TABLE TALK.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIX, Issue 302, 22 December 1898, Page 1

TABLE TALK.

'Star' mail summary. Outward mail on Saturday. Visitors.arriving daily for the E& hibition. Queen's Statue Committee met this afternoon. Musical contests at the Exhibition this afternoon. Holiday number of the 'Graphic' published to-day. A religious war is threatened in Austro-Hungary. An attempted suicide iz reported from New Plymouth. Two balloonists crossed the British Channel in five hours. A sensational blackmailing case is reported by cable to-day. Picketing1 to dissuade men from working is pronounced illegal. Admiral Dewey-s squadron at thePhilippines has been further increased. Sir W. Broadbent, the celebrated physician, says consumption is preventible. Bioscope and micrpphdno entertainment over Churton's auction mart to-nig-ht. About 4000 people attended the Auckland Exhibition yesterday and last evening. England recently suppressed a filiblisting1 expedition from Hongkong1 to the Philippines. The Hon. A. J. Cadman arrived here from the Thames last night, and left this morning- for Coromandel. JSntries for the sailing- and rowing1 races at the North Shore Native Eegatta close to-morrow evening. For magnificent pictures of the exhibits and courts at the Exhibition and plenty of interesting reading for the holidays get the New Zealand 'Graphic' A gumdigger named D. Sullivan died on board the auxiliary screw schooner Oban on Tuesday morning while on the passage from Auckland to Waipu. Twenty natives, the first batch of Maori visitors for the North Shore Native Eegatta, arrived here by train from the Kaipara to-day, bringing some material for their whares. at North Shore. 'Suicide while suffering from temporary insanity, caused by financial difficulties,' was the verdict returned yesterday afternoon at the inquest on. 'the late Mr John E. Stych, of the' Avondale Hotel. A man named E. Bonnison was very badly injured on- the Marototo Eoad yesterday. It seemed as if he had fallen off the waggon, which had passed over his body. The extent of his injuries is yet unknown. Over two hundred Maoris from Waikato, Bay of Islands, and Kaipara are expected to arrive, here to-morrow for the North Shore Native Eegatta, while others from the Waikato and Kaipara will arrive, on Monday. Yesterday Messrs J. Churton and Co. sold by auction 77 Humber and.1 Ealeigh safety bicycles, the highest price paid for a machine being £16 ■10/, and -the lowest £10 10/. The total sales amounted to £995 15/. When a handsome man visits the north-eastern portion of Tartary the inhabitants kill him because'he• is good-looking. They don't want his clothes or his money; they simply, want his soul to remain amongst them. The great seal of England is a silver pair of dies, which are closed to receive the melted mass, poured, when' an impression is to be taken, through' an orifice let in the top. The impression of the seal is 6in. in diameter and Jin thick. A queer accident happened near Walsall, in England, latery. where a' canal fell into a coalpit. The canal flowed over the pit, the underground supports of which gave way, letting' down the ground above, draining the canal of water, and putting- a stop to all traffic. The thrush, blackbirds and ,goldfinches are said to be a great nuisance in the Upper Wai pa just now. To grow soft fruits is an impossibility;! the strawberries.are devoured as soon, as seen, and not a cherry is left on the* tree after the green stage of growth! has passed, and now (says a Pirongia. correspondent) they are clearing the gooseberries. Mr E. C. Carr offered for sale by auction yesterday the property of Mr F. A. White, in Carlton Gore Eoad and Kyber Pass Eoad. The property was submitted as a whole without finding a bid; for lot 19 (about three-quarters of an acre), on which stands the residence and vinery the best offer was £ 1500, and it was passed. Lot 2, with a frontage of 60ft to Carlton Gore Eoad, was sold at £5 5/ per foot. Private negotiations are proceeding for the purchase of the residence and much of the land. .Vacancies at Euth's Island. See advertisement. —(Ad.) Eat Masefield's celebrated plum puddings. From grocers everywhere.—Ad. The comic cai'ds at Wildman and Lyeli's are a great, attraction. See them. Inspection invited. —(Ad.) Special purchase. 850 yards of wool delaine, in neat patterns, worth lOfd, selling for 4£d. —Smith and Caughey, -(Advt.)