NEW ZEALAND.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2190, 22 July 1886, Page 2

NEW ZEALAND.

[by telhgrvph.— press association. WELLINGTON, Tuesday. Ax attempt was made last night to fire a house occupied by Mr W. J. Livingstone, in Palmer btreet. A quantity of greasyrags was placed under the joists of the house. Foitunately tl>e tire was diaeoverel in its incipient) stage, and cxi tinguished. At the Magistrate's Court to-day, Charles Mack uap lined £5 Is for playing t!ie " thiee-card tuck " on the Hutt course, on the 10th instant. Notice of appe.il was given. At the .Supreme Coutt Thomas Gibson, for embezzling moneys belonging to the Petone Town Board, was sentenced to twelve months on each of the two charges, the sentences to run concurrently. PORT ALBERT, Wednesday. A painful case was heard before the justices yesterday. Horistian Johnson,, settler at Tauhoa, was charged with rape on his daughter, aged 11 years. He vm committed for trial on a charge of criminal assault with intent. WESTPORT, Wednesday. A terrible accident happened yesterday at the railway yards. William Campbell, mine contractor, was struck by a loaded coal tram and cut to pieces. DUNK DIN, Tuesday. At a public meeting of citizens tonight, it was resolved to hold the Fire Brigade demonstration in Duuedin in February next year, and a committee was appointed to arrange matters thereto. A fire broke out above the draper's shop of Crunn, George-street, this even* ing, but was extinguished before much damage was done. The place is believed to be insured, but the owner is away in the country, and the amount could not be ascertained. Wednesday. The hearing of the divorce suit MiTEn v #t Mills and Ferrier is fixed for next; Wednesday. The petitioner is managing director of the Union Company, and the/ respondent ex-manager of the Bank of New Zealand at Dunedin. Henry Perc;y Fisher has been cony mitted for trial on various charges of larceny. For contempt of court he was sentenced to 14 days' hard labour. He* told the bench he would not perform, hard labour, but would come bofore theau every week, leadiug the magistrate to» infer that the gaol authorities might expect a lively time. Capt. Kelly, one of the oldest pilots »G the Otago Heads, died to-day.

CtBHKUAL Butler reads only the Bible and the Evening Star. Butler never fails to look on both fides the question. A Calu-'orxiax statute forbid* the sale «»f liquor within one mile of the state University grounds. The Legislature evidently realises the value of walking a* an exercise for studious young men. Whkrkare the Sportsmex :— Some parts of Georgia are so infested by deer and wild turkeys that the people have to drive them out of the fields to preserve their crops. Recently a little girl, who was dying of scarlet fever in New York, de>ired to .send a kiss to a little playmate in another ! town. She kissed a letter, which was : sent by the mail to the little playmate, who, in return kissed the lottor as a message from her dead friend. In a fotf days Hhe herself died of scarlet fever. The conveyance of infection of this fever by letter, haa long been a well established fact. It must have— A correspondent of a Californian paper says :— •' I am up on ft mountain flat, four miles from Petrero, keeping a few bees, and in my little. garden last Spring there came up » tomato plant. It grew thrifty and I left it stand. It grew so fine that I staked it with thiee stakes and slatted across to support the weight. It ran up nearly live feet in all directions. I did not weigh or measure the crop, but I do believe that the one plant had 300 pounds of ripe fruit on »t and about 40 pounds of green ones at frost time. It was a beauty. It looked! more like an orange tree than a tomato^ . plant."