GENERAL NEWS

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6089, 28 January 1898, Page 2

GENERAL NEWS

,o»— —. - LOSS OP CATTLE. It is stated (says the Wawarwpa Daily) that-a drover who has returned fromthe Wainuioru distnefrreportsthat inone-gtdly alone which he crossed through he counted no fewer than six hundred headofcatde. The beasts had been blinded by the»dense smoke aad"then roasted' to death.

mEK. SUPPLY. At a .meeting of the Wellington Dairy Regulation Committee yestord&y, the report of the Inspector showed that -there were about .200 dairy farmers in the district and about seventy-five milk-vendors in the-city. He:had-not heard .of a single case of infectious disease such as typhoid fever or diphtheria in the milt trade. The samples of milk collected and tested, •exeeptin a few cases, Jiad turnecL'ont satisfactorily. Veryfew^samples were^below 3 per cant of 'butter-fat, while the standard fixed by law is:2*sper cent. It is understood to be the intention of 'the Govern-^ ment to raisedtrto 3 per cent. "~~"~"""~ I

THEHESSIAN FLY. The ; Oamaru t Mail says : — The Hessians fly is among the^crop nearly all over this district. Mr Miller, stock inspector, has been devoting- a good deal of attention to the pest, and has collected specimens. He showed us some -.stews to-day in which the grub iB deposited in the stalk directly above the first joint, and there 'appears to remain, thriving upon the sap until supplied with wings with which to effect its flight. At first it is white, but, maturing, it becomes brown, and is< about long, and as thick as binder wire, with pointed ends. The-sfcraws break off at^this joint after a time, .and this has led farmers to suppose that they were broken off by the wind. Mr MiQer thinks that sorfar as he shas seen about two per cent of the straws are affected "by the ravages of this pest. So fat it has been found that the coloured butterfly is one of the natural enemies of the Hessian fly. L GCOD IDEA. The.Posf s&jb :— The happy idea of the children who are spending their holidays at Plimmerton in making a sand .garden, on the beach, and making a charge for admission to it, Jias resulted in their- raising the substantial sum of £1 12s 9d in aid of the settlers in the burnt-out districts. Well done, little ones ! POPULATION OF THE COLONY. The arrivals in the colony during 1897' numbered 18,592 and the departaxes~ls,B4o. The estimated population of the colony on Dec. 31 was 768,810. This includes 3585 Chinese. Excluding Maoris, the populalationof'the colony increased by 14,894, or at the rate of 2*09 per cent during the-, year 1897. To this increase, the excess of births over deaths contributed 12,142,. and excess of arrivals over departures 2;752. The balance in favour of thy colony -as disclosed by immigration and emigration returns is larger than in any year since 1593. The birth rate for the colony in 1897 was 2596 per 1000 of the mean population, and the death rate 9*14, as against 26*33 and 910 respectively in 1896. The number of marriages (exclnding those contracted between Maoris) solemnised in 1897 is estimated.at 5100, giving a rate of 7*07 per 1000 of the mean popxilation against 4843 and 685, the actual number and rate in 1896.

THE GEEMAN NAVY. A remarkable petition, purporting to express the wish of the German residents in different parts of Australia, is now being signed in Sydney for presentation to the Reichstag. It states that even if the security of the property of the signatories in Australia does not depend on a strong German fleet, still they recognise the value of increasing 1 the strength of Germany in every direction. The readiness with which the English fleets protect her commerce and merchant ships, has called into existence a number of remunerative commercial enterprises in the South Seas. The weak German fleet in the same part of the world has deprived the German pioneers, of their due rewards, owing to its inability to protect them at crucial periods. After -avowing their pride in their nationality,.and their readiness to defend their country, the petitioners express the hope that their grand fatherland will recognise as its duty the protection of its sons abroad. " When not the right but the might prevails/ such protection can only bo afforded by a formidable fleet, and therefore they ask the Eeichstag not to deny its sanction to the increase of the navy, particularly the -cruiser fleet. TFE OXFOED BIBLE. A few years ago her Majesty QueenVictoria sited as plaintiff in ti New York court to recover for some asphalt that an American had taken without authority from a West Indian lake, and got a verdict for almost the full amount of the claim, and now, in the local Federal Court (writes the New York correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald), the "University of Oxford is suing an American publishing company to recover damages for injury to her reputation and business, in that they have published here, under the fraudulent title of thß Oxford Bible,, a book which is filled with all sorts of typographical errors. The Oxford Bible is, of course, world-famous. Every schoolboy knows that for every mistake he can find in a genuine Oxford Bible the. university will pay him a guinea. The hard point in the suit will be to prove that the mere term " Oxford," as a descriptive title, can be exclusively reserved to the party who first uses it. There are American and Canadian Oxfords by the score • almost every State in the Union has one of them, and a few States more. In morals there is, of course, no doubt whatever that the New York publishers are at fault, and American courts have pushed the principles of equity so far that, perhaps even in this case, legal justifiction may be found for doing what is termed " substantial justice." If the university should fail, however, she can easily make herself safe in the future by adopting a more elaborate and distinctive method of identification.

DEATH OF AN OLD IDENTITY. \ The Wangantd Chronicle of Jan. 18 3 records the death of Daniel Shea- 1 Lawlor, who was well-known in Southland j from the fifties until about fifteen years , ago, when he left for the North Island, j The deceased gentleman had attained the, 0 advanced age of seventy-seven years, j , Among many other rather daring feats of , his younger days he was credited (the < News Bays) with having crossed the dreaded Waiau on horseback. He filled the office 1 of resident magistrate at Eiverton for ' some years in the sixties r and was widely j known and respected among old identities. ; ' ' " —^* . 1

The Queen owns a dress manrtfactnred: ' entirely of spiders' webs. It was a present | from the late Empress of Brazil, who had < it specially prepared in her palace by tweatymtive silk-workers, ]