MISCELLANEOUS NEWS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VII, Issue 1132, 27 September 1880, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS NEWS.

Dr. Wv J. H. Brush, who recently died at PhiHip3burg, was so fond of band music that he left 10, OOOdol. in trust with the towri, which is to use the interest in supporting a brass band that is to play a funeral march over his grave at every aunirersaryof his death and on all legal holidays. It is intended to build a bridge over the Frith of Forth at a cost of £1,250,000 of which sum £150,000 is set apart for the railway between North Queensferry and Brunt Island. The Edison-Bell Telephone i 3 still being tried at the Sydney Exchange, and it is probable that arrangements will be made for its being brought into general use in Sydney. The ' ' Russian Enoyolopsadia Diction ary," the work of a lifetime of compila tion, has been treated •with such " indifference by the public that nearly the whole of the edition ha 3 been sold by the publishers as waste paper." The Cape Times says that beyond the Kei the South > African Rome will one day be built and St. John's River will be its Tiber. The annual consumption of timber in the United States is equal in value to 200,000, OOOdol. Railway ties alone J amount to 40, 000, 000d01. in value annually. The annual requirements for railway fencing amount to 65, 000, OOOdol. 30,000 telegraph poles are consumed yearly for the repairs of existing lines. The Select Committee of the House of Commons on the Law of Libel have, decided on their report, and have agreed to recommend that in future no criminal proceedings for libel should be allowed to commence without the fiat of the Attorney-General first . being obtained. The committe ha.vo. alao reoommended that fair and accurate reports of the proceedings of public meetings, published without malice, should be privileged ; but they have also proposed that the plea of privilege should not be allowed as a defence to any action where the defendant has refused to insert ■ a reasonable letter or statement in explanation or contradiction of the report.