CLIPPINGS.

Waikato Times, Volume XXI, Issue 1788, 20 December 1883, Page 4

CLIPPINGS.

A fine young' female elephant, jjur- ' chined in Calcutta for the Zoological Society of New South Wales, h.ia jusi arrived at Sydney. GbbiT BttiTAlN is the only country in Europe which has no forestry rcliooK. On the Continent thi'ie me numerous ov eellunt ami w 1' established schools of that character, whore everything tun nppeit'iins to trees ia taught by arunn }>li <hed to icherd. A svnri'iu at the Evpo3itio:i a Amsterdam was a complete Japancx village, reproduced with much iidehtv ami <let.iil. There were the huts of tli< natives, inhabitants anil cattle ; and native orchestra furubhed Jajmii"-' music for Japanese dances. A RESOi.nTION has been adopted by tin Muni ipal Council for Paris, by which it is ngn«"l to grant tloOO foi the puip<iseol sending a certain number of the pupils at each ot the colleges on a foreign tour dm iii}i vacation time. A deputation ol teachers is also to be sent to study B\\ is* ' methods of instruction, ah those are illustrated in the Zurich Exhibition. The proper title of the Russian capital is, iv English, " St Petersburg," ami in French, " St. Petersbourg," its original • Russian name being " S.mktpeterburg," in one word. Russian and Fiench people often say '• lVtersbomy" to save trouble, but this is only colloquial. TfiK coutenuial convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States was held iv Christ Church at Philadelphia during the first week of October. This is the old historical church where the first convention was held 100 years ago. The organisation has grown in that time from two bishops and 17 Clergymen, to (JJ bishops and over 3000 clci toymen. A Jew who was recently summoned to Bit on a corner's jury in London, excused himself on the ground that, being a descendant of the High Priest, he was exempt from seeing a dead body. The Coroner ruled that the Leviti< al law was hot binding in his couit, and lined the k. Jew forty shillings. • For the tiist tew days after oysfceis are spawned they lu\e no shells^ and ■float around on their own hook. Then ..they attach themselves to something, and the shell begins to grow. It takes a couple of years for an oyster to gro<v big enonghtfora stew, and >f you want a iry you must wait a year longt r. , Lately a mo&t strange sight was to be seen at Tin in —a regular cloud of butterflies of every bright colour coming » towards the town from Rhnli. They advanced in regular militaiy order; there was a vanguaul the larger body in the middle, the rear q lard, while at the i>ides some of these iv small uumbcis Seemed to be rjconnoitering. CasehTHIXI, a French scientist, has 4 CUt off the heads of flics, a"ts, and gwus- ' hoppers, and buttei flics, and obscivcd that decapitated insects letaiu their fusibility toi a \ery long time. Flies calmly nibbed tlieii bod us with tlicii legs, iiiid beliax od as if nothing umusiul had iiappcned. liuttcillics continued to fly for eighteen da\o, and giatshopm-is , lucked thirteen d.iye aftei being decapitated. Tin: aifcof foigi»£ pictuies, used to be confined to '* old ni.uteis.*' Lattcily it in ' practij.pd on the younger ones, Alma • T.idema has juit wntten to the Munich International Ai fc Exhibition, expiessing surpiise at seeing two pieces announced as his which he had ne\er heaid of ; ami recently a series of forgeiies on Be) and, the genre piinter, w.is discovered, «uid Dumas was taken in by a Coiot forged by Tiouillebcrt. A w DRKhlt in tlie China Inland Mission, who has travelled as extensively throgh the empire as any foreigner, peihap*, believes that China is now open to the (Jospel in a more rcmaikable degiee than Japan. The people are so conservative that, once converted, no opposition can move them in their faith. In many ptovmces they are piopagating the gospel themselves without any pecuniary iielp^y inducement. The mission has -just received the sum of £3000 from aii'anouyjvous donor. Win I b the^.iJ'eragc Aniptican of wealtd - makes aTpecialty of laciua or tiotting horses, tnu English moneyed man diteets his attention to salt water and yachts. The yachting hobby has especialy giow n very popular in (Jre.it Jiritau of late jearp. Twenty yeais ago there woe only thirty British steam yachts in existence. To day they number four hundred and seventy, one tliiid of winch aveiage four bundled tons bmden, The aggregate value of this sporting navy is over £2,21 0,000. \ It is lepoitt-il in Now Yoik that Mr "•Flood, the " Boiun/a Kmg," will begin -MuuiduK' on Hob tl ill tliib winter a house ■which will co-.t £1,000,000, and will surpass Vandurbilfs house in cost of inteiior decoration. It is also repotted that the pictures w hich Mr Macky is buying so liberally iv Europe aie intended for its walls. Mr Ikvixo (says lYuth) may congratulate himself on having achieved a very notable convprtion. During his recent visit to Edinburgh, Dr John Kay, a wellknown ministeroitheUnited Piesbyterian Church, who had ne\er seen a play in his life, was induced to attend a performance of Hamlet by the Lyceum Company. The giatifying result of his \isit was that the ie\ei end gentleman pi cached an eloquent sermon in hi-. chureU at Argjlc Place, defending the <tage fiom the imputations made, against it by the nan ow -minded persons who are so plentiful in liis native 'and. The text chosen was 1 Cor. \., ].');" I speak as to wise men ; judge ye what I say." It is needless to remaik that th minister has called down upon hi^ head a stoim of abuse fiom the " unco' quid," and that they denounce him, over their wee drapof whiskey, as a backslidei. Mr A. A. CoKUh'iT, father of the young man comicted of the leeent extensive robbery from the Coinmerenl Bank, Melbourne, declined to accept, and accordingly leturned to the haul.-, the awards, amounting in all to £400. made to himself and his two daughters for giving important information regarding the robbery. Mr Coibett stated that lie made the claim for himself and bis daughteis with the full intention of refunding whatever amount might be awarded to "thorn, and to prevent the amount falling into the hands of others less entitlcd°to it The diiectors, while accouling Mr Coibett ciedit for his motives, considered that the ictpntion of any part of the award would be open to misconstruction, and therefoie returned the £400 to him. CnuAinhs and .School Work.— On the subject of the excessive amount of home work expected fiom child) en attending the public schools the Australian Medical Journal, in the number just to hand, has the following remaiks : — '• Most parents complain, and often rightly, of the lame amount of home tasks. Independently, also, of theii mere amount, they are fitque-itly unsuitable for pcrfoimance in the evening, considering what kind of pace the home often is, and the inability en tlu pait of many parents to give assistance Tasks involving much wiiting ccitainly should not be done by preference, as is now the case, at night, with aitifieial light and unsuitable tables and seat', suoh aa are to l-p found in tli e oidiuaiy furniture of dwelling?. Under such circumstances, theie is more than probalilitythat the exeic'se- writing is done with the maxi1 mum of disadvantage, in a bad and constra:n 3 «l attitude, withu insufficient or badly-placed li^ht, and in the midst of worry and interruption. Home tasks should, as far as possible, and particularly among young child) en and those atTTtending State schools, be limited to repetitions, or to reading and learning by '/ heart from books of clear type, puch as Mall good school-books now arc. By atPtention \o such matters much might be ■^ggndgfo^beck. the increase of shortßight HBHHH||^M>a£ion.B, and to prevent ate