NEWS IN BRIEF.

Otago Witness, Issue 2817, 4 March 1908, Page 52

NEWS IN BRIEF.

The New South Wales Government is issuing funded stock for £580,000 at 3£ per cent. •" The Victorian railway revenue for the last six months decreased by over £45,0G0. The Rev. Mr Danks has been elected president of the New South Wales Methodist Conference. Upward* of 1,000,000 persons in India axe in receipt of relief. The finanoes of Egypt for the year 1907 show a surplus of £2,000,000. The New South Wales Parliament meets on March 10 for a short season. The chief business will be consideration of the Arbitration Bill. / The annual report of the Sydney Benevolent Society indicates a decrease in poverty in Sydney. The New South Wales Minister of Agprioulture has adopted a comprehensive scheme for combined action in d-ealing with fruit pests. The population of Victoria at the end of last year was- 1,258,140, being an increase of 20,142 during the year. The population of Greater Melbourne is now 538, 00 D. A man named Robinson, while under arrest in Melbourne, confessed that he attempted to fob the gatekeeper at Barnaraces. A revolver and false beard were found in his possession. The steamer Darius, which drifted ashore on a rdeky bottom at Newcastle after, colliding with and damaging, the barquentine J. L. Stanford, has been floated off. She is apparently little damaged. A proposed anti-Asiatic parade at Vancouver was abandoned through fear of riots. Sir H. Campbeil-Bannerman having passed a restful night, his condition shows some improvement. Snow and bad reads impede the New York-to-Paris motorists. They have paeeed Ohicap-o for San Francisco, where they embark for Alaska. Two million pounds are being spent on the drainage of Cairo. The quantity of wheat and flour afloat for the United Kingdom is 4,790,000 quarters, and for the Continent 250.C00 quarters. The Atlantic shipments wore 177,000 ouarters, and the Pacific 1Q3.000 quarters. Silver is quoted in London at 25 13-16 d per ounce. The Berlin-Stettin ship canal, which is to cost two and a-quarter millions sterling, will be completed in 1912. The Berlin police are sefkinpj the author* of 13 incendiary fires. The-- Berlin Fire Brigade is Tcept incessanrlv on the alert. Acting on influential advice from persons acquainted with Catalonian affairs, the Spanish Queen-Dowager Christina is about to reside in Barcelona, with a view to fostering a spirit of loyalty. The Federal Customs and excise revenue for the k6t eight jronths was £8.059,000. an increase of £1,535,000 over the same period of last year. New South Wales contributed £710,000 of the increase and Victoria £503,000. Prussia's Polish expropriation law ;s depnlv rpsMTted in Russia, it beinsr inter-

preted as an effort on the part of Germany to push eastward. A heavy snowstorm has been experienced in Scotland. Several trains were embedded in the drifts, one for 18 hours, near Rannoch. There are now heavy falls in London. Seven Russian Terrorists who were arrested have been hanged, including Calvino, «v supposed Polish Jew. The latter, though in possession of a passport, had stolen it from an Italian professor named Calvino. The premises of Mr Scoit. jeweller, Masterton, were entered by burglars at an early hour on Tuesday morning, and goods to the value of £50 were taken. The Rev. Stanley Howard, missionary, stationed at Aoba, New Hebrides, is missing; It k* believed Mr Howard lost his life while in the course of carrying out his work of visiting stations. Tfie Hauroto, from Fiji, brings news of a murder committed on the estate of Messrs Elgood and Clure, Naikorokoro, where an Indian woman was hacked to i death by a man "named Badal. The woman j had fearful wounds on her head and arms. Badal iKimitted his guilt. Ite motive for ; the crime- was jealousy. x j Henry Knappman, aped 60, married, i mate of the ketch Fanny, was found j drowned in. Auckland harbour. It is presumed that he .fell from a boat while rowing off to the vessel. At the adjourned inquest on John Howell, who was the victim of a wrestling bout at the Caledonian sports on. the 19th February, the jury found that death was the result of misadventure. A rider was added to the verdict that where the ground is hard mate should be used in this style of wrestling in future. A seaman named Schiaton, on the barquentine St. Kilda, fell from the upper topsail yard on to the deck, a distance between 40ft and 50ft. It was at firat thought he Bad been killed outright, but examination revealed that he was unconscious. A piece of bone had been broken off the elbow, there were two nasty gashes in the legs, his nose was broken, and he was badly bruised and shaken. He is now in the Wanganui Hosnital. The police at Auckland brought under the notice of the licensing bench the matter of women drinking at some suburban hotels. They were mostly well-dressed, respectable women, and were not infre- , quently accompanied by young girls and | children. In seven hotels visited one night i on a surprise visit no less thaji 59 women, j who had five children with them, were found drinking. In some hotels rooms were specially marked "for ladiee only:" At a meting of the Westland Trades tad Labour Council it was resolved that in the opinion of the ' council the Blackball ■* men were discharged without reasonable excuse; further, that -fcke council stronsrly ( urge on the Minister the necessity of immediate moral and financial support to the Blackball Union in their struggle. The methods of the Arbitration Court were freely criticised. Some speakers advocated a general strike, hut that opinion did not finid favour. Mr H. Coomfies, an acknowledged Australian authority on walking, has pobliciy •tf-ated that the wa>kmsr of Kerr <if Wellington, was very fair, and would be- accepted anywhere. In Sydney Trembath meets Barker to decide who is- the better man over the half-mile. Sydrwv man believes he was not at his best at the contest here. The team also compete in seven of the Sydney University championships. At the quarterly meeting of the Caversham Licensing Committee the .conduct of , . the Grand Pacific Hotel by Mrs Packer | was adv.enaely reported on by the police. | The committee decided to .do nothing with the idea of taking away the licpnse at nre- j sent on the understanding that Mrs Parker left +W hoiwe as soon as rw^ssihle. _ Pipits would be taken to prevent- her getting the license again. Mr James, who appeared ' for the owner, concurred with this understanding. William Anderson pleaded guilty at the Dunedtn Police Court' to sly-grog selling' at Tahuna Park on the occasion of the second day of the recent trotting meetinsr. Accused had a. booth, one end of which was used as an oy»ter saloon and the other as a tea-room. The police entered the nlace and bought some glasses of beer. Search being made, two demijohns of beer were found with- glares and a jug. Mr Hanlon ureed that this was an isolated in stance, and the magistrate, Mr Widdowson, taking that, view, accused was let off with a fine of #10 and costs. •" A special car will be rwlaeed at the service of th*> Catlins-Tahakona Bailwafcr Leaarue on the occasion o ( the proiiosed visit of memiberf? to the Catlins district, ■but as the Public Works Department has no ballast enarine on the line, while the Railway Department cannot allow its rolliasr stock to run on an uncertified line, members cannot he hauled ovei the unopfmed portion. The residents of Anderson's Bay district a^e moving in the matter of obtaining a ' hiirh pressure water siroply. At the annual untwine of the Dmr°din Ratepavprs' Association Mr -T<^eph Milnes was re-elected president. The members considered the association had done pood work during +*f 1 ' 1 w in V^ni-ncr waVKfnl eves uron xhe City Council and Drainage Board.