MUTUAL IMPROVEMENT.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXX, Issue 10105, 2 August 1893, Page 3

MUTUAL IMPROVEMENT.

The usual fortnightly meeting of the Sydenham Literary Guild was held on Friday, when the entertainment was provided by the ladies. There was a largo attendance of members and friends. Miss K. Martin presided. A varied and excellent programme was gone through, consisting of songs by Mrs Hadfield, Misses Merritt, M’Alpine and Meiklabwn, recitations by Mrs Do La Mare and Mies Swenson, a paper entitled “ A Few Stray Thoughts on Woman” by Mrs Burn, and a reading by Miss Ewenson. During the evening refreshments were banded round. After a hearty vote of thanks had been passed to the ladies taking part in the programme and those providing the refreshments, an enjoyable evening was brought to a close by the singing of " Auld Lang Syne.” The usual weekly meeting of the Waltham Literary Society was held on Tuesday, July 26. There wa* a fair attendance of members, Mr A. Clifford, Vice-Presi-dent, in the chair. The business for the evening was a paper by Mr E. Smith on the " Employment of Women,” which sroved5 roved very interesting, and created a good eal of discussion. Arrangements were made for the Society’s next “ social.” The meeting closed with a vote of thanks to the Chairman.

The Papanui Wesleyan Matual Improvement and Recreation Club held its usual weekly meeting on Friday evening last. The evening was devoted to "cornel games” and there was a very large attendance of members and friends. Parlour and Round games were indulged in with great pleasure by all present. The Mutual Improvement Societies connected with the Presbyterian,, Wesleyan and Congregational Churches in Tlmaru and friends of eaoh met together in the Assembly rooms on Monday evening, at the invitation of the Presbyterian Society, for a social evening. About two hundred persons assembled, and a pleasant evening was spent in conversation and listening to short addresses and music. Mr Robert Bell, President of the inviting Society, in the course of a few remarks, said the regular work of the societies was supposed to quicken the wits and cultivate the intellect of their members, but such combinations as had been arranged were calculated to cultivate the sympathies. A feature of the evening was a short speech by Miss Dale, a member of the Wesleyan Society, who had drawn by lot the duty of thanking the host Society for its invitation. She also had something to say on the work of individual societies, and on the value of collective gatherings. Eaoh of the societies holds weekly meetings during the winter half of the year; the meetings are well attended and much interest is taken in them by the members. The meetings of the Rsngiora Literary and Debating Society, which were interrupted by the exhibition, were resumed on Monday evening, when Mr S. Page, of Canterbury College, read a paper on “ The Philosophy of Exercise.” By the aid of a number of chemical experiments, Mr Page illustrated certain processes performed by the human body very clearly. At the close of the lecture, a vote of thanks was accorded to him.