TABLE TALK.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 52, 1 March 1916, Page 1

TABLE TALK.

a The death of Henry James, the wellknown author, is announced. The two Wellington musical societies have resolved to amalgamate. There is little news from Mesopotamia, but that little is satisfactory. A German report credits Japan "witE having sold to Russia four warships. The price of flour in Dunedin has been dropped from .£l3 10/ to £12 10/ a ton. The subscriptions *to the Auckland Gift Aeroplane Fund already amount "to £511. Hand-to-hand fighting is reported by the French from the region to the west of Douaumont. A serious epidemic among horses, which resembles tetanus, is prevalent in South Canterbury. ! It is now estimated that the Germans have 800,000 men engaged in the offensive against Verdun. Mails from England, Egypt, and Australia are due in Auckland, via Wellington, on Saturday morning. _&_ German reports say that of Douaumont crumbled up undfj|||||JH|oncentrated fire of the seventeen-incr^guns. "The Kaiser's visit to the fleet "is the strongest hint that A climax is coming at sea," writes tne editor of .the,. London "Observer." The French line north-and east of Verdun was withdrawn four miles'in six days, during which the figEfing "was terribly severe. .."' The. City . Becrpit.ing;;.JCtomptef.--.jnx Melbourne has decided to urge that conscription be ' brought in. owing, to slack recruiting.'-, r The arrivals aC the port of - Auckland in February, numbered' 1186, and therdepartures 2054, including 1353r soldiers land others for Egypt. . ' ~„.. If the passengers and ;crew-on .the Maloja had not been furnished with lifebelts there "would" Have ■ been an even greater-loss of.life... »." ..*. 11 -"—-.-I*.' ' ."•The;...J'Fihancial ,Hews'V .jyarr4s*j;.tho public "of Great''-Britainri;hafe"'Germart secret agents will .endeavour to,create a panic in the near future. .... . .....-,'. A. correspondent writing from the Balkans' saj-s.. that.-.both, in'.'Bumania...and Turkey the people, are groaning;under the. oyer-lordshjp of. .~ Fifty special, bursarj.es. soldiers killed f-or incapacitatedr- during the war are to-be provided -by the New South Wales Education-Department. »-', • The Wellington .vital statistics for 1 February arc:—Births 180, rdeaths -69, and- marriages 103,- showing-, a -large increase (about~3G peri cent, in-marriages. For eighteen Hours the" "defenders oi Douaumont were exposed "to a "continuous rain of shot and shell, but still they kungonand the enemy-had to give way. Colonel Repington-, the-military-writer of the "Times," expects that there will be a fresh German offensive at some ptoint other than" VeTdun—probably in the Champagne. The cutter Enterprise loft Bluff yes-' tcriay bound on the perennial treasureseeking expedition =.- at the Auckland t'oi-lry fqr ; the- that' Bank ! n the General Grant in-1866. .-..-.- During February the births in Auckland •numbered' ;353y the deaths' 99, and the marriages '93, hemg-increases : ot 131' births,.six deaths, and two marridges' a-3 compared with the . previous" February..' ■ • A railway: crossing 'accident' ■at Tin- ■ wald, near Ashburtqn,-•resulted in" _tbV death of : Lloyd Harrison,'-a- boy- eight years of age,-and serious-injury to h:s father, Mr.- -George HarrisonV a" farmer. The Moderate " League? ask 6 for;';deftnite'i infbrination''."fr'oirc.the Defence Department"respecting soldiers' I and , drunkenness-.'prior. 1 to ..'committing • itself .on the" proposal ~t?S close- Ebt'e}3 ' 'da'rly,::.:.'.'...': ." '-, ..;'-"",.."."..'.'.'.— "—"-,. ..' J,.'.,.,' The. action; between.,,a small British force "an'd'-some';-;6f-the^ «nemj-in-_h'e Sue? district- last Saturday, rosulted-in ' a decisive defeat of; the "enemy; 200~of his dead ani'worjnde^^emg ground. • _ --;-,»■ -■- A Berlin •report, IsHggEafAL.that'--the G eraa'ri'L Admiralty.-prjßposga. tflu Jprpedo all..stearners*.neutrals included," and it is:,believed:. "will, enable in:.t^9~months; "'„"_ ... ; ~'„• -Be-wise, book. ,yQur,.sej4s.;'.-ttow.^Jfe r .next;ss-e.ekc7T(Ad.) .--■.':- '""r~ .-;*;'" - Bycroft's ideal milk arrowToot-biscajts for "baby. Crisp, dainty,-delidoua.> : —2 grocers.—(Ad.)—-""-'™'~-'»-'" -»■--: -«•■£_* :