NEWS ITEMS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 8423, 23 January 1899, Page 4

NEWS ITEMS.

Tlio Government intend to light the town of Uoloriiii and lidths 1>3 7 electricity. A little lioj* named Lane, two years old, was drowned in a tub of water at Hastings last week. HoL'g anil Co. 'smalt house alNclson lias been destroyed by lire with contents valued at CllOO. All- f!. C. .Stevenson, of Wellington, has secured the prize for best plans lor YVanij.inui Opera House. Sydney Fire Brigade has obtained a new lire engine that will throw GOO gallons a minute to a height of 200 feet. .Since the opening of the Auckland Exhibition nearly l'20,()fl0 people have paid for admission at the gates. Ministerial newspapers are advising the Government to abolish the exemptions under the land tax. More taxation ! Cromcr and Peel, two New Plymouth fishermen, have been blown out to sea, and it is feared lost. The Mayor of Hastings (Mr Fitzßoy) in introducing a by-l.iw to compel the erection of brick dividing walls within the business area of the borough. The cost to Wanganui Borough Course"! of the recent official visit of His Excellency the Governor was £1)5. Will Gisborne go ouc better ? Among the ncxt-of-kitt claimants to the estate (valued at £7,000,000) of the late William Price, of Indian fame, are two ladies now resident in Christchurch — -Mrs Edward Vcrnon and Miss Agnes Mary Vernon. At Waitara last week several native women became drunk and created a great disturbance. The local constable was interfered with by other Maoris when making arrests and he found it necessary to swear in assistance. The Hon. J. McKcnzie's I'almerston South friends want the people of the colony to subscribe one shilling per head to a monetary testimonial to the Minister, with which lie can enjoy himself at Home, but as the colony is going to pay for his trip, where is the need ? Some bones with small pieces of flesh adhering to the joints were found on the beach near St tilair, Uunedin. They may have formed a portion of the remains of | Charles Goodal, drowned near Lawyer's head on Christmas Eve, but this is somewhat doubtful. ' A resident of Samoa who arrived in Auckland by the mail steamer Alameda, states that the recent crisis was one of the most exciting times ever known in Samoa. But for the presence of the. British warship Porpoise it is considered certain that the German warship Falke would have hoisted the German flag over all the islands and taken possession. Two painful accidents were reported in the South last week. At Blenheim freezing works a man named Terrill was flaying a sheep when his hand slipped, drawing his knife across the left eye, which was so injured that it had to be removed. A man named Jeffries, employed on the s.s. iMapottrika at Greymouth, had his eye pierced by a red hot rivet. A new method of preserving meats, from which much is expected, consists in immersion in a 30 per cent, solution of salt, through which a continuous current of electricity is being passed. The curing is completed in from ten to twenty hours, when the meat is taken out and dried. The Chief Justice of Samoa, who is an American, has written thanking Captain Stnrdee, of the British warship Porpoise. In the course of his letter he says : — " We are fixed in our faith that the EnglishAmerican alliance is but another expression of human freedom, of universal prosperity, and of the ultimate political imllenium throughout the world." Satisfaction is expressed at Wellington with the announcement by the New Zealand Shipping Company, Shaw, Savill and Albion Company, and the Tyser Company i of a reduction oS freight on hemp for England from 70s to fiOs, and the sixteenth of a penny per pound on wool. As showing how readily votes for public works are granted to some constituencies in the south in contrast to the scant favors given this •district;, we notice that in addition to the construction of twelve miles of railway to the Starborough estate, recently purchased by the Government, Mr Mills, M.H.R., has secured the construction of a £20,000 bridge over the Awatere river, plans for which are almost ready. News has come from Major M 'Donald that the last link in the " chain from the Cape to Cairo " has been completed. The Major has established stations all the way from Uganda to Lake Rudolph, and is about to descend the river Sobat, which flows into the Nile, and make his way toward Fashoda. The expedition has accomplished much towards establishing British claims to vast territory. Three Sydney cyclists met with an alarming accident recently. When descending Mount Fitzgerald their bicycles got away with them, and one rider ran into a fence, while the other two were thrown heavily on the roadway. One of them was able to crawl to a settler's house near by and obtain assistance for his companions, both of whom were badly injured, and fears are entertained for their recovery. Some people have queer ideas as to the duties an inspector of police is expected to perform. Inspector Pender received a telegram (says the Mew Zealand Times) from ii lady on the West Coast of the North Wand requesting him to meet a young woman who is expected to arrive in Wellington from the South, and forward her to a place named, and at the same time to send a telegram stating by what train she would arrive. Neither of the persons is known to the Inspector, whose duties ai'e sufficiently numerous already to make him by no means anxious to take up the role of " forwarding agent." The Dunedin Star states that some peculiar characters seem to be at large at North-east Valiey just now. A few nights ago a hansom-driver named M'Donald, when proceeding home, was stuck up by some men, who dragged him off his seat and endeavoured to ''go through" him. M'Donald made a good fight of it with one of the lanterns of his hansom, and the men eventually cleared out. The same night, about half-past 12 o'clock, Mr O'Kane, a gardener, was attacked at the corner of Clerk-street by four men, two of whom seized him, while the other two proceeded to search his pockets. O'Kane had in his possession at the time 14a in money and a silver watch, all of which the thieves made off with. The same gang also attacked a Chinaman's house, and did some damage. A curious article could be written on the remarkable contemporaries that have never seen or have never spoken to each other, even in this age of free intercourse, constant travel, and cosmepolitan reputations. Mr Gladstone used to regret that he had nover spoken to Lord Melbourne, whom he regarded — and rightly— as a very great gentleman ; and yet they were very close to each other often. Similarly, " I believe, Mr Gladstone never even saw Bismarck, and when there was a proposal, during one of : Mr Gladstone's trips with Sir Donald dime, that the two should meet—Mr Gladstone at Hamburg was quite close to Fricdrichsruche— neither statesmen felt* any great inclination for the recontre. Lord Salisbury only saw Mr Parnell once, and never spoko to him, and Mr Morlcv , lias never spoken to Lord Salisbury. Falconry, once the fashionable sport of the aristocracy in England, is, according ' to the London •' Daily Telegr.iph," again becoming popular, and the demand for' the i birds necessary for this sport is greater f just now than it has been during the last two centuries. It is a pastime which cannot be followed by many, but probably this exclusivencss is one of the chief characteristics commending it to the ladies and gentlemen who for some time have been cultivating it in a quiet and retirin" *■ manlier. Those who indulge in it declare the exercise to be most fascinating and wonder that the wealthy classes fond of iiold sports ever allowoil j\ to die out. In the old A\\\s gentlemen frequently ",-ive " £11100 for a pair of hawks, and although such pneos arebardly likely to be repeated, Hie birds are steadily rising in the market.' The principal field of supply is North Bra- * bant, and in one week last "month no fewer than twenty-four peregrines were captured there bj means of decoy pigeons.