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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XX, Issue 55, 6 March 1886, Page 2

! There are shops m London where suits of clothes may be hired for an evening. In Paris an Agency has been started for hiring out wedding guests for the special benefit of people whose relations live m the provinces. The Managers say: — " We can place at the disposition of the bridegrooms a choice society, well educated young men, charming talkers, and elegant dancers, several of whom are besides endowed with all the necessary talents apertaining to fine society." Mr Charles Callis, the whilom Secretary of the late New Zealand Exhibition has (says the Post) instituted proceedings against the Government for the recovery of £100 as overtime, at 4s 9d per hour. The original claim was £128 5s (540 hours at 4s 9d), but the amount was reduced to £100, m order to brin g it within the jurisdiction of the Court. The work for which Mr Callis claims he is entitled to payment was m connection with the late Exhibition. On Boxing Day m Paris, the Committee of Commerce and industry gave a fete to 4000 children of the city m the Palace of Industry, which lasted from 1 o'clock uutill 6 m the afternoon. An enormous Christmas-tree, described as " three storeys high, a theatre, several orchestras, a company of marionettes, ball-rooms, military bands, and, when it grew dusk, a brilliant illumination with colored fires were provided for the enjoyment of the little folks, each of whom on quitting the building was presented with a tablet of chocolate, a brioche, an orange, and a toy. More than 50,000 spectators — mostly the parents and relations of the children — witnessed their hapiness. The palace had been beautifully decorated for the fete, at a cost of £1,600, by the municipal authorities ; and the same entertainments were to be repeated every afternoon until Twelfth Night, so that every child m Paris might be a partici- . pator m them ; some of the most famous singers m that city taking part m the musical portions of the Me.