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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IV, Issue 19, 23 January 1869, Page 2

We call the attention of our readers to the advertisement in another column, announcing that Anniversary Sermons on behalf of the Wesley an Sunday School, will be preached in the Wesleyau Church, Hardy-street) to-morrow^ in. the morning at 11, and in the evening at hall-past 6, by the Rev. John Crump. The children will sing hymus appropriate to the occasion* A Tea-meeting in connection with the school will beheld in the Schoolroom, on Tuesday evening at 6 o'clock ; after which there will be a public meeting, when several ministers and friends will ! give addresses. Last night Little Minnie and Master Johnny Gourlay took their benefit at the ' Oddfellows' Hall. We could have wished them a better house, the performances of these talented artists really deserving it. The programme consisted of the Rights of Woman, My Little Wifey, aud the Indian Basket Illusion, all of which carried the house. Some songs and duets were sung in excellent style, and were frequently encored. We nnderstaud that, should theie be no steamer before Tuesday, they will give another performance ou Monday night. We wish them success. The last two meetings of the Regatta Committee, prior to the regatta, will take place at the Masonic Hotel, on Monday aud Thursday, next week, at 7 o'clock. The annual picnic of the Sabbath School connected with Trinity Presbyterian Church took place oq Thursday last. The children assembled in the Church at 1 o'clock in the afternoon, and proceeded to the Maitai Valley, where they spent the remainder of the day in various kinds of amusements, and the weather being all that could be desired, the children appeared to be heartily pleased with their treat. Premiums of £50, £30, and £20 are offered by the Government, uuder a resolution of the General Assembly, for essays on the means of securing the permanent settlement of the mining population of New Zealand, and fixing within the colony the capital which is being drained away from its goldn'ekls, us shown in the great excess of exports over imports at the ports of exclusively mining districts. Essays must be sent in to the Colonial Secretary before the 28th of February next. — Westport Times. A congregational meeting, in connection with the Piesbyteiian Church, Willisstreet, Wellington, was held on Friday uight, Jan. 14. After an excellent repast in the schoolroom, the company adjourned to the church, when the Rev. Mr Paterson, the pastor of the church, took the chair. After praise aud prayer, the Rev. MrPatersou delivered an opening address, in the course of which he commended the congregation for their liberality at the collections. Reports were read by Mr Grey on the position of the church, and by Mr M'Kenzie on the Sabbath school; and a balance sheet was submitted by Mr W.W.Taylor, and these were ordered to be printed and circulated. Mr Woodward then gave an address on sabbath schools, aud was followed by the Revs. Mr Muir and Mr Kirk. The choir sung hymns during the evening with excellent taste and execution. — Independent. From the Hokitika Evening Star we learn that an unusual scene presented itself in lievell-street lately, in trout of Cobb's coach office, being no less than the departure of a Maori queen from our midst for Greymouth. The sable goddess was none other than Mary Ann, Queen of ' Okarito. Her departure was attended by a number of her subjects, who, as is usual on such occasions, set up hideous howls,

the mode they have of expressing their sorrow ou occasions such as the oue we relate. . . A man named Alexander Peter Buick has beeu sentenced to seven days' imprisonment, with hard labor, for striking his son — a boy eight . years old—a violent blow on tho head, in the main street of Oamuru. — Southland News. Good old Bishop Kerr well sketched, in rude but terse poetry, the portrait of a true minister :■ — Give me the priest these graoes ehall possess ; Of an ambassador, the first address ; A father's tenderness, a shepherd's care, A leader's courage which the cross can bear: A ruler's awe, a watchman's wakeful eye. A pilot's skill, the helm in storms to ply ; A fisher's patience and a laborer's toil, A guide's dexterity to disembroil ; A prophet's inspiration from above, A teacher's knowledge, and a Saviour's love. The Christian Times remarks that we must look deeper thau to mere ecclesiastical establishments ior the fountains of our national religion. There may be religious establishments of long date, and there may be very sanctified titles enwreathed into the crown of a kingdom, such as 'holy,' 'eldest son of the Church/ aud the like, aud yet little or nothing of Christianity in the nation except the name, as may be seeu in such countries as France and Spain. And conversely* there may be no religious establishments, and yet a pervading and vigorous national life, as may be seen in the United States of America, where, uuder all the superficial tempest of party strife, which has so often threatened to' restore the reign of 'Chaos and Old Night,' the deep-seated and vital religion of the great body of the people has exerted its saving and moulding effect on the counsels of the State. Devout acknowledgment is made of Jehovah as the God of nations ; prayer is made to Him for his guidance and blessing in the public legislative assemblies; fast days even are proclaimed, aud every recognition made of their national relations and responsibilities to the Supreme, as truly as, hough less pretentiously than, among the moat stiff aud ceremonial of the old-world natious. The same principles of national safety and progress under the living spirit of religion apply to one nation as much as to another, and in these eventful times, as we may yet further see, they apply I very emphatically to ourselves. | There is in New York an association for the prevention of gambling. The society employs detectives to visit the gambling saloons, and procure evidence for the suppression of these establishments. It is the business of these agents also to ascertain the names and occupations of those who frequent the gambling-rooms, and a list of the persons thus detected is scut periodically, to the subscribers to the society, that they may know who are the persons wasting their money, or perhaps the money of their employers, in gambliug. Many large houses of business subscribe. In the month of August the society's agents detected among the gamblers 68 clerks of mercantile houses, and in the previous six months reported 623 cases* It is stated that there are in New York and Brooklyn 1,017 policy aud lottery offices, and 163 faro banks, and their net annual gains are not less than 36,000,000 dollars. Mr S. D. Waddy, B.A.j when recently engaged at the Leeds Assizes, thus described in a case in which he was concerned the different degress of iutoxicatiou. The first degree was that of sobriety, the second, where a man * had had a sup,' and the third, ' when he had had some driuk;' the fourth, when he 'knew what he was about;' the fifth, when he was 'fresh;' the sixth, when he was 'mop 3 and besoms;' the seventh, when he was * a little on;' the eighth when he was ' sharp fresh; the ninth, 'screwy;' the tenth, * three sheets in the wind;' the eleventh, * top heavy;' the twelfth, 'half-seas over;' the thirteenth, ' fuddled ;' the fourteenth, 'screwed;' the fifteenth, 'excited;' the sixteenth, 'not so drunk;' the seventeenth, •drunkish;' the eighteenth, 'tight;' the nineteenth, drunk;' and the twentieth, ' dead drunk.' A man according to various Bacchanalian authorities, might be either 'clipped,' 'touched,' 'fuddled,' 'toppy,' ' top-heavy,' or ' squiffy.' Nothing on earth can smile but human beiugs. Gems may flash reflected light ; but what is a diamond flash compared with an eye-flash and mirth-flash ? A face that cannot smile is like a bud that cannot blossom, and dries upon the stalk. Laughter is day, and sobriety is night, and a smite __ is the twilight that hovers gently between both, and is more bewitching. •