AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8874, 7 November 1907, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

DEAR VEGETABLES. The drought has brought vegetables to almost famine prices in New South Wales. On the Mewcastle Wharf on October 11th, French beans from the northern rivers sold at 6s 6d per bushel, and locallygrown peas, which bore evidence of the westerly winds, sold at 8s a bushel. Cabbages and cauliflowers are exceedingly scarce, and are fetching up to 7s 6d per dozen in Sydney. Tomatoes, which at this of the year ought to be getting plentiful and cheap, are invoiced from Sydney at 6s a quarter-case. Some of the Canadian apples which reached Sydney at the beginning of the week are being displayed in the windows of the Newcastle fruiterers. They are in very fine condition, evenly graded, and well packed, and are selling wholesale in Sydney at from 14s to 16s a case, with higher prices, for the pick of the Home Beauties. There are still some fine Tasmanian apples on the market. PARLIAMENTARY LIBRARY. The library of the Federal Parliament is assuming important dimensions. Books in the library now number 15,855, including about 800 vo'umes of newspapers. While it will be a collection of a general and> comprehensive character, especial attention has been paid since the first books werej>urchased in 1902, to all literature relating in any way to Australia, especially in connection with its discovery, and the earlydays, and about two-thirds relate|to Australia. Amongst its more noteworthy possessions are a collection of lirperial Parliamentary papers concerning Australia, dating from 1810, fine copies of works narrating early voyages to this part of the world from the 17th to the 19th century, and magnificent folios of Gould's description of birds and mammals of Australia and New Guinea. «A WOOL FROM CENTRAL AUS-"-M TRALIA. An interesting feature of a recent Melbourne wool sale was the disposal of the Nappamerrie clip, from Thargominday, in Central Australia. This station is almost equi-distant from Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne. The wool was shorn, classed and scoured by Australian aborigines; it was carted by Afghan camel teams to Hergott, South Australia, thence by rail to Port Augusta, and eventually ccn3igned by steamer to Melbourne. This much-travelled wool was bought chiefly by French buyers «t 20f d per lb. LODGE DOCTOR'S. Dr. Embling, M.L..C, of Victoria, is seeking to obtain legislation providing that the scale of fees paid by registered friendly societies to their medical officers shall be submitted annually to the Chief Secretary for approval. The object of the measure is to secure in the future a proper remuneration for lodge doctors. At present the amounts paid vary in the different lodges, and for some years past the tendency has been to lower the fees on account of the increasing competition. AFTER THIRTY YEARS. A business man in Biechworth .. ;(Victoria) has received a strange p letter:—"Close on thirty years ago, when I was very young, and when /purchasing from your shop a marble with sixpence, I stole another of the same value. For several years I have intended to pay it back, but put it off until now. I have made a calculation of what I owe you at 5 per cent, compound interest, and according to Scripture return, it fourfold. Enclosed lincl postal note for 9s.— Yours, etc., Better Late Than .Never." GUERNSEY CATTLE. The second importation of Guernsey cattle by the New South Wales •Government was landed at the quarantine station in Sydney recently. The shipment consist." of 10 females, together with two calves, which were born oft* the Australian coast. The animals stood the journey well, and were all landed in satisfactory condition. They are mainly heifers, carrying their first calf with the exception of a couple of beautifullydeveloped cows. Ten of the animals were bred in England and five in -Guernsey, and they have been selected from the most noted herds. One of the number is the progeny of a famous cow now in her 20th year, and her milk record for the past 15 years has average 7,7641b per annum.

TASMANIAN WRECKS. The part of the Tasmanian coast where the barque Alfhild struck already possesses a history that makes grim reading, says an exchange. It was on November 6th, 1904, that the iron barque Brier Holme, outward bound from London to Hobart, met with a fate that stands as one of the most pathetic in the annals of shipping disaster*. The vessel was a small one, of 941 tons, and had had a tedious voyage to the equator, thereafter meeting with strong westerly winds. At midnight on November Gth the ship's company was startled by the vessel suddenly striking a reef, close in shore, on a rocky and inhospitable coast. One man alone escaped with his life, and it was not till February the next year that he was found. He found plenty of water inland, and with that and tinned herrings and Neave's food, which came ashon ; n fairly large quantities, he mana& ' to sustain life for upwards of thu months. February of 1905 tfu castaway was discovered by the crew of the fishing smack Britannia, and brought to Hobart. Another wreck in the locality was that of the Hobart owned barque Acacia, 235 tons, Captain A. V. Saunier. The vessel sailed from Port Esperance on June 20th, 1904, with a cargo of timber for Adelaide. She was sighted passing Maatsuyker the next clay, and ■was not heard of again until her wreck was discovered near Mainwaring 'lnlet in March. All her crew l«erished.