TABLE TALK.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVIII, Issue 300, 28 December 1897, Page 1

TABLE TALK.

Splendid holiday weather. Outward 'Frisco mail gone. 'Frisco mail due to-morrow. "Westralia arrived from Sydney. Sad shooting fatality at Motutapu, S.s. Anglian left for Sydney to-day. A great fire is reported from Chicago. Brigands are ravaging parts of inland China. Steamer Wanaka due from Calcutta and Singapore. Singular death of a Dunedin girl in Auckland. Lawn Tennis Championship Tournament is proceeding. A revolt has occurred at Mossamedes, West Africa. ■ Tyser steamer Star of Victoria arrived from London. Antares won the Auckland Cup afe Ellerslie yesterday. "For England " .again at the Opera House, to-night.' The Northcote Wharf has been seriously damaged by lire. . .'-.'; Sensational ferry steamer accident in Sydney Harbour. ■ Auckland yachts returned last evening from their Christmas cruises. About twelve thousand people attended the races at Ellerslie yesterday. Interprovincial cricket match Auckland v. Canterbury, was continued to-day. A boy has been sentenced to death at Perth (W.A.) for poisoning his sister. The death is announced of Mr Henry Palmer, of Northcote; father of Mr Jackson Palmer. Yesterday the sum of £13,544 was passed through the totalisator at the EUerslieliaces. ■ Mr Justice Stephens arrived from Sydney last evening by the s.s. Westraliaoovan va holiday trip to1 New Zealand. A man named Gregan has been arrested on a charge: of murdering his father at Clifton Hill,' New South Wales, supposed to be the i-esult of a quarrel. The 4-10 yards swimming championship of New South Wales at Bathurst was won by Lane, beating Percy Cavill by four yards. Time, 6min 12 l-sth sec. A man named James Fenton attempted to commit suicide' at Wellington on Sunday by; swallowing a quantity of match heads. He was taken to the hospital, where he was eventually brought round. A Departmental inquiry into the circumstances of the accident which nearly "resulted in derailing an excursion train near Pahiatua, on the occasion of the opening of the Woodville railway, is to be held at Wellington. A tine native canoe has been brought up from the Solomon Islands by the Melanesian Mission yacht Southern Cross, for the Auckland Museum. The canoe is well made and the paddles are beautifully inlaid with shells. An alarm of fire was given in the city last night. It proved to be on ,the roof of the residence of Mr Keating, in Welling-ton-street, a spark from a chimney igniting the dry shingles. Mr Keating extinguished the tire with a few buckets of water. ' Mr Walter Lee, of Mangapai, lately had a narrow escape from being killed. He was driving a load of'wool'to the landing when the. horses swerved, throwing him off. One of the wheels grazed his. side iind. thigh, but did not seriously injure.bini. '. \l^e have .received an illustrated, card of Chtistruas and New' Year greetings- from the' officers of -the.General 'Post Office, Auckland,, and'also carrls-from the staffs of.theWairarapa' " Standard" and Fielding "Star." These good wishes are cordially reciprocated. On Sunday morning at half-past six o'clock a youth named Comerford, a clerk in ' Whitcomb'e and Tombs, son of the master of Maungamunu Native School, was drowned at Sumner, Christchurch, while bathing. He dived from a boat and did not corhe up' again. The body has been recovered. Ilobert Hume, commercial traveller for McLeod Bros., Limited, and one of the oldest on the road, died suddenly q,t Dunedin on Saturday morning, supposed to be from heart disease. He was about 58 years of age. He had been for some years Vice-president of the Commercial Travellers' Association. The performance of Handel's " Messiah " by a chorus of upwards of a hundred voices and a full orchestra drew a large audience to theChoralHallonChristmasnight. The soloists were Miss May Dudding, Mrs W. Eady, Mr J. Ferriday, and the Rev. A Mitchell, Mr' Ga'tland conducted the performance and Miss Stevenson led th,e orchestra. • • ' On Sunday afternoon the Choral Society gave their annual free performance of " The Messiah", in the Choral Hall, and the building was crowded. The solos were sung by Mrs A. Tayler, Mrs Eady, Mr W. J. Cousins and the' Rev. A. Mitchell. In the absence of Heir Sclimitt, who was indisposed, Mr G. A. Paque conducted the performance. A telegram from Oamaru states thaiA Wm. Rowlands, aged about 36 years, met with..his death on Saturday night or Sunday morning, by falling down the stairs of the Terminus Hotel,, at Duntroon. He stayed'at the hotel overnight, and nothing was known of the occurrence till the morning, when he was found by the servant girl with his neck broken. . On the .s2nd , inst .a .narrow: escape, frejn a destructive fire occurred at Mr Goldsworthy's Wellwood Farm, Patumahoe. The fire is supposed to have been caused by spontaneous combustion, pf ;a •larga stack coyer made of manure sacks whicli had been dressed with raw linseed oil and left in a barn. The fire was noticed in the barn, and the stack cover was pulled out and the tire extinguished. An elderly man named Charles Bonckha, formerly a miner, was found dead on Sunday at Hokitika, having hanged himself in > a room in his cottage in Sale-street. Ho had been dead for some hours. His toes had been.touching the floor. He was rather eccentric in manner at timesjbut there was no reason to suspect a disposition to selfdestruction. He was a single man. He was supposed to be a man of some means. William. Watt, a well-known storekeeper, died on Friday evening at Hokitika. He had been in a bad state for some time, and did not recover from the shook of the fire which destroyed the buildings on the opposite side of the street a week ago. He had to he moved out of the bed, as the house he was in caught fire several times. He was a very old resident, and an old volunteer. He was given a military funeral. A Press Association telegram from Wellington states that the New Zealand "Times" understands that a Royal Commission is to be appointed to investigate the condition of die kauri gum industry north of Auckland, and'especially the subject of contract labour. The Commissioners wiJl be Mr Mueller, Commissioner of Crown Lands, Auckland, and Mr Tregear, secretary of the Labour Department.