NEWS ITEMS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 8697, 16 December 1899, Page 4

NEWS ITEMS.

4 p . There are £20,000,000 worth of diamonds in store at Kimberley. During a thunderstorm the flagpole on the grandstand at the Gore racecourse was struck by lightning, aud broken to pieces. - Stephen Lambert, a lumper at Lyttelton, fell 25ft into the hold of the ship Thessalus. He sustained a fracture at the base of the skull, broke his right wrist, arid several ribs. Inepeotor Cullen, of Auckland, is vigorously engaged in endeavoring to stamp out betting on " tote odds " and street-betting contrary to the municipal by-law. Ten bookmakers have been summoned on these ohargeß, aud the cases will be heard on Monday. The Survey Department has arranged to have another extensive area at Rotorua planted at the earliest opportunity. About 800 acres of Crown land behind the hotel at the gejaers at Whakarewarewa have been fenced in, and it is intended to convert the whole area into a foreat reserve. In reference to the Hon. W, P. Reeves, the Pall Mall Gazette publishes the followitig :•— " Mr Reeves has, it is said, arranged to retire from the position of Ageut-Ueneral for New Zealand on December 31st, and will probably make an early attempt to enter the House of Commons." One of the Austrian settlers at Herekino, Auckland (Tom Perdija) is reported missing. He had started to muke a comfortable home for himself, and is supposed to have been drowned in fording the Herekino harbor on his way to the gumfielda. A number of search parties are out, but with no success so far. The present strawberry season in Auckland is likely to prove one of the worst known. There has never before been so large an acreage under berry as this year, and favorable weather would have made a difference of some thousands of poutids to the Birkenhead and Northcote districts. Many plantations are already withering. Rain is urgently needed. The trustee of the Boyd bequest at Auckland purchased three of the pictures shown at the Society of Arts Exhibition for the city at a cost of £900. Tho canvases purchased arc Goldie and Steel's "Arrival of Maoris in New Zealand," Drummond's " Early Morning," and Walter Wright's ""The Mill Valley," Kerikeri Bay, West Coast. Influenza is raging in Wellington. The , doctors have been interviewed by an enterprising pressman, and confess that they are feeling very tired. The epidemic linn run through the local hospital, where it cau6ed four deaths, and attacked tho doctors and the nurbes as well as the patients. Strangely enough, the asylum patients have escaped the plague scot frco. One doctor, interviewed, stated that he knoiv of ouo house in Newlown where the six occupants were all down at the same time, from the youngest, daughter of the houso to the grandmother, 88 years of age.

Wanganni Bicycling Club offer £117 in prizes lit their sports on Boxing Day. One of the Christchurch candidates for Parliamentary honors distributed conversation lollies with " Vote for " on them. A Diincdin firm has made contracts whereby it secures tho supply of 80 tons of raspberries from the Nelson district this season. We are infot tried that a butter factory in Taranaki district has sold all its output this season at HJd perlb on tho truck.— Rangitikei Advocate. When the news of the Glencoe victory reached Capetown people went wild with delight. Perfect strangers shook hands, and "God Save the Queen," the "Soldiers of tho Queen," and " Now we shan't be long," were popular airs. The English walnut is said to be the most profitable of all nut-bearing trees. When in full bearing they will yield about 3001bs of nuts to the tree. Tho nuts sell at about 4d per lb. If only 27 trees are planted to an acrf\ the income would be about £135 per acre. At a recent meeting of the Wellington Gaelic Society a number of songs and recitations were delivered in Welsh, the following being the titles of a few : — " N gleann's an robh mi og," "Ho mo Mhari iaghach," "N comueamh Stramohr," " M Bata laghach," "Ho ri ho ro mo Mhari," " Bithibh actrom's logaibh foun." Captain Nightingall, of the steamer Coolgardio, which arrived at Sydney on December 3 from Melbourne, states that early in the morning the decks were found to be covered with a chocolate colored dust, which continued till about noon. The most remarkable fact in connection with the incident, was that the wind was blowing from seaward the whole time. On Sunday week the house of Mr Ewart, North Taieri, had a narrow escape of being wrecked by lightning. A flash struck a wire clothes line attached to the buggyhouse, and after splitting the line post, travelled along the wire to the' shed, where it twißted the break of the buggy. At the same time, and presumably by the same flash, the top was knocked from the chimney of the house, and some eight or nine yards from the buggy shed.— Taieri Advocate. Evidently (says the New Zealand Times) tho political education of some of the gentler sex has been sadly neglected, for among several amusing blunders on election day was one of a woman who, entering the Skating Kink booth, walked round the various divisions closely scrutinising the usual alphabetical notices. Having completed her tour she looked puzzled, and then going up to the police officer, asked, " Can you toll me which of them offices is Jellicoe's?" Explanations followed, and the vote no doubt, was recorded. The Cromwell Argus reports :— On Saturday morning a Chinaman named Ah Mun was charged before Messrs D. A. Jolly and P. J. Dunne, J.'sP., with trying to defraud the Bank of New Zealand, Cromwell, by selling brass filings in a small parcel of gold. The amount of filings in a parcel worth a little over £2 was valued at 5s Bd. The appearance of the gold aroused the suspicions of Mr Hannah, who was cleaning it, and he called in Mr St6phenson. The gold was tested with acid, and the presence of brass was at once apparent. Accused was found guilty and fined 10s and coats, A remarkable swimming feat is reported from Samoa. While the s.s. Manapouri was collecting cargo among tho group one of the native laborers carried by the vessel fell overboard, The natives sleep on deck, and it is supposed that he was rolled off into the sea early in the morning. The ocuurrence was not noticed till daylight, and it was supposed that the man had been drowned. However, when the Hauroto was off Manono Island her officers were informed that the man had reached the island after two days' swimming, and that his leg and arm were " sick," having been affeoted by cramp. The Opposition of the future will probably consist of young and advanced Radicals, who will be dissatisfied with the present rate of legislative reform {remarks the Lyttelton Times). If Mr Seddon is wise he will frame a programme that will keep these members in sympathy with his party. Before all things, he should secure the passage of an Absolute Majority Bill, a measure that will surely be acceptable to all sections of the new Parliament. But, in the forefront of other reforms, he should place the Elective Executive, and, following that, the abolition of the Upper House and the introduction of the referendum. We cannot believe that a democratic community will allow aiiy further tinkering with the Legislative Council. A novel inoident was introduced into the Qeraldine election (says the Temuka Leader), in the shape of signalling results from an outside booth to Temuka. The signalling squad of the Temuka Rifles, including Sergeants Pye and Minifie and Private Stewart at the main station, Sergeant Edwards at Waitohi, and Privates Curtis and Chesterman at Milford, transmitted by flag the results of the polls as 6oon as declared at the places mentioned. These were delivered at the office of the Temuka Leader eight minutes after the receipt of messages at the polling booths. The returns were absolutely correct. The candidates were particularly pleased, and Captain Richardson, who supervised the proceedings, was congratulated by them on the proficiency of bis ni'jn. It may be mentioned that the feat is considered particularly good, especially in view of the late hour and of the distances, six and five miles respectively. The Christcliurch Press considers that "the old Opposition is smashed beyond redemption," and advances the opinion that "it would be folly, when Parliament meets, to pretend that it etill exists as a party, and to go through the form of electing a leader, and treating it as an effective organisation for moving want-of-confidence motions and otherwise carrying on the functions of a regularly-constituted Opposition." Such a course, our contemporary thinks, would only hardnn up the Government party, and deprive the House and the country of the benefits of a good deal of useful criticism from the Government ranks. If left alone the Premier will probably pursue a fairly moderate policy in the next Parliament. "He does not," continues the Press, ." of bis own personal choice go in for extreme measures, although he would hesitate overfew courses, however extreme, which he thought necessary to keep himself and his party in power." Any fresh organisation must proceed on new lines, to be defined in course of time by a process of evolution, and there must be no undue hurry. In the Divorce Court, Auckland, in the case of Theodore Peroy Arnold v. Marian Arnold, a motion for a decree nisi, dissolving marriage on the grounds of desertion, there was no appearance of the respondent. The petitioner stated he was a B.A. of Oxford University, and formerley junior master at the Boys' High School, Christchurch, and was a farmer at Hokianga. The respondent was a daughter of a surgeon in the Indian Army. In the year 1886 the petitioner was a teacher in tho Taranaki district, and in that year the respondent left him, as she said she objected to live in a small country place, and preferred town. Two yeors later she wrote a letter to the petitioner, giving the reasons for her desertion. The principal ground was that the petitionor insisted upon smoking when she strongly objected to it. She considered that a man who smoked was worse than a drunkard, and looked upon tobacco as a worse drug than opium, its effects on a person who took it being far worse. Another reason she gave j for leaving him was that he spent too much money on botanical excursions. Professor Demnntalk, who witnessed the marriage, also gave evidence. His Honor granted the decree as prayed. The Post, in the course of an article headed " Drunkards in Parliament," has the following : — " Thero are some among the newly-elected members of the House of Representatives who command respect for their sterling personal qualities and their sound judgment. But, on the other hand, there are not a few whose habits and conduct are unworthy oi Parliament, and an obvious disgrace to themselves and to their constituents. The most striking examples are those who have contracted tho vice of drinking to excess In the last Parliament there were specimens of this uuhappy class, and, unfortunately, they have all been returned again. Not only have the old offenders come back, but their ranks have actually been reinforced. It would be wilfully shirking our responsibilities if wo did not frankly recognise these unpleasant facts. Can any highminded man or woman avoid a sense of siiame at the thought of being represented in the highest Court in the laud by a confirmed dipsomaniac ? What can be thought of laws emanating from such a source ? Is it to lie wondered that in face of such facts us this many well-meaning people, smarting under tho sense of national degradation, turn in despair to drastic medicines like prohibition? They feel keenly the evil effect this honor paid to the unfit or depraved must have upon the younger generation, and they have class-ie authority for the extreme course they advocate — Diseases, desperate grown, By desperate appliances aie reliev ad, Or not &t all,

Alluding to the majority of thirty with which tho Premier will meet Parliament, the Wanganui Herald (Ministerial) saya : — " We honestly wish it were less, as bo large a preponderance of votes on the Government side is dangerous. Many Ministries have been wrecked on this rook, which haß split up a (solid party into sections and ' Left VV ings,' and allowed a smaller, but concrete force to defeat it." A terrible burning fatality occurred at Mulgrave, Queensland, on the 3rd inst. Alfred Holloway, employed at the central mill, occupied with his three children a graßS hut on the bank of the river. One of tho children, a boy, aged five years, whilst playing with some matches set fire to the hut. A baby girl aged three years and a girl aged five were in tho hut at the time. A little girl named Alice Owens mshed inside the burning hut and rescued the elder child, but the baby was left in. A number of Indians were present. Mrs Owens urged them to rescue the child, but they refused. H. J. Tranter, cook at the Mulgrave mill, then arrived, and, wrapping a blanket round him, rushed through the flames. He secured the body of the child, which was burned almost to a cinder, A singular electrical disturbance is reported from Oteramika, says the Wanganui Herald. On the afternoon of Monday, the Bth inst., at about 4 p.m., Messrs Wm. Munro and Jas. Nicholson, whilo working in the locality, observed a column of earth thrown high in the air on the farm of Mr Proctor Nicholson. Proceeding to the spot — a paddock newly sown in oats — they discovered that the face of the soil had been torn away over an area about 12 feet in circumference), and, by probing with a. stick, they ascertained that the depth to a solid bottom varied from 3ft to 4ft 3 inches for a distance of about 40 feot, showing that the electric fluid, or whatever it might be, had travelled that length underground. The day was fine and calm, and no atmospheric disturbance preceded the throwing up of the earth, the extent of which may be gauged from the fact that it excited the notice of persons a mile away. Two previous ana similar occurrences about the same spot are on record, some 12 and 8 years ngo. In regard to, the latter, a settler, on rinding two sheep lying dead, observed that a line of singed grass led to each, and following it up, came to a spot where the earth had been severely shaken up, showing clearly that some great force had been at work. Scientists will, no doubt, explain the mystifying occurrence.