really wonderful, Thaentortainnwntwas opened hy a Btump speech by Fred , Fredo, in which he introduced somo very original sayintrs bearing on the Masterton Brass Band. The perfor mance of a child of very lender years ' was loudly applauded, and ,'th.o panto r mimic >ots of the clown brought down the hou,se. The. entertainment as a whole was very interesting, 1 A certain Life Assuranco Society , doing business in the North advertises , itself by means of a letter of thanks , from a widow. The widow dosocibes I ho,w tho body of her husband was found [ floating In the bay on Friday night, , and how on the Monday following the , Society's cheque for £SO was placed in [ her hands, "which," she continues, "should bo an inducement to ovory | woman in tho colony to mako her , husband insure himself In this truly just society, and so ono day be as happy as lam now." The directors are quite 1 proud of this testimonial, and are paying j for its insertion in soveral nowapapersat ' special rates. The Lpndon Sphool Board liavo 1 adopted a temperance reading book by ; tho Eov H_D Hird. Among other 1 ohoico selections, the following is oon -1 tained in a poem i— -1 Littlo drops of Allsopp And Littlo drops of Bass, 1 Take away the senses, And make a man an ass. The last of a series of winter enter , taimnents on behalf of the Carterton Presbytorlan Ohuich fund was given last night by the Eev, Chas Murray, MA, which consisted in a lecture on the " Now Hebrides," the lives and customs of tho natives of thoso islands. Tho Rev. lecturer plainly Bhowcd that there would [ bo nothing gained by an annexation with those islands, tho only product for> pay ' able exportation being cobra and even that was not, according to tho lecturer's knowledgo of tho risk of like and health, , worth tho candlo. Tho lecturer landed on these islands in April of 1885, with his wife, where he lost her and after toiling amongst the natives for some time ' he was obliged to leayo on account of bad health. 