TABLE TALK.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIII, Issue 299, 17 December 1902, Page 1

TABLE TALK.

I The Governor is in town,r » The Auckland Board of Education, met- to-day. Eng-lish cricketers officially welcomed to-day. ~ -.~ More King Country sly grog cases are being* heard in the Waikato. Police Inspector Cullen has returned to town after an inspection of the police stations in the goldtields districts. Another Central American trouble is coming-. It is stated that Colombian forces are preparing , to invade Nicaragua. A Press Association telegram from Whangarei to-day states that Mr. A. Christie, watchmaker, an old identity, is dead. Mr David Symie, of the "Melbourne Age," accompanied by his wife, is at present touring- this colony. He was present at the Invercargill Show last week, and is now "doing" the Southern Cold Lakes. Pines and costs totalling in all some £190 were imposed on Kawhia sly grog-sellers by Mr Norfchcroft, S.M., at Tβ Awamutu yesterday. A large number of King Country cases were being heard to-day. The shells fired by the British and German warships in the bombardment of Porto Cabello, Venezuela, had the unexpected effect of killing a German resident and two of his servants three miles from the port.; The steamer Tavitmi, wlrich struck on a rock near *the Bean Rock, light-, house while coming-in from. Fiji, will go into dock to-morrow 'for examination and repair. The accident is attributed to the steamer being taken off her course by the strength of the tide. ~.. ~ , - :■.„

Mr E. E. Peake, of the firm of Clark, Forde and Taylor, engineers to the Pacific Cable Board, has arrived here from . Fiji by the s.s. Taviuni. He is about to visit Fanning Island, in the Central Pacific, to supervise the work of. establishing the cable station there.

Major-General Robley, of England, has written to the Colonial Museum, authorities at Wellington offering to dispose of liis unique collection of preserved Maori heads, preserved in a manner familiar to old New Zealanders, for £1850. The general obtained the Collection during his residence in the;colony during and after the Maori?'wars. • <>

'; It is reported that members of the prohibition party are moving i° the direction of appealing , to the Electoral Court against Mr J. H. Withefprd's return for Auckland City, on. the alleged grounds of "treating." A deposit of £200 has to be lodged in such a case,. and the application must be lodged with the returning officer within 28 days from the date of the official declaration of the poll.

• News from Wellington states that the" Land and Income Tax Department .lias made a.'demand on Sandow, the .strong , man, for income tax, the amount ,to be assessed on his completion of :fne tour of New Zealand, mud has : "requested payment of a deposit of £25. This action is taken under a Gazette order of July, 1903, which authorises the • Commissioner of Taxes when*he believes any taxpayer carries on business in New Zealand for a short time only to require such : tax payer to give security by, way of bond. . „ ■ The jawbone apparently of- some extinct reptile has been discovered on the banks of the Rangitikei River, west.of the Ruahine Range. The specimen,, which is of considerable size, has been sent to Christchurch for expert classification. The old Maoris in that district have circumstantial stories of f mythical "tani•whaa" or water reptiles which inhabited the inland lakes. The Buataniwha Plains, they say, were once an inland lake, and, as the origin of the name goes to show, the fabled haunt of these .creatures. .

Christianity, among' the Japanese of Maui, in the Hawaiian Islands, is having- a set-back, and Buddhism is ■becoming aggressive, according to a; Honolulu paper. At Wailuku, on that island, since the completion of the BuddKist temple, the large «nd hitherto thriving Sabbath- school Under the charge of a Christian Japanese minister has been - well-nigh broken up, nearly all the Japanese children going to the Buddhist Sunday school at the temple. , Wow, it is stated that the Buddhists of Wailuku •will soon open'a kindergarten ia opposition to the Christian one. Tkg British ship Ganto.dk Rock, from Honolulu, narrowly -escaped collision outside San Francisco Hfcads lately -with, the British, ship Trafalgar, outward Jboiind, There were five vessels in. a bunch, and for a few, minutes intense excrtemeafc prevailed. The pilot 'was with Captain Laurie, of the Gantock Rock, on the vessel's poop, and they both rushed to the wheel to aid the helmsman iv getting his helm, hard over to port. When the danger passed Captain Laurie collapsed. He fell to the deck and died soon afterwards. He was only 35 years of age. He was formerly mate of the ship Cedertoank. Hi? heart had been affected for some time. . .

Somewhere in the ocean off the Japan coast (says a 'Frisco paper) is a - bomb-proof whale. The cnewl of the whaling barque John and. Winthrop found him there recently. Thejj filled him (full of javelins and explo* sives. They used him as a tow-boaS and for five hours he led three tooata" throng-h the merriest chase of the cruise. At the end of the five hours this bellicose mammal, with seventeen harpoons sticking in him , at various angles, with fathoms of line attached to each' ■ harpoon and three •boats attached to the lines, gave a fHck of his tail, tossed one boat into the air and disappeared from the scene. The crew of the capsized boot was picked Tip, and the other boats returned eedly to the ship, -cleaned out of aammrnition and harpoons and .without any whale. Attachedi to each'of the seventeen harpoons was a (bomb, and each bomb exploded, but ■without effect.