TABLE TALK.

Auckland Star, Volume XXI, Issue 48, 27 February 1890, Page 1

TABLE TALK.

Very dry weather. No rain since Christmas. Water scarce at Devonport. Arawata arrived from Fiji. Last night of Harmston's Circus. Lord Tennyson is improving in health. Regatta Club annual meeting to-nighfc. A Samoan mail arrived by the Arawata. R.M.s. Mariposa expected Friday night. New South Wales cricketers arrived thie morning. The Trust Funds Committee has revised its report. Auckland Gas Company meeting this afternoon, The German expedition to recover Wadelai is denied. Caledonian Society meets to-night in the Foresters' Hall. ; Watchmakers' and jewellers' picnic at Motutapu to-day. Intercolonial Cricket Match begins in the Domain to-morrow. Emm Bey has refused the Governorship of Eastern Soudan. Mr W. L. Bright, M.P. for Stoke-on-Trent, intends to resign. The Earl and Countess of Kintore had a* good send-off last night. Mr Sewall has been appointed United States Consul at Apia, Samoa. Hibernian Society Auckland Branch held their annual meeting last night. Rarotongan natives take a benefit at the Columbia Rink to-morrow evening. Mr C. Y. O'Connor, of the Public Works Department, returned South to-day. Sir. F. D. Bell is confident the Trust Funds Investment Bill will be passed. The Hon. Captain Russell visited the Asylum and Gaol yesterday afternoon. The late Captain Sommerville was given a Masonic funeral this afternoon. Mr G. D. Valentine, the well-known photographer, died at Parnell yesterday. Mr Morley disclaims having made any specific contract with the Irish Party. Farmers in the Hunter River district, N.S. W., have lost £30,000 by the floods. The Hon. Attorney-General returns to Auckland from Wellington on Friday next. New Zealand hemp at London is unchanged. Latest Quotations are £34 15s to £35.

Mr Bryce received a vote of thanks and confidence at Ngaruawahia on Wednesday night. At the Gisborne Supreme Court Mawai Kanau was acquitted on a charge of forgery. Funeral of the late Mr George Ireland yesterday afternoon was numerously attended. Lord Invererie and the Marquis of Downshire left for Sydney by the Mararoa last evening-. The Earl of Kintore had a yachting trip in the harbour before leaving for Sydney yesterday. The trial of the Bishop of Lincoln for ritualism is finished. Judgment has been reserved. The Hospital steward thanks the Rev. D. W. Runciman for his gift of books for. use of patients. Oscar Johansen, of Te Kopuru, five years old, had a narrow escape from drowning ab Te Kopuru last week. The East Coast Hussars have gone into camp, at Gisborne, for six days' training under Capt. Colernan. The missing steamer Bucephalus, which ran short of coal and provisions, has been picked up near Adelaide. France is going to put an increased tax upon strong liquors as a means of checking their sale as much as possible. National mourning in Portugal for the late King will be risible on most of the public buildings for a whole year. Bishop Barry, formerly Primate of Australia, was hooted, and finally silenced ab Lambert, for attacking Socialism. All those persons who take no interest in welfare of their fellows are earnestly requested to shop after 7 o'clock p.m. Mr Chamberlain appeals to the Nonconformists to repudiate Mr Morley's statement with regard to dissenting schools. N. H. King's little daughter, who was bo seriously burned in a paddock at Carter-, ton, died from the effect of her injuries. A select committee has been appointed by the Imperial Parliament to report on the working of the Merchandise Marks Act. Kossuth, the Hungarian patriot, in an interview said he was certain Australia would eventually separate from England. There will be a meeting of the Tailoressee' and Presses' Union in the Social Hall, V.M.C.A. Buildings, this evening at 7.30 p.m. The Behring's Strait fisheries dispute! is not yet settled, and there is some uneasiness in Canada as to the probable result.

Compressed air is the motive power of street railways in Nantes, and it is said to be cheaper than horse-power, electricity, or steam.

Sir Somers Vine has been thanked for successfully carrying oub his mission to the colonies on behalf of the Imperial Institute. It is reported that if the Australian colonies federate, a member of the Royal Family will be appointed the first GovernorGeneral. It is understood thab Lord Hartington'a committee on military affairs will recommend the abolition of the post of Com-inander-in-Chief. To spend to-day in looking away from it, backward to yesterday or forward to the morrow, is eimply fatal to the highest purposes and issues of life. The Municipal Council of Paris has protested against the Duke of Orleans being released unless the strikers now under sentence are also pardoned. A series of gig races in connection with the West End Rowing Club will take place Saturday next. A notice to members appears in another column. Mr James Mills, M.H.R. for Porh Chalmers, contemplates a visit to the old country, and will probably send in hie resignation before next session. The London "Standard" considers the recent statement as to the working of the education system will render an extension of the voluntary schools inevitable. The New South Wales Government intend sending the mineral exhibits in the New South Wales Courb at the Dunediu" Exhibition , to the* Mining Exhibition at the Crystal Palace. The London " Daily Telegraph " eulogises the colonial Divorce Bill as embodying the improved morality of the age. It considers the law of England should be reformed in the same direction. The Intercolonial Postal Conference, which has been sitting in Sydney, has considered the question of the extension of the limits of money orders, parcels post, and international and intercolonial telegraph rates.

An outbreak of typhoid fever has occurred amongst the domestics at Government House, Melbourne. The Earl of Hopetoun and family will, therefore, remain at the Government summer residence, Mount Macedon. In giving an estimate for requirements for next year to the Charitable Aid Board, the Dunedin Benevolent Trustees resolved to reduce the demand to £8,500, a decrease of £500 compared vrtth the previous year.