BREVITIES.

Colonist, Volume XLVIII, Issue 11976, 11 July 1906, Page 4

BREVITIES.

Last week a hump-backed whale was caught by the whalera in Picton. A new Post office is to be erected at Johnsonville. The Maoris in the Waikato district are suffering considerably owing to the failure of their supplies of potatoes, and it is reported that the Government in several instances has had to save the natives from starvation (says the ' New Zealand Herald' ) The position, it is anticipated, will become more acute until the new crop cornea in. "Tt seems to be a remarkable winter in the South. They are picking ripe raspberriesjjat Amberley, and^atKaikoura fruit trees all over the district are coming into bloom. It is such a dry midwinter that settlers are burning off sections, and Kaikoura residents are carting water from the ; creeks ! A lodge or a a society in a township within 100 miles *of Tern uka got j a pleasant surprise at its last meet- j ing. The surprise took the form of the sum of £b, which was sent anon ymously as "conscience" money- It appears thnt twenty years or more ago someone defrauded the lodge of a small amount, and sent it along, with compound interest added. A Carterton farmer sustained the loss of a valuable cow early last week under unusual circumstances. The animal slipped and fell into an old well in a paddock and remained there throughout the night. She was rescued alive in the morning, bnt appeared to be paralysed in the hindquarters and had to be shot. At one polling boot'a in Christchurch the other day it was discover ed that one elector, a lady, who exercised her vote, appeared on the roll as following the occupation of ; "a recording angel." The municipal authorities of St Gall Geneva, have passed a by-law prohibiting smoking by minors. The penalty is five francs for the smokers and for any person furnishing boys with tobacco in any form. 3 A one-legged football player was fined recently at Home for playing football it the street. The police said: " Ha takes some catching when he gets away with the ball."