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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 236, 5 October 1877, Page 4

A correspondent of the Lyttelton Times writes as follows in relation to a certain building in Christchurch:— Those of your readers who have not yet seen tha porch of the Girls' High School should lose no time in visiting it. That porch is calculated to enlarge a person's experience, and refine his taste into nothingness. It is so monstrously and impurely clussical. It is situated in an anglo of the wall, made by the main building and the tower, if the last, to which the porch forms a kind of rectangular bunion, may be so termed. But the main beauty of the work is to be found in the carvel female figures whioh adorn the sides. Ou the left is a woman clasping a harp to her stomach, and wearing a look of agony, which, together with the attitude, intimates that the artist meant to express a moral in stone for the benefit of ihe lady students, to wit, that they should not ba tustin" sour gooseberries in the cookery sohooi beforo their music lesson. The allegory expressed by tho opposite figure I have not besn able to read. Her face is not quito so sad ns that of her sister, but bar expression indicates that she is laboring under 'a deep sense of rosnoaeibility. She holds in her hand something which may be a dagger, or gigantic toothprick, though I am incliuod to think it is intended for a bodkin, and she is pulling her garment about ia a mauner which 1 can only suppose is intended to suggest that she is troubled hy a flea. I am quite willing to admit that these notions may ba only those of ignorance, and that to the highly educated raiud tho figures may convey quite different idea?, and may be strictly in accordance with the best models —obtainable in New Zealand. If so, and in consideration of the fact that for one of the highly educated who will look and be delighted, ther. will he at least fifty ignorant, who will jeer. I would suggest that explanatory labels should be stuck up over these wonders of art. The Loudon Times publishos the following reply by a clergyman's wifa to a young lady advertising for a situation ot governess .—"June 7. Madam, Jn reply to your latter of thia morning I beg to say we aro desirous of meeu ing with a governess for our four children— two girls and two boys— their uges are nine, seven six and four, respectively. Our girls have not ye' goo beyond simple tunes in music. Are , you a good needlewoman, and can you cut out children's frocks? As J should require, you to attend to their wardrobes, t asist with <t'ier sewing, wash, and dies, the two elder boys,' d.'eis the girls' hair, to walk out with theai, and make yourself generally useful, would you on an emergency make tha bnds and wash up tha breakfust nnd tea things? Arc you a msmof the Church of England and a communicant?" Tiie salary offered to a . lady possessing all these tleair. able and useful accomplishments was £20 p-r annum. The Australasian ot the Bth instant pays New Zealand the following high compliment iu reference to railway extension :—'• A comparison of the relative rapidly with which railway extension is being pushed on in these Colonies famishes some rather surprising results. Ifc is generally supposed that Victoria is facile princeps in this respect, but this is a pleasing delusion on our part. It is true that our railway system bas been developed more rapidly and to a greater extent thau those of the other Australian Colonies, •but afc the preseut moment New Zealand not ouly has a greater mileage open for traffic, but is construction her liuea at a rate which, if persevered in, will throw most other Colonies in the southern Hemisphere completely betb^lt 5 m railßa were opened m 1875-6 330, in 1876 7 243, and ifc i s expected that by tho and of the present financial year 274 miles more will be ready for traffie, in which event, if we include the lines in both the North and boufch Islands, there will be no less than 113-1 miles of railway completed io New Zealand, leaving only 93 miles of of the lines at present authorised to be

finished. The railway enterprise displayed by this energetic Oolony throws into the shade the efforts made by her much more populous sisters in Australia. Victoria afc the end of last December had 702 milea open for traffic, with 259 miles more in process of construction ; while New South Wales at the same date had only 509 miles open, and 180 additional in progress. It is true that during the present session our Assembly has sanctioned tho construction of over 200 miles more ; but even then New Zealand has a considerable advantage over us in the aggregate, and it. ia pretty safe to predict that she will have 1200 miles of line open for traffic before we have completed 960. Six quarts of. soot to a hogshead of water makes a serviceable manure for watering forced plants — aa well as for most bulbs, flowering plants, and shrubs — American Garden.