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Patea Mail, Volume II, Issue 164, 4 November 1876, Page 2

Countless accidents, as knows; arise from the use of matches.' To obtain light .without using them, and so without the (hinget of setting things on fire, an ingenious contrivance is noW used by the watchmen of Paris in all magazines where explosive inflammable materials arc kept. Any one may easily tffakc a trial of it; Take an etficiig phial of the whitest and clearest glass, and put into it a piece of phosphorus about the size of ,a pea. Pour some olive oil, heated to the boiling point, upon the phosphorus ; fill the phial about one third full and then cork it tightly. To use this novel light, remove the cork, allow the air to enter the phial, and then rccork it. The empty Space in the phial will become luminous, arid the light obtained will be equal to that of a lamp. When the light grows dim, its power can be increased by taking out the cork and allowing a fresh supply of air to enter the phial. In winter it is sometimes necessary to .heat the phial between the hands, in order to increase the fluidity of the oil. The apparatus tints prepared niay he used for six months.

The London correspondent of the Timaru Herald nays :—“ It is reported that cxColonel Valentine Baker (who would now have been in the 10th Hussars if Judge Brett and a jury of bis countrymen had not sent him to prison for a year) _is engaged for a commission in the Turkish army as soon as he regains his liberty. His time is nearly up. His charger has gone before him to the Bast, and ho will soon follow to try and wipe out the recollection of birr private peccadilloes by the dtrfpld}’ of virtues in the field. The Saturday RevicW suggests that sermons without services might be in' some instances as desirable !.n innovalnm as services without sermons. It is doubtless triic that an eloquent preacher can ho h'orttd to better advantage by himself than' when surrounded by a mass of prayers and songs ; nor is there necessarily anything irreverent or dangerous in the practice. The sermon might still be connected with acts of Worship, while the relative' proportions of each might lie altered in' one direction as well as in the other. The Auckland Kfaf says “ Servant maids are plentiful just now, and are scon day by day thronging the little office itt Sliortland-streof. Yesterday, a person, apparently a single man, looked in and asked for a general servant, who could .’o' plain cooking. Six young women under thirty immediately cried out at once, ‘Take me, sir!” “No followers allowed,” said the. fifst speaker. “ Your place won’t suit ns then,’ rejoiced the six voices, as of one mind.