A CONTINENTAL TOUR.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXIII, Issue 74, 9 August 1901, Page 2

A CONTINENTAL TOUR.

LECTURE BY MR. B. A. HIGNETT.* With tbe praiseworthy object: of assisting the fund for defraying the coat of the Concrete wall in front of St. Mary's Church. Mr. B; A. Hignett, who is altfavs rrady to he'p a good cause ( gave a most intei eating, amusing, and in- ■ tructive lecture at St Mary's Hill on Thursday evo tirg. The audience might well have been larger, but no' m' re appreciative. The lectunr's description of Monte Carlo was a vivid and nrtistic picca of word painting, and in connection with the Oa ino he mentioned that no one was admitted without a ticket, and that residents were debarred fiom Admission; also thit the yearly income derived from this gambling place wes no less tbaD £BOO,OOO. He also Mated an anecdote which might; w«.ll have found a place on the pages of Punch. A gentleman asked one of the waiters if they had no conscience there, but the question was ODe that the servitor did not appear to comprehend, so it wai repeated, with tbe result that the inttlli gent koight of the napkin handed the questioner a bill of fare with the remark that it would be found there or if iot it was charged as an extra. The lecturpr was much struck with the prevalence of eye disease among tbe popu'are and attributed it to the lack of use of soap and water, but on inquiry was toll that it was a dispensation of providence. A short description of Genoi wssgivn, and of course the leaning tower of Pisa came in for pvsing notice. Next came a very graphic description of MiUn with i's te<uti f ul nrd then fol'owfd a glowing picture of Venice be utiful Venice, with its Rialto and Bri Ige ( f Sighs. It w»s here that Mr H igm tt was at his be<t, and anyone who knows tie pxt nt r f his powers of de'ci iptioo will readily understand that I he did ju-tice to th« 'hera' 1 . The scene was i hon ch mged to Rome, and thence o Switz l' aud, where the grandeur of th« jmountiir s, t.nd the perils of mu'e riditg in precipitous p'aces were graphically drreribed, thn lecturer causing considerable amusement in recounting his experiencfs with assinine quadrupeds. The lecture was interspersed wi h some quaint sketches of rrave'ler* met with on tbe way, and conc'uded with an appropriate but brief desciiption of the ndvan'ages of trav?l as a mems of iducation to an observant tourist.

A he irty vote of th'inks was, on the motion of the Rev. P. G. Evans, who presided, accorded Mr Higoett for the en'ertaining letture he bad given.