He submitted a resolution in which the church leaders expressed profound astonishment and regret that ''the questionable amusement of dancing'' was being indulged in by certain members and adherents, who were reminded of their obligations in the matter of Christian conduct.
Those referred to in this way and their sympathisers said they too were profoundly astonished at what Mr Adams had said. If they had gone in for the Turkey Trot or the Bunny Hug there might be justification for clerical denunciation, but to be taken to task for waltzing at a social gathering of friends and relatives was a bit too stiff.
Mr Adams's pronouncement was followed by the resignation of the superintendent of the Sunday school, because he had learned that one of the school officials had indulged in the ''questionable amusement of dancing'' at a mayoral function. Clergymen are being diligently interviewed, and they seem almost as much divided in opinion as laymen on the topic.
• A certain amount of laxity in departure from strict order generally characterises the business of country local bodies, but the Waihemo County Council bids fair just now to outdo all rivals in this matter.
At its meeting of Saturday most of its rules of procedure were persistently disregarded, and the result was more than a little confusing to anyone wishing to obtain a record of the business.
Motions were freely discussed before they were seconded, councillors addressed each other three or four at a time across the table, spoke to the same motion as often as they felt inclined, and discussed numerous matters entirely foreign to the business that was presumably in hand.
A confidential letter was read and discussed, and the solicitor consulted, in open meeting, and sometimes a councillor might be seen standing patiently waiting for an opportunity to get a word in while a colleague addressed the council at length from his chair.
More often councillors did not wait to get a word in, but, no doubt, with a laudable desire to save time, spoke together with emphasis.
• After causing innumerable men to fall in love with her - and actually marrying 16 of the richer ones -a wonderful woman named Tatiana Belcheriak has just been exiled for life to Siberia.
Though now over 40 years of age, her beauty remains remarkable. She first married at the age of 16. Becoming a widow after three years, she wedded a rich landowner. She left him, however, taking all his valuables with her. The next ''husband'' was a stockbroker.
Having induced him to transfer all his property to her, the adventurous beauty sold it and escaped abroad, where she took as husband a fascinated Oriental consul. Seizing all his realisable possessions, his ''wife'' left post haste and returned to Russia by means of stolen passport.
Here she was again wooed and won by an important official. Again she left her latest ''husband'' after abstracting all portable valuables, but this time she was caught and exiled to Siberia. The chief gaoler in the far eastern wastes soon came under her spell and fled with her to Constantinople.
In this varied path of life she continued until her sixteenth victim, a barrister, became wedded to her. The union proved happy-there was a child. But at a dance she came face to face with a former ''husband'', who, despite her entreaties, informed the man she really loved. The police discovered that she was a former convict.
- ODT, 22.9.1913.
