TABLE TALK.

Auckland Star, Volume XVIII, Issue 55, 4 July 1887, Page 1

TABLE TALK.

Immortal Fourth of July. The immortal " twelfth " is coming. False position—Lying. Closing quotation—" Shut up !" The festive Foley at the Opera House. Seems to have hit the taste of Aucklanders. Suspended Animation—A girl in a hammock. Mr Aitken ConnelPs meeting to-nighfc at St. Sepulchre's schoolroom. Better have a policeman to " chuqk out '* non-electors of Eden whose sense of honour is blunted by disuse. Mr Tole leaves Wellington for Auckland, to-morrow. Will be rather surprised to find two men in his seat singing—" Fol-de-diddle, Tol-de-diddle, Tol-101-lay!" By-the-by, I didn'b see you at the. at. 's Church. , No; church-going is dangerous when there is a great gun in the pulpit, a caiion. mthe, reading desk, the Bishop is charging the clergy, the organist drowning thechoir, and the choir murdering the anthem.. Measles as a civilising agent ! An outbreak of this disease has occurred. at.Parihaka, and a number of natives have, died from it. The Philadelphia " Call " has discovered that 42,000 eggs is the annual output, of: the female lobster. Every man who keeps hens should pasta this up where it can be read without spectacles. This is an age for competition.." , .Mr Bell gives a lecture on "Protection for Local Industries" at the V.M.C.A.. Rooms to-night. He ought to go to Wanganui to give the people there a lesson. The Wanganui Exhibition Committee have refused to allow New Zealand wines to bersold at the refreshment stalls. Talk about encouraging local industries ! The " Herald " goes the length of advocat-. ing Sunday sales at the interesting " show " in Wyndham-streeti. Shocking ! But you can't be serious. Read this from this morning's "Herald"' then: " Exhibitors at the Industrial Exhibition are requested to leave price list o! their goods with the secretary, as yesterday many visitors would have bought to a considerable extent if prices could have beeni given. Major Atkinson has resolved to stick to -bgmont electorate, and will open the. campaign at Hawera next week.' . A half-century ago in Turkey it was- considered a shame for a woman to read: Today, two schools in Constantinople have, been established by the Sultan Himself. Ihus the "sham" of women's rightskeeps moving on in spite of Mr J. A. Conncll. At a meeting of the ratepayers of Winton,. Otago, recently, a statement was submitted Showing that the defalcations of the town clerk amounted in the aggregate to L-1,.200. The mayor, in reply to questions, stated that the books were audited up.to 1885, but not since then. The town clerk was paid. LSO and the auditors were paid nothing.. • Shows the folly of paying small salaries to officials and employing non-salaried; auditors. Our loyal Volunteers! In consequence of the subscriptions by the Volunteers of New Zealand to the Imperial Institute fund not having been general througlitoub. the colony—some companies having flatly declined to contribute" "*a" farthing —- the Government have decided to return thoseamounts already received. You needn't sneer at the " loyalty " of theVolunteers, for they, give enough when they give their services for the defence of the colony. The rich folks who are defended, ought to " shell out" for the Institute. • The " Otago Daily Times" says of MrDargaville's financial mission to Dunedin in connection with the Kaihu Valjey RailwayDebentures, "It will be rememoered thafc under the District Railways Purcnasing Acb of ISBS the Government were empowered to guarantee the Company's debentures to the amount of L 50,000, on the Company givingsuch security for their repayment as the Government considered sufficient; the money to be applied to the continuation and completion of the railway. Presumably, therefore, the Government have given the necessary guarantee." The Village Settlement Scheme is on all. hands adopted as a plank in the- Liberal, platform. Yet it may end in a painful fiasco. A. visitor to the special settlement at Pahiatua, in Wellington district, says that the condition of the village settlers is simplypitiable, and before winter is over they wilt require assistance. They have exhausted, their Government grants. No work is. available, and some of them try to keep body and soul together by going out pighunting. Single men may pull through,, but married men must succumb. This tale does not agree with what was stated in Wellington b'v persons >. presum--ably with a knowledge of the settlement. And likely the rosy accounts wo have heard of the Hokianga settlers are nob all gospel.