A meeting of ladies was held at the Temper ance Hall on the 26th ult., for the purpose of taking into consideration " The expensive and oppressive nature of the present style of mourning." There were about 45 ladies pre sent. The Right Rev. Dr Nevill and the yen. Archdeacon Edwards were also present. After the object of the meeting had been stated,

The Yen. Archdeacon Edwards read the following extract from the Queen —the Lady's Newspaper:—

A resolute endeavour is to be nt lensrth made to bring about a reform of our ridiculous, inconvenient, and costly inour ing custom", so entirely uusuitcd to tlie habits of a time when the multiplied i ccipatious of the iiviug forbid the dedication "f years to the d' aA. Apart from the absurdity of clothir.p an entire family including the servants arid norms-in black for six niutith-i for a relative, not of the household, foi whom the principal possibly cured little, and the domestics not at all, is the ruinous expense, and beyocd the expense is the discomfort. If it be the misfortune of a man to have many relatives, he is condemned to mourning for the greater part of bis life. *l ake a case not uncommon. Suppose one to have six brothers and sisters who marry. There are then twelve near relative*, at the death of each of wh nn custom provides a " family mourning " for six month*. 'Jhon there are other twelve months for each of the parents of the heads of the family, an 1 possibly two or three children of his own—to say nothing of ull the nephews and nieces, and other casi.als. Hure we havo no less than sixteen years of life to be spent in black ! That is to say, one-half of the expectation of life is to be parsed it discomfort and gloom, and at the cost of a small fortune, in obedience to an irrational custom of which everybody complains, but from which nobody has the courage to emancipate himself. It has long been felt that the only means by which a more rational and convenient practice of mourning could be introduced will bo by association. M*ny per sons can do together what they could nit or will not do individually. 