Page 6 Advertisements Column 1

Otago Witness, Issue 1652, 21 July 1883, Page 6

MULTUM IN PARVO. —The San Francisco Bulletin asserts that tnost of the Protestant churches in California are to-day very poor. The exceptions are in some of the large cities and towns. But for the most part the Protestant churches of this coast cannot afford to pay a minister of sterling talent such a sum as is competent for his support and for an unhindered work among his people. — A statement from the fee-book of Judah P. Benjamin, the ex-Confederate Secretary, ahows that his income during a sixteen years' residence in London aggregated £143,810 18s 3d, being an average of about £9000 per annum. His fees in 1880— the year they were largestamounted to £15,971 4s lOd. — In England and Wales the average railway receipts by passenger trains per inhabitant amounted to 153 9^d in 1881. The receipts per inhabitant from goods traffic amounted to 23a 10"4 d, and the total from all sources amounted to 43s 7sd. The expenditure per inhabitant was 22s 7d, and net receipts 21s. — The Suez canal, according to a correspondent of the London Times, is fast becoming a source of disease, the numerous settlements that have grown up along its banks having allowed their sewage pipes to run into the canal, creating an intolerable stench and making disease prevalent. — The police of Hoerde, in Prussia, have issued an edict forbidding the supply of drink to young men who have not attained the age of 17. Under that age, moreover, no one will henceforth be allowed to dance at public balls except in the presence of parents ; while boys are forbidden to smoke in public places until they are 16 years of age. — The use of the diving apparatus in the sponge fisheries is no longer to be permitted in the East. The introduction of such scientific appliances has always been very objectionable to the natives, and the Turkish Government has just issued an order prohibiting them. —The United States Survey steamer Blake has returned from a winter cruise for deep sea exploration between the Bermudas and' the Bahamas. On January 19, in lat. 19deg. 41m. N., lon. 66deg. 24m. W., about 105 miles north-west of St Thomas, there was found the greatest depth ever measured in the Atlantic, or 4561 fathoms. The place was about 89 miles south-west of the place where the Challenger made her deepest sounding of 3562 fathoms. —A non-conductor of electricty has yet to be ! found, for all substances hitherto discovered are conductors of the force under certain known conditions, but those which offer a great resistance to it serve the purpose of nonconductors in practice, although they may all be either classed as good or bad conductors. The best conductor known as yet is silver. The worst conductor is paraffin - — The use of acetate of soda crystals for railway foot-warmers is now very generally known. The North- Western Company and some of the other English companies, have adopted the system from a French line, and, it has been stated, with very satisfactory results. The crystals are put into the tins instead of water, and heated until they liquefy, and the_ resulting fluid is found to retain its heat twice as long as water raised to an equal temperature. — A shocking accident occurred at a filegrinding works at Whifflet, near Coatbridge. One of the workmen, named William Hutton, 45 years of age, was engaged grinding files at a massive grindstone which was driven by steam. The stone suddenly flew in pieces, a portion striking Hutton with great violence, lifting him off his seat, and hurling him through the roof of the workshop. He was found lying quite dead in the yard, his face and body being horribly disfigured. — The confidence of the people in the Methodist missionaries in the Hok-Chaiang district, China, is increasing so rapidly that the mission cannot supply the demand for aid in opening schools for girls.— Lutheran Evangelist. — The Dean and Chapter of Salisbury Cathedral have arranged for a diocesan festival on an extensive scale. It is expected that about 4000 singers will be present. The date has been fixed for Thursday May, 29, 1884. —The school authorities of Juniata, Adams county, Neb., have introduced reading the daily newspapers in the schools, instead of the readers so long in vogue. The plan is said to work well. — Messrs Moody and Sanky, the evangelists, have returned to the United States after 18 months' labour in England in order to rest themselves. In October they will return to England and begin their last campaign in Great Britain. Their work will be exclusively confined to London. — A man in Illinois has brought suit for divorce because his wife allowed him to go to work mornings with no other breakfast than cod liver oil, and had bought a piano, which she did not know how to play and had not the means to pay for. —In Catholic circles at Milwaukee it is reported that the Pope has given Bishop Spaulding his approval of the project of a Catholic University in the United States, for which 2,000,000d01. has already been promised, and that indications point to the selection of the present site of St Francis' Seminary, south of Milwaukee, as the seat of the University. ! —Nearly 200 women of New York, wives of some of the best known citizens, have petitioned the Board of Education to make the teaching of sewing to girls between ten and twelve com pulsory in the primary schools. —The lump sums, of which the English Government have decided to grant to Lord Alcester and Lord Wolseley, in place of the annuities of £2000 a year for two lives, as proposed in the original bills, are respectively £25,000 and £30,000, the difference arising, of course, from the differences in the age between the two Peers. —The guardians of a poorhouse a Canterbury commenced a practice of giving fish dinners once a week to the paupers, but the prejudice among the poorer classes with respect to the nutrient value of fish led to such an outcry among the inmates of the local workhouse, that th 6 guardians have felt "compelled to abandon their sagacious project. —An ingenious use of luminous paint now provides at the Lyceum Theatre, London, a reassuring safeguard against a possible caust of panic. The directions in the corridor* and passages as to the " way out " are now as legible in darkness as in light, and thus if from fire or other accident the gas were suddenly cut off, the audience need experience no difficulty in finding their way to the several exits. Q— The Supreme Court of the United States has decided, in the case of the Cook County National Bank against the United States that when a national bank holding funds of tt • Vi n j, ted Stateß becomes insolvent, the United States has no preference over other creditors. — The average value of cut flowers sold in London is £1200 daily. Camelias have gone out of favour, aud gardenias, the Prince of Wales' favourites, have taken their plage,