SOCIETIES, CLUBS, &c.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXVI, Issue 7926, 31 July 1886, Page 3

SOCIETIES, CLUBS, &c.

The fortnightly meeting of the Mutual Improvement Class in connection with the United Methodist Free Church, Colombo road, Sydenham, was held on Wednesday evening; thirty members were present, the President in the chair. After the usual business, including the nomination of new members and the adoption of a syllabus for the present quarter, an elocution meeting was held, the following members contributing instructive and interesting readings and recitations: —Messrs S. Hocking, E. Hardaker, G. Milnes, F. Steel, and Mrs Pedlar and Miss E. Straw. ST PAUL'S CHURCH LITERARY SOCIETY. The regular weekly meeting of thiß Association took place on Thursday evening, when the members and their friends had the pleasure of listening to an eloquent and able paper by their President on "The Life and Work of John Duncan." Mr Elmslie, in an interesting manner, told theßtoryof Duncan's life and life's work, in face of difficulties and under circumstances which to others would have been simply overpowering, and how at last Mb valuable services to the world of botanical science were recognised and rewarded. The paper, which was in the lecturer's best style, was a treat of no ordinary kind to those who heard it, and at its close the writer was, on the motion of Mr George Laurenson, seconded by Mr D. Griffiths, accorded a hearty vote of thanks.