PROTESTANTS DECREASING

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1364, 15 February 1912, Page 6

PROTESTANTS DECREASING

According to an article in flip Paris "Revue" Hie number nt' Protestants in l-'rance is decreasing. They now number 700,(100. The Lutheran;, who numbered mori' than :i quarter of n million in !S"!). pan now only boast nf ii membership nf SO.OOn. The.'Calvii'.ists ..arc the mo-t numerous v't left, nnnitterins ovor Half a million. Put 'hev are loMiiff srnuml. .\l (lip snme tini" Uic pnlitic.il influence nf the Trench )•■= nut nf all prnnnriinii to (heir numbers. This the writ?r attribute? tn their -turdy diameters, In their superior system of education, and. above nil. to their »reat wealth. Their wealth has however, tended to sap their cxclusiveness. Thoy now pay low attention tfl their religion, nncl the result is, pays the writer in the "'Revue." that Protestantism in France wiil in the near future be a thing of the past.

A most unusual occurrence, and at the samp time unfortunate for the party concerned, took place at Caroline some days ago (says the "Southland News"), when a prop of some 300 acres of oat's and wlient srowinz on some shimrly land wa« completely shrivelled up by tlie Tiot nor'wester which j\va« pxnprieiieed 'lirou<rhout the whole of Sonthland. The crop, which was an average one, beins: on lip-lit land, appeared to be affected by (lie dry weather which prevailed, and these scorcliins winds put the finishing touches to what promised to bo a fair yielding crop.

Three youns children, daughters nf a privalo i" tl" , . Argyll iiiid Sutherlriiid Highlanders, were hiinied to dsath at. Stirling Ca.stle 011 Xew Year's Eve. During the absence nf the narents one of die children vjt fire to the b«l clothes.

The I', and O. Company have decided to add another vessel to their branch service to Australia via the Cape, and the steamer, which will be mimed Bcnalla, will I:? similar rn the B»llarat, which I'pw'iil!-.- uiado .-ucb u-riuiuk to