NEWS IN BRIEF.

Waikato Independent, Volume VII, Issue 465, 25 January 1908, Page 5

NEWS IN BRIEF.

Herr Schlumberger, a German deputy and worth 3iJ millions sterling, has married a shepherdess. There were nine keys giving access to the regalia in Dublin Castle which was stolen last year. The Pretender, Mulai Hafid, now controls the whole of the interior of Morocco. Further widespread destruction by the bush fires is announced from many parts of the Dominion. Hastings wants the next North Island brass bands contest. The guarantee form has already been numerously signed. It is now clear that Mr Taft, Mr Bryan and Mr Hughes will be nominated for the American Presidency. Hundreds of men in the shipbuilding trades of the north-east of England have struck against a reduction of rates. An effort is being made to upset Lord Curzon’s claim to a seat in the House of Lords as an Irish representative peer. A man named John Clark was drowned at Lyell’s Bay, Wellington, on Wednesday, while bathing. • The Glenavy (South Canterbury) railway station was burned down during a northerly gale. The Attorney-General (Hon. Dr. Findlay) says that art unions will be cheeked more firmly in the future. The frozen meat export trade in Otago shows a marked decline, owing to the long spell of dry weather, The suicide epidemic is still raging— A. J. Burgess blew himself to pieces with dynamite at New Plymouth. The British football team will leave London for the colonies on April 30. The N.Z. team to tour Australia will leave early in August. A death, marriage and suicide look place on the voyage of the steamer Rippinghara Grange, which has arrived at Auckland from the West of England ports. Bernard Whitaker, a bookseller at Wellington, has been prosecuted for having sold a “ Lone Hand,” said to contain an indecent picture, entitled “ Sleep." A widow named Elizabeth Tufnell, aged 60, committed suicide at Auckland by cutting her throat with a pair of scissors. At a Cabinet meeting it was decided to transfer Lionel Terry to one of the gaols, and to declare the portion in which he was located a mental hospital. Mr H. K. Bethune, an inspector of the Bank of Australasia, jumped overboard from the Monowai on the way from "Wellington to Lyttelton. Mr W. A. Floyd, inspector on the Main Trunk line for the last ten years, was killed at Ohakuno, being knocked over by a train and cut in two. Details of the Christchurch Hospital fire show that the utmost calmness prevailed during the removal of the patients from the burning building. Three Italians have been arrested on charges connected with the alleged plot at Rio de Janeiro to blow up part of the American Pacific Fleet. Admiral Evans ridicules the whole story. Madame Sarah Bernhardt has been engaged by Mr J. C. Williamson to give 100 performances in Australasia in 1909. The tragedienne is to receive 500,000 francs for the tour, A farmer who bought a farm of 900 acres in the Waverley district sold it again in three weeks’ time, and before he had come into operation, at an advance of £3 per acre. The articles taken from the stomach of a shark at Coney Island included a piece ‘of granite, a ship’s iron hammer, a revolver, several boots, and a piece of plate glass. Auckland Grammar School Board resolved to require at its option the parents of pupils to sign a bond that the children will attend school sufficiently to ensure progress. The prospects of the Southland oyster season are good. The beds are said to be in a promising condition, and about 60 or 70 men will be employed in the industry. Sir Joseph Ward, in a statement with regard to military defence, said they did not intend to trust to compulsion for the defence of New Zealand, but entirely to the patriotism of its people. The Prime Minister (Sir Joseph Ward) emphatically denies that Mr T. Mackenzie has been influenced by the Government in his recent declaration as to his future attitude in political matters. It is proposed that the Dunedin City Council should next year provide for trial of wood-paving. The New Zealand red beech, commonly known as birch, will be the wood probably recommended for the purpose. The Hamburg-American Packet Company is reported to have acquired the patent rights of the Schlick gyroscope, which prevents the rolling of vessels, and one of these is be fitted to that Company’s steamer Silvana. A recent advertisement in an English paper: —“ Wanted, 10,000 cockroaches and other insects, by a tenant who agreed to leave his present residence in the same condition as it was when he took it.”