Bird’s Eye View.

Southern Cross, Volume 1, Issue 2, 8 April 1893, Page 15

Bird’s Eye View.

MW ZEALAND. It is reported that Sir John Hall will not seek re-election. Fillis’ circus is due at Invercargill on the 21st. A surplus of over £200,000 is expected by the Government at the end of the financial year. A member of the Dunedin Cycling Club, Mr J. Currie, rode from Dunedin to Invercargill in 18i hours- —’distance, 134 miles. The Canterbury Frozen Meat Company pay a dividend of eight per cent. With a view of checking sheep stealing, the directors promised to consider the question of registering the brands of sheep slaughtered. A tramway is to be laid on the surveyed road from Cromarty to Wilson’s River. Mr E. S. Hawkins lias been appointed R.M. and Coroner for the Otago Goldfields. Clutha, and Southland. Lands have been set apart for settlement in Patterson distrtet (Stewart. Island), Makoreta, Waikawa, Otara, and Waikawa —in all about 45,000 acres. An old Invercargillite, Mr S. H. Moreton, is in Napier, and contributes to the Hawkes Pay Herald an article entitled “ A visit to Mount Cook.” The Wellington police arc taking steps to put down fruit trading and sale of tobacconists’ wares on Sunday. Some human remains have been unearthed near the Sew Hoy Co’s Pig Peach dredge, and arc believed to be those of a digger named John Gribblc, who was drowned' with a number of others in the great flood experienced in the Lakes district in 1865. Mrs Longshore Potts, M.D., who was here some years ago, is again in the colony, and is now lecturing on the West Coast. Auckland was lately infested by a gang of spielers, mostly from Australia. Mr O’Connor, the member for the Puller, is to lecture in Auckland on the evils of party Government. It is understood that Parliament will meet on 22nd June. The Railway Commissioners decline to carry the pupils of secondary schools free of charge. There arc 2125 local bodies in the colony, with a membership of 13,981, school committees. (1075) heading the list. During the hist 30 years gold to the value of £4-5,000,000 has been mined in New Zealand. Hard linos. Many farmers on the Ashburton Plains arc said to be threshing out five bushels of wheat to the acre, and some as little as three. Efforts are being made to get Mr D. Reid (whose name is closely associated with the liberalisation of our land laws), to stand for the Taieri. A correspondent of the New Zealand Herald suggests that the accounts of Friendly Societies should be audited by Government officers, in the same way as those of local bodies. Many of the spielers now in New Zealand, are said to be working their way to the World’s Fair at Chicago. GREAT BRITAIN. During her long reign Queen Yictoria has only signed one death warrant. This was for an execution in the Isle of Man, the Act relieving her from the duty of signing such documents not having been made to include that portion of her dominions. Lord Rosebery, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, declares that the withdrawal of British troops from Egypt is impossible. The revenue for tho year ended 31st March amounted to £97,609,000. The Bank of New Zealand is promoting an enterprise called the Now Zealand Colonising Conqmny, who intend to recruit largely from the north of Ireland, Trouble ahead. Over a million signatures have been obtained to a petition against the bill introduced in the House of Commons to pave the way for the disestablishment of the church in Wales. Depression in the Durham coal trade. Ten thousand miners idle. FOREIGN. A new explosive has been successfully tried in the German army. By tho collapse of a church at Gudrai, in the Caucasus mountains, one hundred people were killed. Cholera is prevalent in £t. Petersburg.

The Paris correspondent of the London Times declares that President Carnot is bringing about a crisis owing to his refusal to summon M. Constans to form a Government. He alsol states that the German ambassador to Prance will shortly resign. o The protector of the whole German race ” were the "words recently used by Prince Bismarck in speaking of the Emperor.

AMERICA. One of the courts has decided that strikes and boycotting are criminal conspiracies. Thirty miners have been drowned through the flooding of a mine in Pittsburg, end 25through the firing of a mine in Pennsylvania. An engine-driver has been fined in Ohio for obeying the orders of a trade union, and refusing to move a train during a strike. It is estimated that fr0m.200,000 to 300,000 residents of Canada daily the lr< ntier, work on American sbil at American prices, and return in the evening to their Canadian homes. The Americans ask to have the immigration laws amended. The world’s commercial travellers hold a demonstration in Chicago daring the great fair, and expect to muster 100,000 strong.

AUSTRALIA. The Commercial Bank of Australia, Melbourne, has closed. It held Ti 1,000,000 on deposit. It is estimated by a Sydney statist that the population of Australasia increased by 85,452 during 1892. A girl who had her leg cut off by a passing train has obtained a verdict for £3,000 against the Railway Commissioners of New South Wales. A Sydney printer named William Smith, who omitted to affix his name to certain printed material which he distributed in connection with turf sweeps and consultations, lias been fined £960 for infringing' the Printers’ Act. He invited the public to send for tickets to one G-. Adams, whereas the defendant’s name was William Smith. Dissatisfied with the railway charges, a Bendigo merchant is advertising for tenders for the cartage of goods from Melbourne to Bendigo. The effects of the late Emily Mather, the last victim of Dceming’s murderous instincts, have been forwarded from Melbourne to her mother in England. In December last Queensland’s population aggregated 421,297, showing an increase for the year of 10,967. Adelaide and Hobart authorities have demands made upon them for work by the unemployed. There were recently 7 landed in South Australia from India, 94 Afghans and 402 camels. The Government of Tasmania propose to reduce the wages of railway employes. The quantity’ of silver ore exported from Tasmania during the last two months shows an increase of 15,217 tons as compared with the same period last year. Owing to the imposition of heavy duties on Tasmanian timber by some of the other colo nies, more than half the mills in the Huon district have been shut down.