in through leaks in ti.e ix)of. Mrs Dreaver ami Mc?*rs A. and T. Inglis buffered loss from these cju:»c6. The heaviest loser is Mr A. Barnett, who had stock to fehe value of £2000 in hh C'-lhr in Georgo street. The collar v, :i? flooded. »nd the stock was practically ruined. T'lo rain extended to Central Otago. and tho crops were greatly bv nofitJ-d. In North Otaa;o there was a ster.dj downpoui 1 i«>r. -j ir several hour*. Th-e- fall had ama -k< ! .ff ci on t:ie crops, wK eh are doing fcfiei.Xuly.