GENERAL NEWS.

Greymouth Evening Star, Volume XXXI, 30 April 1901, Page 4

GENERAL NEWS.

The Coal Mines Commissioners have returned to Wellington from Taranaki.

An Otaki resident has been fined £1 and costs £2 Gs for shooting a native pigeon, contrary to the Act. The appointment of Mr Donald Sinclair as a shorthand writer and typist in the Department of Agriculture is gazetted.

A Press Association message states that the troopship Britannic, having on board the Imperial Contingent _ which recently visited this colony, arrived at London yesterday. The Britannia Gold Mining Company had another splendid return, the Gl tons crushed during the month yielding 84ozs. The surplus over working expenses will be set apart for the reserve fund. The Department of the Tourist and Health Resorts, one of the now departments, is to be accomodated in a building rented in Brandon street, Wellington. Its offices, our Wellington correspondent states, will be attractive beyond any Government premises in ihat city. Tho namo of the department is being put up in large gilt letters, while tho windows are being made gay with red, white and blue lettering, and embellished with flags The interior of tho promises will be decorated in artistic colours.

Now that the Duke of Cornwall is coming, says tho "Hot Lakes Chronicle," the prico of a single huia feather is ten shillings, and a whole tail is £5. The demand, as usual, creats a supply, and artists are said to be busily preparing huia tints from tne plumage of less noble birds. Even an old hen's wing can be made to resemble the aristocratic huia's, and the feathers thereof can be sold for more than their weight in gold. The following is regarded by " Truth " as a " characteristic" example of the ways of the English Post Office : —A firm doing business with New Zealand received a letter from the colony with a stamp missing. There was one stamp upon the envelope and it was evident another had been there, for the obliterating stamp showed" an oblong blank space where the postage stamp had been. The addressees were surcharged lOd, and before a refund was allowed the Imperial authorities had to communicate with New Zealand. At the end of eighteen weeks the sum of lOd was sent to the firm. "In any concern conducted on common-sense business principles, the matter would have been disposed of in five minutes," comments Mr Laboucherc. A London correspondent writes : " Everybody on this side who has had the advantage of reading in the papers recsived from New Zealand by the last mail the admirable telegraphed accounts supplied by tho Press Asssciatiou of tho Queen's deaih and Funeral, has expressed to mo tho opinion that Now Zealand was better served than England in this respect, as New Zealand readershad by cable so full and graphic a description that it left nothing to be desired ; whereas English readoi'3 had to wado through dozens of columns of padding in the wearisome and sometimes vain endeavour to ascertain what actually took place." Candidates for election honours give amusoment to their audiences. A gentleman recently asserted he had never bought a bag of sugar or a pound of tea outside the town, and he had never worn, since the mill started, anything but a locally made suit—and hero it dawned on tho audience that, particular guic must have had a hard time of ic.

The most suitable spot near Dunedin city for the erection of workmen's homes is a large area of land held by one owner near Anderson's Bay, and residents of that district, with a view of increasing the population so as to support the installation of an electric tramway, intend petitioning the Government to reserve the land under the Land for Settlements Amendment Act.

One result of the recent visit of a representative of the Vickers-Maxtin Company to Y/ashingfcon has been a largo ordor for Maxim guns for the army in the Philipines. These may not be made in America, as the arrangements for extending the business of the British firm there are not sufficiently developed to allow this, but wiil instead be supplied out of stock by the firm and shipped direct to Manila,

It is said that the export of fish from New Zealand to Australia, when shrunk to small dimensions some time ago, has now nssumed very healthy proportions. There is at present a good demand for the fish from these shores, and as reasonable care is exercised in seeing that only the best quality go forward, while at the same time proper provision is made for export, the expectations of a largo profitable market would seem to be realised.

The average price paid by the Government for horses for the South African contingent in the Wairarapa district was about £IQ 10s. It i 3 estimated that in the purchase of horses and chaff ths Government spent £IO,OOO in the Wairarapa. In this week's gazette is published a despatch from the Secretary of State for the Colonies transmitting Hia Majesty's warrant authorising the continued use of the public seal made use of in New Zealand during the lifetime of Her late Majesty Queen Victoria until another seal shall have been prepared and submitted to the Government of New Zealand.

The Government are offering a bonus of one-fifth of a pound to encourage the manufacture of condensed milk in the colony. It will only bo on milk of the best quality. The bonus will bo in operation for 12 months.

In one of the Blenheim churches, relates an exchange, the minister announced the reception during the week of an anonymous lctcer enclosing £lO to be devoted to the church funds, the donor intimating that he got spiritual benefit from the services on the previous Sunday and took that means of expressing his thanks. One of the latest communications received through the post office by Mr C. Overton, of Hereford street, was a real surprise. The letter, which was addressed to his country residence, contained two one pound notes, and a sheet of note paper on which was written:— "Institution or conscience money from one who hopes to meet you in Heaven." Mr Overton is in darkness as to the caus9 of the restitution and as to the original act itself.—Press. The charge of 3d per bale which the Agricultural Department will make for the grading of flax will cover a certificate for the tho person ordering the grading, a report for the fiaxmiller, and a parchment tag to indicate the grade, which will be affixed to each bale by tho grader.