Untitled

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 55, 26 January 1877, Page 2

A special meeting of the German Bay School Committee took place on Monday evening. All the members were present. The minutes of the previous meeting were read and confirmed. Correspondence from the Education Office was read and considered, and two accounts passed for payment. In the minutes of the previous meeting, it appeared that a vote of thanks to Mr. Harris, the teacher, was proposed and carried nem con, for the manner in which he had conducted the school during the last twelve months. The chairman read three applications for the position of assistant mistress, the choice falling upon Mrs. Julia Langbridge, certificated mistress, late of Malvern. The subject of shifting the closets was deferred until next meeting. ' We would remind the members of the Mutual Improvement Association of the usual fortnightly meeting next > uesday evening (30th inst.,) at 8 o'clock, when a paper will be given on " The resources of the South Island." A full attendance is requested. Mr. Newell Phillips gave his entertainment, "An evening at the Garrick Club," in the Pigeon Bay schoolroom, on Monday evening. He commenced by a brief sketch of the life of Baddeley, the founder of the Club ; gave an account of his remarkable will, with anecdotes of the great Garrick himself ; Foote and others, of its early members ; passing then to its present reestablishment in the present century. He detailed much amusing gossip about Theodore Hook, Planche - , and Sam Rogers ; adverted to the originators of " Punch " — Jerold, Mark Lemon, Shirley, 3rookes, and others. Contemporaries, with recollections personal and general, of Dickens and Thackeray, whose style, beauties, and defects were ably compared and analyzed. The second part began with the impersonation in character of Dr. Marigold— Dicken' famous conception of a " Cheap j ac k"—followed by his "Middle-aged Lady, " Sankee Skippers Mam ; " and a story of Sam.. Weller, not contained in "Pickwick," all of which were given with point and spirit, and manifestly delighted the audience. One of Mrs. Caudle's lectures; Thackeray in the society of ladies, and Mrs. Brown on Skating Rinks, which were received with immense applause and laughter, made up the rest of the performance. Mr. Phillips possesses a powerful and flexible voice, which he managed in such a way which shows he is also a good elocutionist, and whether in reading or reciting is equally at home. Mr. Gates played a selection of pieces on the harmonium at intervals during the evening. We think it high time that thre was a daily delivery of letters within the Borough of Akaroa, and hope the inhabitants will make a move towards the attainment of this necessary arid desirable object. We hear that the members of the Akaroa Domain Board, after finishing works now on hand, and having the paths thoroughly cleaned, intend to resign their trust in favour of the Borough Council. A meeting of gentlemen interested in the formation of a Benevolent Society in Akaroa was held in Beecher's Hotel, on Tuesday evening last, Dr. Bulmer in the chair. The following gentlemen were appointed a committee : —Messrs Garwood, Hemingway, S. Watkins, W. Wood, Dalglish, Harlock, T. Adams, Meech, Allott) Bil lens, and Ivess. Applications are invited by the Borough Council from persons willing to discharge the duties of inspector of nuisances. Salary, £15 per annum. A correspondent complains that a telegram transmitted from Dunedin at 1.32. p.m., and received in Akaroa at 1.36., was not delivered to him, although residing within easy distance of the telegraph-office, for upwards of an hour and a-half after the time noted above. This is the first complaint of the kind we have heard, and possibly there may be some reasonable excuse to be offered in extenuation of the delay, and we therefore trust that all messages will in future meet with prompt delivery after their receipt. In our last issue we made a slight mistake in the date for the nomination of candidates for the Trust Board. The nomination takes place on Tuesday next, the 30th inst. We beg to direct attention to Messrs Bridge andßushell's sale of household furniture at Mr. Harris's residence, German Bay, to-morrow. The furniture is nearly new, and will be sold without reserve. The sale commences at 11 a.m.

There is an amount of verdancy in the youth of Akciroa that is rather amusing. It is but a couple of days ago that a damsel of fourteen or fifteen summers presented a shilling at our telegraph office, and on being interrogated as to what it was for, replied she had sent a telegram and wished to pay for it. 'On further inquiry it was found the telegram had been put into the Post-office letter-box, under the impression it would from thence find its way to the wire and take an inside passage to its destination. Another case of sweet innocency occurred in the Post-office. A man on being informed there were no letters for him, immediately asked when the postmaster expected one. We may observe the inquirer was not much enlightened by the answer. Constable Lamb, who for some time past was stationed at the Head of the Bay, has been removed to Little Eiver, and strange to remark his former charge—the centre of a large and populous district —is now left entirely destitute of police protection. We are certainly at a loss to account how this step was brought about, as the constable was not idle while stationed at the Head of the Bay, and we trust that the R.M. will at once draw the inspector's attention to the manifest error which has been committed on the recommendation of some shortsighted official. We are requested to remind the members oftheAkaroa Lodge of Good Templars that the election of District Deputy and nomination of quarterly officers take place on Wednesday evening next, the 31st, at 8 pm. It is with great regret, says the Hawke's Bay Herald of Tuesday last, that we have to record the death, at the early age of twenty years, of Mr. Octavius Hadfield, second surviving son of the Bishop of Wellington, and accountant in the Napier branch of the National Bank. It is not two years since he first came to reside amongst us, and during this short period he had so completely won the esteem and regard of all who have had any intercourse with him, that we may safely say that there is not one of our young men whose loss will be so universally deplored. It was not till last Thursday that his friends noticed anything amiss with him. Though evidently unfit for work on that day, he would not leave his post until absolutely obliged to do so. On Friday evening he was removed from his lodgings to the residence of Bishop Williams, where he remained till he died, between 9 and 10 o'clock yesterday morning The following extraordinary letter appears in the Taranaki Budget: —Sir, — Being convinced that if the harbour never be finished, we, the undersigned ablebodied men hereby agree to give a day's labour towards commencing this most important undertaking as soon as we know where to begin. Here follows the names of nearly 100 citizens, among whom are two clergymen and two doctors. The Liverpool Courier reports a case in which a baker was fined £25 for adulterating his bread, 20.72 grains of alum having been found in one loaf. The defendant pleaded that many bakers could not bake without alum, and would use it without the knowledge of their employers. The stipendiary magistrate declined to give credence to such a statement, and warned the defendant that if he came again he would be liable to be sent for trial at the session of assizes. He did not think the penalty of £25 was equal to the offence, " a man should be fined thousands of pounds if he was getting his living at the expense of the health of other people." It is stated to us (Southland Times) that the Home Government, in anticipation of the chances of a war in these perturbed times has recently sent word to the Governor of New Zealand, in common with the Governors of other Colonies, instructing them to procure the assistance of qualified engineers to report on the defence of the Colonies, and also to furnish detailed information as to all the railroads open and mainroads generally used. There are 60,000 Sunday schools in the United States, with 600,000 teachers and 5,000,000 pupils.