TABLE TALE.

Auckland Star, Volume XVIII, Issue 174, 26 July 1887, Page 1

TABLE TALE.

Sir Robert Stout at the City Hall to-nighfc. ■ Messrs Tole and Mitchelson'got votes of ' confidence. . , ■. . ' Sir G. M. O'Rorke " toes the mark-", at: Onehuuga to-night. ,a!oT ■jM Phil Robinson started lecturing afc Melbourne on Saturday last. i . , > ai Business is still very dull at Sydney; . Sir. George Grey will leave for the South on Thursday next. > ! Inspector Sherman will take over1 the charge of Auckland police district on Monday next. Lord and Lady Brassey have gone, to Newcastle, whence they proceed to Bris-1 bane and then go home by way of Java, I Mauritius and the Cape of Good Hope. The Old Colonial Hand and the Young Colonials did. not exactly agree on every i point last night. U The Victorian Treasurer is to deliver his Budget statement to-night. Lady Brassey means to write a book on ' the Australian cruise in the Sunbeam. New Zealand will provide material for a special work, . ■

The retrenchment cry has reached the Celestialregions. The Chinese Government) have directed that the salaries of the members of its embassies abroad—which are Very handsome—shall be cut down by 20 per cent, all round.

A new and most' wonderful musical instrument is announced. It is a harp played by pianoforte keys. Lady Brassey says she doesn't like prudery, and that the Australian women have more of the article than the American?!.

There is at Carrick, Tasmania, a man aged 114 years. And yet, according to a Launceston paper, "he has never been a teetotaller."

The death is announced of Mr Jas. B. Morgan, of Gisborne, who was formerly a member of the firm of Monk and Morgan in Auckland. Deceased leaves a lai-ge family. An express train from Wellington got off the line near Marston last night, owing ta the line being damaged by floods. Nobody hurt. • -'' ■ ■■

Bad for the tram-car. At Dunedin yesterday a tram-car ran into a loaded railway truck. One of the tram horses was fatally injured, and the passengers in the car were badly shaken. ■

Mr Dibbs, of-Sydney, who was lately converted to Protectionist principles', states that, as six of the colonies are protectionist,' New South Wales should meet them, ana it would be the means Of bringing-- the whole Australian group nearer one universal tariff.

The Government of New South Wales are going to give the House another opportunity of considering the resolution passed that all ex-members of Parliament have free passes for life on the railways. ■ . A wicked, boy got into a ■ fight with his father, bit his nose off and swallowed it. He was arrested and arraigned before the court. "Is this your son■?" asked uhe judge. "1 am sorry to say it is." "1' think I detect some resemblance," remarked th« judge. " Yes," said the father, mournfully, "he certainly has my nose."

Should be "sent to Coventry." Walter Neale, a solicitor accused of absconding' from Coventry with L 3,000 of other people'smoney, has been arrested at Melbourne. ' ' A farmc? once cal'ed his cow Zephyr, She stiemecS such an amiablfe hepKyfl; ' ■■•' \ When the farmer drew near, !r; w She kicked off his car, , • And now the old farmer's much dephyr.'.; ,

. Lady Brassey had scarcely been. five minutes in Melbourne before her, assistance. was solicited in favour! of the women's suffrage" movement. Her' ■ ladyship, was surprised at the request). She thinks ;thab women- actually govern ,the world now, and if they had Parliamentary votes they probably would not do so. . Triplets came to the family, and when little Billy saw them all in a. .row* says ha to his.ma says he : " Oh, mother,' wich of 'em are we,.-coin' to keep." We have heard this before, but it is a'story of which no ono could ever tire. ■.. . . ~

Negotiations for tlie purchase of the Melbourne Telephone Exchange Company's business by the Government are approaching a settlement, Advance Australia ! A woman residing a few miles from Newcastle (N.S.W.) lias just presented . her . husband with their seventeenth child..

Walt Whitman, the poet, recently gave a lecture in New York, and afc the end! thereof was kissed by all the young ladies orj his audience. Old Colonial Hands mighb; take a lesson from Walt. . '

At Melbourne, Dr. Dodson; and Sir Henryi Wrenfordsley have been appointed Queen's1, Counsel. ' . • -" . ;