TABLE TALK.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 37, 12 February 1917, Page 1

TABLE TALK.

The Duke of Norfolk, the premier Brith peer, is dead. There is talk in Chxi_t<___rc_ of wjrtage of coal. To-day is the last day for payment f income-tax without incurring the tea er cent penalty. _Ir. Robert J. Gillies, an ex-Inspector f Police, died at Christchurch. oa Sab* rday at the age of 67 years. A large flaxmill at Otanomomo in Itago was burned in Saturday, the los_ icing estimated at over £1,000. An elderly man named Alexander Hack, aged "62, has been missing front iis home in Grey Street for a week. A British destroyer of the older type las .been sunk in the Channel while on >atrol duty. Only five of the crew were aved. It is estimated that the guano de>osits on the island of Nauru, formerly; i German possession, are worth, £60,000,000. Imports of tea into Britain have been »reatly reduced owing to the -hortaga )f ships, and it is expected that prices svill rise considerably. The losses from the first week of un■eetricted submarining are estimated at 100,000 tons, excluding small craft and iressels known to have been ■ mined. The Indian passenger steamer "Manila -was torpedoed without warning S3 miles from the Fastnet. All the pass2n£ei's were saved, but seventeen Las« ;ars were, lost. The German Press affects to consider it impossible that the Belgian rel_>fi steamer Lars Kruse could have bee:t torpedoed, and declares that she must) have been mined. Very successful ■ operations against the Senussi have been carried out in. Western Egypt. The tribesmen .fled, evacuating their positions, and abandoning a large quantity of stores* The Norwegian Government 5s negotiating a postal service to England through Holland, relying on tbe" Germans undertaking that one mail steamer a. day will be allowed to cross to England unmolested. It is. reported in Switzerland that German 'banks arc hindering Americans from making withdrawals, in consequence of which many are barely able to buy food. The Deutsche Bank refused Mr. Gerard a, loan. The Colonial Office is launching _ scheme for the settlement of soldiers-in; the land within the Empire. It is almost certain that the Dominions will furnish the necessary land, and the Imperial Government the money. A trawler picked up a boat off the Spanish coast containing three white men and a negro, the only-.survivors of a torpedoed British steamer...They had been five [days without foodyanl were in "a terrible . __c village of Grandeeourt "was captured by the British with scarcely any resistance, and it has now become plain that the Germans are evacuating certain positions on the Sornme which they, do not think worth holding. There are persistent rumours in. Brazil that a German raider has been sunk after an encounter with a British- squadron. • A British cruiser is stated to have put into Peroambuco for repairs, after repelling an attack by a submarine. Travellers state that it is firmly be>lieved everywhere in Germany that the submarine campaign will ' reduce Britain to starvation within three or months. The newspapers - ahow extravagant joy over the results of tha campaign. The Kaiser has approached Mr. Wilson through Switzerland, suggesting a conference with the object of averting war, and the Argentine Ambassador at Washington has been instructed to propose an international conference .at Madrid for this purpose. ' -' —' "So self-respecting Government could allow .the business of the country to be interrupted by any section of the com--munity which may imagine that it has a grievance."—The Hon. A. L. Herdman on the Government's action concerning the-«waterside trouble. There were in His Majesty's prison, Auckland, for the .week ending- Saturday : : - On remand, 4 males, 2 females; awaiting trial, 8 males; sentenced to life, 7 males;sentenced to hard labour, 192 males, 18 females; sentenced to imprisonment, 4 males, 2 females; default of bail, 2 males;; received during- the week, 20 males, i females; discharged, 29 males. 3 females. Total in prison, 217 males, 22 females. Children and infants are fond of Sycroft's ideal milk arrowroot bi_c_its, ji_ thrive on them. Scores of testinonials. Ask for Bycroft's; all grocers.Ad.)