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Greymouth Evening Star, Volume XXXI, 18 June 1901, Page 3

The new volunteer drillshed in Dannevirke is to cost about £IOOO. During the past five months (says the Mail) something like 350,000 bushels of nats have been shipped from Oamara. Further proof of the curative properties of the mineral waters of the Te Aroha lias just been given. Several persons who were crippled with rheumatism have been enabled, after a course of bathing at the Government sanatorium, to discard their sticks and crutches for the first time for many months. No other Soverign in the world has so many physicians as the Czar. They number 27, and they are selected from among the medical celebrities of Eussia. There is a first physician-in-chief ; then come 10 honorary surgeons, two oculists, a chiropodist, and honorary chiropodists, two court physicians, and three specialists for the Czarina. Two burning fatalities were reported in Melbourne on the 4th inst. A girl named Fisher at Maryvale, and a child named Sarah Bryon, aged two years and a half, at Berngan, was burnt to death through their clothes igniting. In both cases their deaths were of an agonising charactor,

A Court of Marine Inquiry into the circumstances under which the missing schooner Louisa Lamont proceeded from Melbourne on voyage to Launceston on March 21st, was held on May 29th. The court found that the vessel was fully and properly equipped, and that in endeavouring to make for shelter she met with disaster somewhere to (lie southward of Phillip Island. Probably the most expensive book known is that which the Ameer of Afghanistan has presented to the Shah of Persia. It is a manuscript copy of the Koran, the binding of; which is worth £30,000. The binding is of solid gold, 2Jin thick. The carvings, which are the work of an Afghan goldsmith, are encrusted with precious stones —IG7 pearls, 122 rubies, 109 diamonds—of the purest water.

The horrors of war are -vividly depicted in a letter received locally from a district member of the sixth contingent (says the Mataura Ensign). He relates that during a skirmish outside of Pietersburg, in which some of the Australians were engaged, a Boer dressed in an Australian's uniform was concealed behind an ant-hill. "When the Australians rose to fire a volley, lie stood up among them and picked off a man each time. In this manner he killed two lieutenants, one trooper, and five horses. Eventually he was discovered, and begged for mercy. Instead he was riddled with bullets, and ths men tore his arms and legs off. "The Australians are rough members when they start," adds the narrator pensively. The Victorian Coal Miners' Associc| tionjis very urgent that the Government should introduce a measure to regulate the working of coal mines in the colony. The organisation alleges that the frequency with which serious accidents occur to coal workers entitles the men to some measure of protection. It is asserted that the drains upon the various accident societies incorporated in the association have so depleted their funds that the executive have been compelled to order a levy of 5s per man to meet the result of recent accidents, the outcome, it was asserted, of neglect to secure the safety of the coal mine workers.

A fire-escape, in the nature of a canvas shoot, has heen invented by Sergeant Siddells, who is in charge of the Gisborne Police Station. The inventor guarantees to remove 50 people from a balcony or upper story in ten minutes. One of the features of the Metropolitan "Winter Show at Invercargill will be an exhibition of the Arctic dogs which Herr Borchgrevinck left at Stewart Island on his return from Antarctic. As showing the need for the inspection of meat, Mr Buddo, M.H.R., stated in his address at Cust that £5329 was paid last year as compensation for the slaughter of diseased cattle.

There was, however, one thing which one lamented in Parliament, and that was the feeling of jealousy which existed between town and country members. Every piece of legislation that was brought forward by a city member which was likely to affect the country members or country constituencies in any way was looked upon with jealousy and with a certain amount of opposition, and vice versa."—A Dunedin member on the question of Town v. Country. Mr Barton, the Commonwealth Premier, speaking of the decorations in Sydney in connection with the Eoyal visit said that the whole scene was indescribably lovely. It is rumoured (says the Thames Advertiser) that Captain Russell will retire from leadership of the Opposition before next session. Mr James Allen, of Bruce is likely to succeed to the leadership. Solicum, the invention of a Copenhagan chemist, is an asphalt imitation of rubbor. It is claimed to be useful for linoleum, overshoes, insnlators, etc., and as a plant, and that it is perfectly waterproof. In the course of an article on "Hotels and Fire Escapes," prompted by the recent sad occurrence at Auckland, the Now Zealand Herald, after calling attention to the duty of municipal authorities under the new Act, says :—"This section clearly casts a duty on the Council, on the Council's inspector, and upon the owner of the premises. It is a statutory duty for the preservation of life. If the provision to which wo have referred is not to be a dead letter, there must be a most rigid and conscientious city control, and not the farce which is perpetrated at nearly every licensing meeting, when a fire-escape or two" for a house is or« dered, and may or may not be supplied; and if so supplied in most cases it is of such a nature or so fixed as to be practically useless.