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Dunstan Times, Issue 218, 29 June 1866, Page 3

o'i the 3rd of April, in accordance with a time-honored custom observed on Easter Tuesday, the whole of the boys, upwards of seven hundred in number, now being educated in the School of Christ's Hospital, went in procession to the Mansion-house, to be presented to the Lord Mayor. As the boys passed along Cheapside, two abreast, in their quaint old costume, and making a procession about half the length of the street, they created quite a sensation for the time, and, as tisual on the occasion, Bow bells were rung both on their going and returning. On arriving at the Mansion-house they were received by the Lord Mayor and the Lady Mayoress in the saloon, accompanied by the Sheriffs and Under-sheriffs, and some gontlemen representing the officers of the Corporation. They were then marched round the Egyptian Hall, and as they passed out the Grecians, fourteen in number, received from the hands of the Lord Mayor a guinea each, the seven Probationers half a guinea each, the forty-two monitors half a crown each, and the rest (six hundred and forty-nine) one shilling each, all in coins fresh from the Mint. They were also served with some light refreshments. On leaving the Mansion-house they proceeded to Christ Church, Newgate-street. where the Spital Sermon, as it is called, was preached before them and the Mayor and Sheriffs, bv tke Rev. Michael Gibbs, M.A. After a series of experiments, commenced in 1844, but perfected within the last three years, Mr. Ransome has proi duced a stone having apparently the durability and strength of natural rock, and which may be moulded before induration into any form. The process is a most ; interesting one. Ordinary sand, damped with a simple chemical, is forced into all the interstices of a mould by the mere pressure of the hand, so that the minutest • details of the model are exactly reproi duced. This is removed ; over its face a i second chemical is poured, and in a few minutes a solid stone is manufactured. P Experiments extensively tried in England by the most able chemists, architects, and " engineers, have proved that this stone is I stronger than any freestone employed in - Great Britain, and less liable to be injured by the weather. So highly hos this stone been appi'eciated that the Patent Concrete Company has been formed to carry on the • manufacture on a large scale at East ) Greenwich.

hj J The Telegeaph in the Fab West.— hj On the J 2th of March occurred the firs e |instanc3 of a conference with Indians bj | te.egraph. Seven hundred Indians met I oa thac clay at Fort Laramie, incjrtding at * | the principal chieia of the Upper P-Jatto Sio ix, ;:nd Colonial Mayiiadier and Indira: Jarrot, through an interpreter, held ; a ioag tal* with them, communicating " f-o:n time to time over the wires witli general Wheaton and Superintendent 'fay or, at Omaha, for further instructions. | Ihe Indians showed sufficient faith in this > (to them) strange mode of communication to arrange terms of peace.—' American 1 Paper.' The members of tire Melbourne press, in t commencing a series of dinners to be held, like the Ministerial whitebaif festivity, at j the end of the Parliamentary session, have chosen to adopt the name of the not over- ' gustative " flat-head" to characterise their , gatherings. The first of these took place on Saturday evening, at Henries' Hotel, and proved so great a success that we may anticipate that the " Press Flathead Dinner" wl'l become an institution. The central dish of the board, which, like the boar's head at the old baronial banquets, was intended to feast the eyes and not the palate, was an enormous flat-head decorated in the most approved style of the culinary ■rtist, and with its' name in butter letters i-gibly inscribed upon it. Granting that this piscatorial trophy was for show, the rest of the spread was undoubtedly for use, and Mr A! enzies may fairly be congratulated on the way in which he accomplished his duty as caterer. Over forty persons *at down to dinner, the chair being tilled >y Mr. G. C. Levey, M.L.A., and the vie -oWr by Mr J. C. Paterson. The: toasts of the evening were arranged on an inverted pan of assigning them to the men who were supposed to be least con rersant with the subjects they were oal ed upon to handle. This had the desired effect of producing short and merry speeches, and those, in c njunction with some capital singing—furnished for the most part, it must be acknowledged, by the few visitors present—brought the evening enjoyably to a termination. A singular incident has just taken place it Neufchatei, in Switzerland. At the death of a merchant in that city, on the credit side of his books the name" of *' God'' w.us found to be inscribed for a consider' ible sum. JSTo one knew of such a creditor, and on investigation evidence was obtained that the deceased, who w. s a man of great piety, had ■ opened an account to the Father of All, and entered to it each year a share of his profits. The clergy have claimed the sum, on the ground thac ■hey represent God upon earth, while their lemand is opposed by the authorities o! the Canton. The affair will probably be brought before the tribunals.