The journey from the mouth of the Haast River West Coast, to Pembroke, was accomplished in two days by his Excellency the Governor and the Hon. R. Seddon, who have thus beaten the record. The interprovincial cricket match Otago v. Canterbury was played on the Caris brook ground, Dunedin. on Friday and Saturday last, and resulted in a win for Otago by five wickets. The scores were : Otago—First innings. 101 ; second innings. 79 for five wickets. Canterbury-First innings, 96 ; second innings, 83. Since the initiation of these contests Canterbury has won 16 games, Otago 13, and one has been drawn. Newspaper rivalries are sometimes very bitter. One editor recently said in his journal that the opposition paper was very economical, and make a little truth go a long M'ay. Whereupon the other editor reported that his servant was sent to hjflk some lard which happened to be up in a piece of his opponent's journal, when the girl reached home it was dis covered that the concentrated lie had turned it into soap. The returns of the railway traffic for the four-weekly period ended December 5 give the revenue of the North Island lines at L 30,234, against 1,28,790 for the corres ponding period of last year ; while the South Island lines yielded L 51,102, against L 54,668. The totals thus are L 81.336, against L 83.459 in 1890. The expenditure on North Island lines was L2O 165 ; South Island, L 34.017; total, L 54.182, against L 52 747 in 1890. The weather has been particularly mixed ot late, nasty drying winds predominating ; yet withal while perhaps not over good for the miners it is suitable for the farmers and their crops, which generally promise a good return though in some instances through the depredations of the small-bird pest the yield of grain will not be heavy. For a truth the people have but little to thank the acclimatisation societies for, as no sooner does the ingenuity of those af fected put them in the way of circumventing one nuisance than another crops up. The next pest we are threatened with is the bumble bee, which is surely exterminating the honey bee. 