NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume II, Issue 60, 20 June 1874, Page 8

NEWS IN BRIEF.

A MAN named Jerry Huschion has been drowned in attempting to cross the Molyneux, on the Teviot road. He had been in the service of Mr Honner, of Millers Flat, as a ploughman. Mb Williams, the patentee of Williams'a Fire Kindlers, has hit upon an excellent expedient for advertising his ware. He has had a quantity of lollies manufactured, with such as the following inscription, " use Wiliiamß's Fire Kindlers," and these are distributed gratuitously to matron and maid. Thb total public debt of New South Wales, according to late statistics, amount to £13,962,539.

A Hokitjxa auctioneer has commenced the practice of disposing of coals by auction, in lots to suit purchasers. A mines named Tratman has been smothered with gas in a mine at the Thames.

Don FEEMANDtz, the lion tamer, has died at Wellington, of consumption. The ship Buckinghamshire, whicb lately amved at ort Chalmers ■aade the quickest passage recorded for years, making the trip in 77 days- from starting.

Intelligence haa been received at Auckland, that the-Waimate gam dispute with the Natives has been amicably settle*!.

A TKLEG&iM from Grey mouth on the 13th inst., states that the Grtymouth Coal Company have struck a seam in their main shaft. The coal is of excellent quality, but so far they are unable to state the thickness.

The l Hamilton Spectator ' (Victorian) says the Roman Catholics sra making collections all over the Colony in aid of the completion of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne.

Zephania Wiliams, the Newport Chartiat, has died at Launcesfeo»>. at thfl age of 7& years.

John Ward, butcher, Sydney, the husband of the woman who was murdered l>y W. Crow a short time ago, hung himself at his residence.

The title of the sixth Minister to be appointed in South Australia, is Minister for the Northern Territory. About 1*2,000 citizens of California have petitioned the Senate against the further influx of Chinese, there being nearly 60,000 in the State.

A common fellow in California, who had been made a target for jevolver practice, was kept in jail as a witness for two months while the gentleman who shot him was. allowed out on bail. Four wars have cost the English Government, within the last ftfteen years, upwards of £16^00^,000 sterling. The Persian expedition cost £900,000. The outlay on the Chinese war amounted to 404 15,000. Then the New Zealand war of 1366 was covered by £vos,oi>o ; and the Abyssinian war entailed the expenditure of £8,000,000. or £9,000,090. Now it is estimated that the Asbantee war will cost about £4,000,000.

The sum required in the ensuing year to meet the claims of •fleers arieijg out of the abolition of purchase is £652,000!. Hans Christian Andersen, the well-known Danish La Fontaine and friend of Dickens, has been dangerously ill, and there is little hope of a lading recovery.

1,290,000 watches, occupying 12,000 workmen, are annually produced in the Bernese, Jura.

18,363 British seamen have died during the past four years, leav12,242 widows, and 36,725 orphans.

A man named Dodson was sentenced at Oamaru to three months, imprisonment, without hard labor, and a fine £25, for making a false declaration.

The number of wrecks reported at the United Kingdom for this year, to date ipril 4, is 549.

A lad named Clarke, in the employ of Messrs Guthrie and Larnacb, met with, an accident on Monday. Ho was playing with a saw in the establishment, and while doing so, hia hand coming in contact with it, two of his fingers were cut off. A singular race, from Paris to Lyons, a distance of 222 miles, has just come off between the Due de Feltou, driving a light carriage, and the Comte Phillippe de Nevule, on a velocipede, — the former winning by two minutes.

At a New York ball recently, a lady wore 40,000 dols. worth of diamonds and old point lace.

Ihe will of the Countess of Loudon has just been proved. One of the conditions contained therein is, " that her right hand be cut off and buried in the park at Castle Donnington, at the bend of the hill to the Trent, and a small cross or stone placed over it, with the motto " I bjde my tyme."

A curious fact, founded upon long and close observation, is he attention, of the British Association. E^e^j spotted dog

has tha end of his tail white, and eyery spotted cat the end of the tail black.

The latest novelty in furniture is black satin chairs with red frames, exactly the color of coraL The Archdiocese of Cincinnati has 194 churches, 18 chapels, 60 stations. 143 priests, 7 male and 10 female religious communities, 3 theological seminaries, 128 students at Mount St. Mary's Seminary of Cincinnati, and 30 in Carthagena, of whom 45 are in the theological class ; there are 4 colleges, 12 literary institutions for girls, 3 orphan asylums, 1 protectorate for boys, 2 hospitals, 10 charitable institutions, 132 parochial schools, and a Catholic population of 220,000. A petition is circulating in Stockton, OaL, in favor of introducing the study of the Irish language in the public schools. It is said that the Communal Council of Vienna intend to> establish in the cemetery of that city the necessary apparatus for cremation. It will be open to all, but the use of it will be optional. The- Burmese vernacular is very difficult for Europeans to learn. It is written from right to left ; there are no divisions between the words, and the letters are either circled or parts of circles, the alphabet containing forty-four letters. There are but two foreign tinkers in London, one being a Dutchman and the other a Russian. Holland also claims the only shepherd of metropolis. All the image-makers are Italians and the stay-makers-French.

The total coinage of the United States' Mints for the last financial year amounted to 32,523,670 coins, and to 38,689; 183 dols. in value. Artificial nests have been suspended in many of the trees near Paris with a view of attracting birds that may prove useful iv destroying insects. Tho attempt was first made last year, with the result of filling about sixty per cent of the neets. In the Provincial Council of Wellington tho clause in the Licensing Bill authorising liquor trading in publichouses on Sunday was rejected by a majority of 13 to 7.