MISCELLANEOUS.

Grey River Argus, Volume XXVI, Issue 4394, 23 September 1882, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

It aeema strange (says the Australasian) that we should have to ascribe praise for courage to a clergyman, merely for venturing to preach a sermon in which he contends that actors and actresses are not necessarily abandoned reprobates, and that going to the theatre is not a crime. And yet no one will doubt that it required a good deal of courage for the Bey. E. A. Crawford to go to the theatre at Castlemaine to witness a performance of " Hamlet," and afterwards to preach a sermon pleading for showing greater liberality of view and estimate towards theatres and theatrical people. And the worst of the case is that every sensible person feels that what there is on the other side opposed to his view is not the bigotry of Puritanism, which might, in Its earnest narrowness, be respectable, but only a senseless traditional conventionalism, which nobody any longer, believes in. "It was," said Mr Crawford in his sermon, " a disgraceful and scandalous thing that because a man was an actor, or a woman an actress, they were to be regarded as social criminals." O'Farrell, in his defence at the Police Court, Melbourne virulently attacked Archbishop Goold, but declared he only intended frightening him with the revolver. Her Majesty's ship Diamond has re- , turned from the South Seas, where she has retaliated for outrages committed by Natives on Europeans. Melbourne clergymen met to consider the Social Evil, and have formed a Social Purity Association. A miner recently bit a piece out of another man's forehead at Temora (New South Wales). A correspondent of the Chroniole who has just Been Irving in London says : — "I aaw the great actor Irving mnrder Romeo. If he plays that part in America he will certainly be cabbaged. He groaned through his lines and struck melodramatic attitudes, and dragged one leg after the other in a very spasmodic style ; and the expression of his face suggested the idea that he was ohewing soap nd taking his time about it. Ugly ! well, just imagine O3car Wilde, only he is •'* little more cadaverous, an epitome of loannness, in fact. The piece, though, was handsomely mounted, and Miss Terry j was very pretty as Juliet.

Theßedfern railway station, N. S. W. , ia illuminated by the electric light. State aid to denominational schools will cease in New South Wales at the end of this year. Mr J. P. Spring reports that the result of the crushing of the quartz forwarded tpjiijn .... f rom .^the, .Gnidtog J3iar M jolalmjat .... Mokihinui is 3dwta 2grs from 9£lb of stone, equal to 250z to the ton. The reef has been traced for a distance of 1200 ft. through, the. Company's.. .proper^;^and ... varies in width from lft to 7ft. Mr William Glass has just inspected the mine and declares it to be the best show he has seen in New Zealand. The Morning Star and Golden Crown immediately adjoin the Guiding Star, and as the reef has been traced up to the boundary of the former, and has been found again iD the^Gblden? Crown, it is thought by experts to traverse the Morning Star throughout its entire length. Of the Golden Crown, a Reefton miner, who has lately visited the claims, says : "This occupies the crown of the spur, and will come to the front one day as one of the wealthiest mineral spars in New Zealand." — Dunedin EveniDg I Star. Rather extraordinary features are reported in connection with the election of a member of the Diocesan Synod at Port Chalmers. There were two candidates, Downes the former member and Graham. The voting was Downes 33 and Graham 12. The returning officer was captain dimming ; he declared all Downea's .votes but 12 informal and gave his casting vote for Graham. Downes will appeal to the Synod. . ; ■ " r This year there are 68 nominations;' f or . the Dunedin Cup. Last year the number was 38. „...; . Guiteau's body has been boiled at the Medical Museum, Washington, for the purpose of removing all .the -flesh. The skeleton will be set up in the Museum. The return mile' foot race between Burke and O'Connor, for L6O a side, and the championship of New Zealand, came off in the presence of 4000 spectators. O,Connor ran a waiting race on this occasion for the first half-mile, and was thus enabled to reverse the result, beating Burke by forty or fifty., yards. Time— 4 mins 29| sees. The betting Was from even money to 6 t0 .4 on Burke, and,a large sum of money changed hands 7 ' The following' has appeared, in^-ther^ London Times:—" The Bishop' 1 'b^ Lincoln, writing to the Mayor of Grimsby on the temperance question, sayß the temperance pledge is not scriptural. It undermines the Godhead of Christ, and he who takes tbe pledge and breaks it weakens the bonds of society. Tender consciences fear to break it, thus often sacrificing their health: and entailing a burden up on' others. The pledge is both uhscripiural and herefcioal." T ; . •