An important notice to shareholders in the Oamaru Mutual Benefit Building Society "ap pears in another .column. , r The business transacted at the Resident Magistrate's Court this morning was of ' an unimportant nature, the time of the' Bench licing occupied with several civil caseßpvlnch were of no public interest. .The jSteiding 'Magistrate was Mf_ T. "\V. Parlcer, We are glad that*feh"e"contr3&tors commenced thc£wbrk the steep hank in Itchen-street adjoining St. Luke's Church. It is' tgfbe hoped they-will be favoured with fine.'weather, and get the job done before sets in. It is ex pected to be finished:in about four weeks. A curious discussroil (writes a London cor respondent) arose atfone of the Bums' festi vals.- One or two gentlemen hailing frTlinjbhss far north resolutely inaintainod-that the new-

Duke of Cordon was the richest nobleman in Britain as regard^titles; but on the bet being taken, Pdrthshmffivas found to own tiie winner in the who, ac cording edition-of-jj^Dofl," just published, Owns tlie enormous number .-of, twenty-tliree titles, being six more than any other nobleman of the United Kingdom. For the information of your Perthshire readers I giwyou a note of them :—Duke 1, Marquis 2, Earl 5, Viscount 3, and 12 of Baron—the last being that of Glenlyon, which in 1821 by George-V-fc-- on the present" Duke's grandfather, the.' then Hon. .James Murray. Notwithstanding the wonderful " of New South Wales^tn erPßpft ears to be a large amojmtof following paragraph, taken from" a recent issue of the "Town and Country Journal," is true, a3 we presume it is : —"During last month meals were given to 6,262: destitute persons, and 3.56S others were • offered shelter in the City Night Refuge and Soup Kitchen. If only a tithe of these were cases of undeserved distress, the institution must be accomplishing a noble work. 