The question of securing a section upon which to erect a ball was also discussed, and notice of motion was given by Mr H. Miller that he ivould move at the next monthly meeting io that effect, The following are the terniß in which ;enders were invited at Home for the instruction of the Pacific cable : Tenders or the manufacture and laying in the Pacific Ocean, of 8272 nautical miles of elegraph cable between Vancouver and ?anuing Island, Fanning Island and Fiji, ?iji and Norfolk Island, Norfolk Island ,nd New Zealand, Norfolk Island and Jueensland, are invited by the Pacific jable Committee on behalf of Her Majesty's Government and the Oovern nents of Canada, New South Wales, Victoria, New Zealand, and Queensland, t is proposed to divide the whole under aking under three distinct contracts, for ny one or more of which contractors may ender. Each of these contracts will iclude a clause under which the con ractor guarantees the good electrical con ition and working order of the cables for 0 consecutive days after the completion f the laying. A fourth contract is also roposed for Btirveying and sounding the hole route before the cables are laid." he lowest tender received in 1894 was 1,517,000. In July last year it was stimated that £175,000 would have to be 3ded on account of the rise in the price of jpper, gutta percha, etc. Now £1,886,000 asked—a further increase of £194,000. : should be stated, however, that the dis ince given in the advertisement is very uch longer than that on which the 1894 mder was based. '

A guessing competition of a decidedly novel character lias been arranged for the Wanganui flower show. A binycln in to be placed on a tuble with the wheel free to spin, so that anyone passing can set it going. A cyclometer is fixed to the wheel to register the miles the wheel will travel, but the dial will be sealed until the competition is over. Mr Winston Spencer Churchill, the war correspondent, has been engaged by Major Pond to deliver a series of lectures in the United States during the coming winter. Major Pond has the whimsical idea of ask ing the American Winston Churchill to introduce his English namesake on his first appearance before an American audience!, which will, it is believed, be in New York. 