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New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11541, 28 November 1900, Page 6

A flagstaff will shortly be erected on the summit of the Bell Tower of the Royal Courts of Justice. When completed it will be one of the loftiest in London. A committee has been formed under the presidency of Mr. Devi, member of the Russian Mining Department, to decide the question oi: the exploration of petroleum under the sea, near Baku. The chief points to be decided are, according to the Engineering and Mining Journal: (1) The suggestion of the Technical Committee for the preservation of the Baku oilfields to reclaim that part of the sea by filling it in, so that the new petroleum plots may be joined to the Oid plots and so form one field, or to reclaim, by some sp3cial means, single spots forming islets not connected with the mainland. To ascertain the depth of the sea over the submarine petroleum deposits and the extent of that zone.' (2) What measures should be taken to prevent accidents to workmen by fire, and also for securing the works on the submarine oil pots from destruction and from the access of the sea water into the tubes of the wells and the wasting of the Oil from fountains. (3) What measures should be adopted to prevent the new works on the sea from interfering with the shipping entering or leaving the port of Baku. A notable figure at the late Church Congress was the Bishop of Thetlord, better known in the North as Canon Lloyd. He has a fine presence, tall, with a strong face. As a preacher he is very graphic. Frequently in mission work, in order to bring out forcibly character description, he places himself in the subject's position and speaks from the sinner's standpoint. In one sermon he said, in the course of his address: "I have been bad, I have been a drunkard and a wife-beater. I have been in prison for my evil deeds, but it is all over now. lam resolved to do better for the future." It would be thought that these remarks could not possibly have been misunderstood. But a clerical correspondent of M.A.P., in calling upon one of his parishioners who had heard the bishop, asked her how she liked the sermon. "Oh, I liked the sarmon, hinney," she replied, " but what an awful man the canon must have been in his younge» days! To think that he was a drunkardand beat his wife. Well, there is hope for my man yet!" An amusing story is told of Lord Wolseley's interest in the Commissariat Department, in which his zeal on one occasion certainly got the better of his discretion. Dinner was being served to the soldiers, and orderlies, hurried backwards and forwards with pails of soup. Lord Wolseley stopped one of them. The man was at attention in a moment. "Remove the lid." No sooner said than done. "Let me taste it." "But, plaze yer—" "Let me taste it, 1 say." And taste it he did. " Disgraceful! Tastes like nothing in the world but dishwater." "Plaze yer honor," gasped the man, "and so it is!'