TABLE TALK

Auckland Star, Volume XXXI, Issue 30, 5 February 1900, Page 1

TABLE TALK

11 Schools re-assembled. '. ' ', T •j Governor is at Tauranga. Third contingent preparations ac ; tive. ■'■■■... ; Western Springs -water supply stil> decreasing. Mafeking has now been under siege for 109 days. Bush fires continue in many of the . country districts. •; A British flying column has reached | Northern Zululancl. ;! General French is conferring with j his chief at Capetown. | The Boers in Northern Natal are -said to be very despondent. • Seven Boer guns were disabled in' .; the- Tugela fighting recently. ' News from the Cape says there is ■ urgent: need of reinforcements. i. The, United States transport Abar«' j erida jhas left'here for Samoa. ■ . i The animal meeting of the Auckland'jGas Company took place to-day. ' A large number of Maoris want to go to South Africa to fight the Boers. '. ■ Fb<ur British soldiers have so far won the Victoria "Cross in the Boer i' war. • . • : • j The Hon. W. Bolleston has left Wei-1 j lingtoai for Sydney, en route to Eng- ; i land. j The Boers lost'a thousand men in j.the recent -fighting near the Tugela River, i ; -;•.'.-. • Mr Goschen, First Lord of the British Admiralty, has made a reassuring speech. ; ' The Governor and party were ajt the Great Barrier Island in the Tutanekai yesterday*. ' ,-.'.•-' , The Australan bowlers visiting • Auckland left this morning on a visit • to EotoTua. . . The ."Brough Company will open at ; the Attckland Opera House next Mon- '. day j evening. Volunteers for the third contingent will assemble at the Drill Hall to-nibr-roiv' morning. . . . ."Russia within the .past two years ; banished to Siberia, 20,056 persons, 894 , being women. „, . i Lord Methuon's force in' Northern" rp-ape Colony is to be increased to sixty thousand men. ■ ~' ■ ■ i Southern volunteers for the. Rough Eiders are now doing good , t work in camp. ...-.■ ■;■■■■. ■;. . "■•■ '. ■■• Theatrophone," kinematograph and. -vocal entertainment ;at the, Opera ; House to-night. • :■■ . Astronomers tell us ±ha\ in our solar. system there'are at least 17,0.00,000: comets of all sizes. . ■'-:"•■ . Forty of- the British reported .killed: at Magersfontein are prisoners in the hands of the Boers. • , ' It-is said that General; Butler is;endeavouring1' to turn the Boer position' near Grobbler's. Kloof. . : V The fiiiail selection of fifty Wanganui ; volunteers for the ' third contingent' was to be made to-day. •' ■■' ■ . • ' '. - The Hotchlciss battery for the second/ New Zealand contingent has' '• been/shipped to Capetown. \ : Th.-a latest estimate-of the total. Brit- . ish casualties (including' prisoners)1 in- ' theJßoer. wa'r.*so;.far,is,9,S6o. , . . ■ \ JThereductiounin the;city water con- " stiinption cT>iring''"tlie' past vweek *:to-'r felled .nearly a* nlillibn'gallons'.''■ ■' British Government' propose- to add fifteen new battalions of infantxy • (about 12,000 men) to the army:;; . ' British supplementary estimates • will provide twenty millions; sterlingto cover the South African ,War til*: i April. ■ ■ • • • ■ [ ; Mr John T.Bedgood, avlio has beec a resident of the Bay of islands, dis- : [ trict for sixty-foiar years,- died at.-Watv ', mate North a few days' ago. ' The biish fires at Karangahalve hay destroyed some old buildings ,at wha^ ! is known as Siberia, and also . the \ Crown G.M. Co.?s smithy. '.. ~ : , .An. edition of the "Pilgrims Progress, 3' translated into Chinese, represents Christian with a shaved head and a pigtail. . . •, ';'"-», There are 250,000 words in. the Engj lish language—7o,ooo more than in, the , ; French, German and Spanish langu- ■ ages combined. . L _ ' : The most' active volcano is Mount Sangay, 17,464 feet high, situate*? on the eastern chain of the Andes. It has been in constant eruption since 1728.; In his sermon at St. Matthew's Church yesterday, the Primate (Bishop Cowie) stated vjthat he arrived in Auckland ',-Just 30 years ago on Saturday, last. . • • ' . ~;• • .•;; " Several bush and scrub fires hare occurred near Eotorua, and a large belt of scrub in the Sanatorium grounds, near. Sulphur Point, was/ destroyed by fire last week. ... . Mr S. Percy Smith (Surveyor-Gene-ral) and Judge Butler, have arrived at Euatoki, inland from Whakatane, where the Urewera Native Land Commission, of which-Mr Smith is-presi-; dent, begins its sitting" this week.: - Five hnndred; and ; forty pounds _19 the record weigint lor-'ah- African;iion'J His bone is solid and heavy as ivory. The tiger runs the lion vei*y close.- A1 Bengal tiger killed two years ago by ; ■an English officer scaled 520 poiiriSs.; Five: tenders have been received for the erection of the J new hospital buildings at the Thames^ one being from an Auckland •contractor. The tenders are to be dealt with at a meeting of the Thames Hosr pital trustees this evening." ■ :: : The wheat crop in the Tauranga dis^ trict this season seems to be- a. yerjl fair one and the grain is entirely fre^. from smut. Tht natives, who havt^. been the principal growers, seem vert; well pleased'with'the "result of thei£ labour. ■ It is averred by a distinguished, doc* tor that nervousness "can be entireK eradicated, by the use of soft soled shoes. The-hard soles worn by the' Anglo-Saxon race are asserted b.y him to be the cause of their extreme nervous temperament. ■"■'.: Between 15,000 and 20,000 Idlts are.' made every year. The kilted British regulars, militia, and volunteers number, some seventeen -battalions." Tg ( these may be a'daed'the pipers,belong- \ iug- to Lowland.regiments, making m all about 14,000 men; ' As the-military; Mlt Js only piwidea biennially, thi& represents a supply of 7000 .each year. The residents of Bulls, Lower Rangi* tikei, and the Eangitikei Cavalry Tolnnteers (disbanded some years ayo)' have subscribed- £ 68, with which they have purchased a charger, and will fully equip Mr Tom Lambess as their representative in the Wanganui contingent of the Eough Eiders., ,MrLambess was rough rider in the oM corps, and won the gold medal presented by the ladies for shooting, he having . been the best shot i or ; two years in the trooo, .: ''■■'■. .'.'-'-