GENERAL INTELLIGENCE

Mr See says that the Victorian depression is due to over-speculation and lavish expenditure, and that the colony is head and shoulders, above New South Wales in agricultural pro ducts. A Melbourne says it is calcu lated that within the last five years no less than £37,000.000 of borrowed money (partly State loans and partly private investments) has flowed into Victoria. The English Post Office recommends a reduction of the Australian postage rate to 2d, and suggests a penny rate for postal cards. Mr Henniker Heaton is jubilant, and strongly urges the immediate introduction of the penny postage for ocean-borne letters. A North Canterbury man champ ions the bot-fly, which has so few friends. He says it is not fair to blame thebotfor all the sudden deaths of horse 3 that have occurred lately, without any better proof than the mere existence of the grubs in the horses' stomachs. In California, where the fly camefrom,it seldom kills horses, and an opinion is held there that in moderation the grubs are rather good for a horse's health. In San Francisco nearly 300 dealers in tobacco have pledged themselves not to sell cigarettes to small boys, signing the foil wing agreement :—We, the undersigned retail dealers in tobacco in the city of San Francisco, hereby refuse to sell, or to permit our employes to sell, cigarettes or tobacco in any form to boys under 16 years of age, and each of us will place a sign in his store in a conspicuous place, such sign to read as follows: No cigarettes sold to boys under 16 years of age." Mr Fishkr does not believe in " miserable little blood-sucking loan offices," and he intends to ask the Government whether they will intro duce a Bill imposing a license fee on loan offices, limiting the amount of in terest that may be legally charged to the public, and providing that each office shall deposit securities or cash with the Public Trustee in accordance with the proposal made in the Finan cial Statement in regard to life and fire insurance offices; and also, will they propose in the same Bill to include provisions for the better regula tion of pawnshops. 