TABLE TALK.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVIII, Issue 225, 28 September 1897, Page 1

TABLE TALK.

Another attempted burglary. S.s. Tarawera left for Sydney. Board of Education met to-day. Auckland Harbour Board met this afternoon. Christian Endeavour Convention was continued to-day. Polo is being played on bicycles at the Crystal Palace, London, i Tlig recovery of the Tasmania's mails still remains in abeyance. The British forces have still some heavy fighting on the Afghan frontier. Mr A. C. Begg is definitely announced las a candidate ■ for the vacant Dunedin seat. Two new steamers are to be built in Auckland for the Wade and Matakana trade. R.M.s. Alameda leaves here for San Francisco next Saturday with the colonial [ mails. So far £1,066 2s 5d has been raised in Auckland for the erection of a statue to the Queen. At the beginning of this week there were 142 male and nine female prisoners in Mount Eden Gaol. There are now 21 miners on the Mambare, in New Guinea. No gold is reported to have been found. Ben Tillett has been engaged as labour organiser by New Zealand Unions at a salary of £400 per annum. It is proposed to make the WellingtonNew Plymouth train service tri-weekly instead of bi-weekly as at present. The R.M.s. Alameda is a treasure ship again this voyage. She has gold to the value of £400,000 onboard from Sydney for America. The Christchurch Chamber of Commerce has forwarded a letter to the Premier re training ship for New Zealand, backed up by expressions by 26 public bodies. Lieut. C. H. Clemens has been elected lieutenant - commander of the Auckland Naval Artillery Volunteer Corps, vice Lieutenant-Commander Little, resigned. It is .said that a recently appointed Justice of the Peace in another part of the colony ordered a prisoner to be bound over in his own " reminiscences " and one surety of £30. A Land Court is to sit at Maketu (Bay of Plenty) in January next for the purpose of individualising the titles to various small blocks in that neighbourhood. This should assist settlement. The ordinary weekly drill of the Ponsonby Naval Artillery Volunteers was held last evening at trie Drill-shed, the muster being a good one, under Lieut.Commander Graham. News from Taupo reports that apparently a piece of the lip or the crater of Ngauruhoe, on the northern side, has disappeared, presumably into the crater. Everything is quiet at Tokaanu except for a slight earthquake on Saturday. Walter Hodren, licensee of the Fordell Hotel, Wanganui, was convicted yesterday for allowing drunkenness and the game of poker on the pennises. On the first offence he was fined £5 and £10 16s costs, and the license was endorsed. On the second charge a line of 50s, costs 7s, was imposed. A number of the natives interested in Te Mano Eka at Te Puke have signed a petition to Government praying that the decision of the Appellate Court be reversed as they are dissatisfied with the partition. There is,little hope,■.however, of their petition being, of avail, as there is no appeal against the Appeal Court. . An effort is being made by the Government to purchase the1 Taheke Block, near Rotoiti, and a Court will probably sit at Rotorua within three or four months for the purpose of defining the interests held. Should the Government succeed in purchasing this block it will aid in a great measure any scheme to connect the East Coast with the interior by rail. News received at Cooktown (Queensland) from New Guinea by the steamer Merrie England states, with regard to the attack on Wriford's party in New Guinea, that all Wriford's carriers deserted about six weeks ago at the foot of Mount Scratchley. Wriford, Martin, and a Cingalese were building a log hut to keep their provisions in, when the natives rushed the provisions. Wriford and Martin barricaded themselves in the hut, but the Cingalese Avas chased until a number of Guillianetti boys were met with about four miles away. Wriford did not use firearms. There is no truth, therefore, in the reported massacre.