TABLE TALK.

Auckland Star, Volume XIX, Issue 282, 29 November 1888, Page 1

TABLE TALK.

I Aravata arrived from Fiji. Start-ling police evidence at the Parnell inquiry. There was a hailstorm afc Bay of Islands last Friday. Auckland Caledonian Society lias made a splendid start. Good working Committee elected for the approaching regatta. Children's "At Home" to be held in the Ponsonby Hall iv a fortnight. Thirty-two applicants for one section afc iho Crown Lands Board fco-day. Charles Bolb died from exposure-at the ltock and Pillar Range, Oiago Central. Mr Hudson has gone to take over the section on the Rotoruu line completed by I Jii- Fallen. New Zealand quartz display in the Exhibition is now said to be splendid. Never too late to mend. The weather at Hokitika is cold and wintry, with a succession of squalls from the south-west. Sash and Door Company meeting this afternoon to confirm resolution winding up the Company. Manufacture of butter kegs by Mr Williams, at Ngaruawahia, is developing into a thriving industry. it is stated that Mr C. Y. O'Connor, Under-Secretary of Public Works, retires at the end of the year. Mr J. Marshall, an old Regatta enthusiast, has given a £50 prize for one of the races at the next regatta. Pastor Muller is now on a journey to India. He preached in Sydney 86 times, and held about 30 meetings. Fifteen performers took part in a private rehearsal of the ladies' orchestera at the Choral Hall yesterday afternoon. When a man drinks too much he is called a bacchanalian. When he smokes too much, .should he not be called a tobbacconalian ? Wellington Garrison Hall was a vain completely filled on the occasion of the second programme of ths musical festival performance. Captain Little is selling off his household furniture by auction as a preliminary step to taking the managership of the Bailors' Home. Should the oyster beds in the Bay of Islands vicinity be opened next year, employment will be given to a large number of men. Colonel Hume, with Adjutant Webb, has been inspecting the Hokitika volunteer corps. They returned to Wellington to-day. Tauranga regatta is to be followed by the return cricket match between Tauranga and Katikati. Tauranga won the first match last Saturday. Mr Hudson, railway manager, has sug gested that the Hamilton market day be changed to Wednesday, as the latter day would enable settlers all the way up the line to visit Hamilton. It is understood that Sir Harry Atkinson is willing to do anything in his power to help the Agnews out of their difficulty, providing they return to their land in Otago, or, at any rate, leave Wellington. American application for patents; lasts year numbered 34,570, or one for every 1,590 of the population. In New Zealand during the same period, there were 683 applications, or oneior every 870 residents. The Governor yesterday presented the certificates awarded to successful candidates in the Wellington music examination, held under the auspices of Trinity College, London. Fifty-five candidates passed out of some seventy entries. Some Auckland parents complain aboub the " quarter money" levied ao the public schools for pens and ink, and other incidental expenses. How would they like to live at Mandeville, in Southland, where the stationery fees collected amount to Is 6d per head per month 1 At Invercargili the weather continues miserably inclement, with strong winds and bitter showers of rain and hail. The mountains are snow clad to a lower level than during the winter. Wool-shearing is almost at a standstill, and heavy floods are expected should the temperature rise suddenly. Private Alvices received in Sydney state that Lord Tennyson, whose serious illness was reported by cable, was, when the last mail left, in a very precarious condition. He had to be carried from his bed to a sofa in a sheet, and could not walk without assistance. The poet laureate will be 80 years of age in August next. Four boys appeared in the Dunedin. Police Court yesterday, charged with stealing wild ducks, which they sold to Chinamen. One, aged eleven, was convicted, and ordered to come up for sentence when called on. Two, aged fourteen and tea, were fined £1 each, and a third, seven years of age, was discharged. How about the Chinamen ? "N ewZealand Methodist," referringtotha cablegram about the supposed disturbance at the laying of the foundation stone of the jEpworth Wjßsley Memorial Church, says: " The entire Methodist community has been' slandered by the imported outrage, which was said to have been the result of a violent quarrel among the Methodists themselves."