TABLE TALK.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVIII, Issue 75, 1 April 1897, Page 1

TABLE TALK.

" All Fools " Day. ■, , Oyster season opened to-day. S.s. Flora from the South to-day. ... . Greek troops have been shelled in Crete.

S.s. Ovalau arrived from fche South Sea Islands..* 1 . ,

Austria has prohibited fche ex por b of cartridges for Greece. ..."', ~'.'■.<* The British Squadron ab the Capo is \ ordered to proceed to sea. / ' Mr Boardmaa, Mayor'of Auckland, ia _*. said to be slowly improving in health. . " Lights o' London " again ab fche Opera , House to-night, to-morrow, and Saturday evenings. ;

A gardener has died in a vinery at > Remuera, ib is supposed from suffocafcioa by fumes of nitric acid.

The Auckland branch of the Irish National Federation meets this evening at. the usual time and place. Miss Baker', daughter of the Rev. Shirley Baker,-Y(_turned from Tonga this morning by the*s#.t_aer Ovalau. Major Banks assumed command of fche Auckland volunteer district .to-day, with the rank of iieubenan-t-colonel.

Professor Thomas, of the Auckland University College, is expected to arrive here from Sydney on Monday next. Tho alleged "sly-grog" selling casein the Coromandel district is expected to como on for trialab Coromandel to*morro«rJ

The captain of the s.s. Mahinapua hasbeen fined for overcrowding his steamer on the trip from New Plymouth bo Onehnnga. •• News from Samoa by the Ovalau states ; thab the recent war scare ab Apia has ' *■• fizzled " oub, actual hosbilibies nob baking ' place.

The Northern oyster-fishery, from Wbangaruru to bhe North Cape, openod to-day, bub the Hautaki oyster district is to be kept closed.

There is fear of a famine at Haapai and '. Vavau, in the Friendly Islands, owing to bhe facta of no rain having fallen for several I months.

The Arbitration Board has been called on to settle the dispute between the Wellington sailors and the Cook Strait shipowners. Mr George Dunnefcb, of fche firm of Henderson and Jlacfarlane, arrived from Sydney and the South Sea Islandß by the Ovalau this morning. The Napier Mayor's list for the Indian Famine; Relief Fund exceeds £300. !The country lists will probably bring Hawke's Bay contributions bo £500.

The New Zealand financial returns for all Government departments for the paab twelve months show a very prosperous year, and there is a big surplus. The Aucklaod-Taranaki coach road, between Stratford and the Poro-o-Taroa tunnel^ in bhe King Country, is now formed^lfor nearly 80 miles, aud 44 miles remain to be done.

Mr and Mrs Humphrey Haines, of Auckland, who have been on ajjaib to England, have arrived ab Wellington", and will come on fco Auckland by bhe s.s. Tasmania, which is duo here next Sunday morning.

Aboub 200 Samoan natives who wenb from Apia to Tonga lately to take parb in some " royal" festivities ab Nukualofa reburned bo Samoa lately by the Ovalau, which arrived in Auckland this evening.

Colonel Pitt, who is to have fche command of the New Zealand military contingent, is a barrister and solicitor of Nelson, and has been iv the colony about thirty years. Ho came from Hobart, and its an enthusiastic volunteer. ■-■■-•__ ....,--. •.'"

No inquest was deemed necessary on the body of the gumdigger, Ruddy, who was brought into the' Hospital a few days ago in a sbate of unconsciousness, and who died there. Death is considered to have been due to apoplexy.

The Committee of the Canterbury Fruitgrowers' Association have drafted a Bill providing thab it be an offence bo bring . apples infected with codlit. moth to an uninfected district, or to expose infecbed apples for sale therein. The Napier Harbour Board's Works Committee resolved to recommend the : Board to give notice to the engineer, ■ secretary, wharfinger and harbourmaster, i with a Tiew to an amalgamation of their . offices at lower salaries. .

In order bo prevent dissatisfaction all children from small schools having bo compete for scholarships againsb bhose attending schools with a large beaching staff, the Wellington Board of Education proposes ' bo classify them on bhe basis of attendance. At the Police Courb yesterday afternoon a woman named Jane Kerr was fined for breaking a pane of glass in fche house occupied by Abdul Latter, a Mahomedan. She entered Abdul's house when he was cooking his Sunday dinner, and threw a jam tin through the window. Amongst the Melanesian Islands to be i visited by the Mission yacht Southern • Cross, which left; here yesterday for bhe > Western Pacific, are bhe Banks Group, Santa Cruz, bhe Torres Group, some of the New Hebrides and the Solomon Islands, whore cannibals are still to be found by the thousand.

The recenb rains in bhe Whangarei district caußod two heavy freshes in the Wairna River, and book away all the kauri logs from Griffin's bush, tho logs passing in bwo days down the Wairua, over the Ruabangata Falls (50ft) over the Poroti Falls (70ft), and through a series of rapids to salt water.

Ab the Police Court yesterday afternoon a young man named George Flureb *was committed for trial at fche next criminal sittings of, the Supreme Court on charges of receiving a gold waibch knowing it to have been stolen, and of breaking and entering fche shop of James Moyes in Vie.oria-atreob, and stealing therefrom goods to the value of £18 ss.

Norfolk leland, ib seems, is not the innocent and crimeless Arcadia ib once was some years ago. A Sydney paper says . bhab at last; advices four prisoners were confined in bhe temporary gaol ab Norfolk Island. Two, for attempbed housebreaking, are serving six months; one, for stealing, is confined for six months ; aud one, for escaping, is serving bhreo months. Persia is nob a rich country, bub the late Shah appears to have had a fine capacity for piling up wealth. In his long reign he accumulated £8,000,000 in cash and £32,000,000 in real and personal property. Doubtless the amassing of this great fortune seriously reduced the -per capita wealth of Persia, for fche revenues of a small European country would scarcely stand so great a drain as this. The Secretary of. fche Tonga Trading Company, Limited, formed at Sydney, eaid lately: "Sydney will do the bulk of tbe Tonga trade under our direct steam service. Hitherto New Zealand has had the pull, bub since the Sydney markets were opened people find bhab they can do very much bebber ab Sydney, and the brade of those islands will certainly como bbis way." Tha experimental trip just completed to New Britain by tho steamer Titus was so satinfactory that ib is intended to make alternate trips to the German archipelago.