NEW ZEALAND : GENERAL.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVIII, Issue 24, 14 June 1900, Page 20

NEW ZEALAND : GENERAL.

Mr. Denis McKendby purchased last week Mr. Max Fried- l lander's farm at Lyndhurst, Ashburton district, consisting of 1850 acres, for £16,650 cash. The state of the Hen. John McKenzie's health is suoh that it is not at all unlikely he will be obliged to resign as a member of the Cabinet. The weight of a piece of ambergris picked up on ths Napier beach by a fisherman the other day is nearly 401 b. It is estimated that the lucky finder will realise fully £3000. A fihbt list of subscriptions received at the laying of tho foundation stone of the Oamaru Convent will be found elsewhere in this issue. Owing to the determination of Mr. George Hutchison, M H.R . to nettle in South Africa the Patea seat will probably become vacant shortly. Mr. Hutchison has only recently returned from a vißit to South Africa. Owing to the difficulty of getting colonial girls to work in their Wellington match factory Messrs. R. Bell and Co. are sending girls out to New Zealand from their Home establishment. Twelve English girls landed in Wellington last week, and are now at work in the match factory at Newtown. The Government received by the San Fraucisco mail several letters from the United States asking what inducement New Zealand offers to farmers with small capital. This result is attributed to the part New Zealand has taken in the South African war. The sum of £250 has been authorised by the Cabinet for expenditure in connection with sending delegates from New Zealand Fire Brigades to Paris during the exhibition. Messrs. Gilberd (Napier) and Smith (Christchurch) have been selected aa delegates. A correspondent writes to Bay to say that in connection with the farewell gathering at Ophir in honor of the Rev. Father Sheehan, Mr. W. Wall paid a well-deserved meed of praise to Mrs. Gavan, proprietress of the Shamrock Hotel, for the banquet provided, and also for the artistic manner in which the dining room had been decorated for the occasion, which looked, he said, like a garden in the summer, there was Buch an abundance of flowers and foliage. Mb. James Macdonald, of the Customs department, Dunedin, is a near relative of the late Archbishop Macdonald, Metropolitan of Scotland, an account of whose death appears in another part of this issue. The deceased prelate was held in the highest esteem by people of all denominations in Edinburgh, and the Scotsman devoted considerable space to an obituary notice of his Grace, paying a well-deserved tribute to those qualities of mind and heart for which he was distinguished, and which contributed in no small degree to the deservedly prominent place he occupied in the public life of the capital of Scotland. Two ladies called to give evidence in a recent case in the Magistrates Court, Ashburton, (says the Mail) gave the Court orderly a shock from which, rumor hath it, he has not yet recovered. He had gabbled out the usual — ' The evdenceyoushelgivethaCourtthisdayshelbethatruththawholetruthannothingbutthatrutb, etc., 1 and thrust his dirty, evil smelling, Court Bible under their noses to be kissed, when the elder lady staggered him by producing her own gilt edged copy of the scriptures, beautifully bound in Russian leather, and pressed her rosy lips to the volume. The orderly stared in blank astonishment, but when the second lady did the same thing he collapsed into his seat with a bang that could be heard all over the room. The Bruce Herald (Milton) of June 12 has the following from its Dunedin correspondent : — The editor of the Tablet and the editor of the Ouardian (Anglican) are having a battle royal in their respective columns. The editor of the Guardian made the foolish and of course absolutely false statement that the two persons who make their living by delivering lectures, which have an effect mostly on the prurient mind, received no notice from the Press because the latter had been ' gagged,' or bought over, or something of that kind. The Tablet nailed its opponent there, and wriggle as he might he could not get away. It got in some knock-down blows by publishing letters from the proprietors of the Times and Star, wholly repudiating che suggestions. Meantime the controversy affords some good reading.