The Akaroa Mail. FRIDAY, MARCH 16, 1877.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 69, 16 March 1877, Page 2

The Akaroa Mail. FRIDAY, MARCH 16, 1877.

It is now upwards of five weeks since the election of Trust Board members took place, and yet there is no move in the direction of business. The Governor under the Act fixes the date of the first meeting, and as many persons are anxious that a report should be presented to Parliament at its next session, which is likely to open in July, it will be seen that there is no time to lose. Perhaps Mr. Montgomery, who has evinced such a warm interest in the measure from first to last, would draw the Colonial Secretary's attention to the dereliction which has been allowed to take place. The business transacted at the meeting of the Borough Council on Wednesday evening last was wholly of an unimportant character, The next meeting of the Akaroa Mutual Improvement Association will take place on Tuesday evening next, at the school room, at half-past 7 o'clock. We again beg to direct attention to the annual ball announced to be held this evening, at the Town Hall, under the auspices of the local branch of the Hibernian Society, to commemorate the festival of Ireland's Patron Saint. The event promises to be a great success, a large number of tickets having already beon disposed of. Mr. W.Adams, the caterer, is sparing neither pains nor expense to ensure comfort to the guests, and we have every reason to believe that this maiden effort in that direction will be highly approved of by all those who may be present this evening.

A meeting o£ the Financial Committee of the Presbyterian Church. Akaroa, was hold in the church on Tuesday overling last, to appoint office-bearers for ensuing year, and to ascertain expenses of late tea meeting, and for other business. It was moved, seconded, and agreed, that Mr. Dalglish be chairman of committee, Mr. Missen, secretary, and Mr. Billens, treasurer. It was reported that the money taken for tickets for tea meeting amounted to £8 8s 6d, and the subscriptions, to £11 17s 6d, paid up. The coat of providing the tea was £9 2s 9d ; other expenses about £5. The treasurer was ordered to pay these accounts, and report to next meeting. It was also reported that subscriptionsfor harmonium amounted to £9, the amount duo being £21. It was moved, seconded, and unanimously agreed to, that as Mr. Billens is liable for payment of harmonium in a week or two, the committee advance Mlance of £12 to Mr. Billens. As very few of the congregation have contributed to this object yet, the committee trusted to have their advance recouped by subscriptions yet to come in. In re-appointing the secretary and treasurer, a special vote of thanks was passed to them, for their services during the past year. Mr. Lardner drew attention to the need of more hymn-books for strangers, but as some are already provided, and funds are wanting just now, and as any one who chooses can have b} T mn-books at Mr. Billens' shop, cheap, it was thought unnecessary to do anything in this matter at present. Much satisfaction was expressed at the way in which the call for subscriptions to teameeting was responded to. Meeting closed by benediction. At the' Resident Magistrate's Court, on Wednesday, Edward M'Alister made his appearance on a charge of being drunk and disorderly, and was discharged with a caution.

Temporary arrangements have been made £o that the Church of England services can be held in St. Peter's Church on Sunday next. The alterations will not be completed for some weeks, but efforts are being made to have the addition ready for opening on Easter Day. Although the alterations are not nearly finished, yet a good idea of the general effect when the transept is thrown into the nave can be now obtained. It would not be possible to have planned a better or more churchlike addition to the old building, the highpitched roof of the transept and the long and graceful early English windows, with floriated heads, are very ecclesiastical. No doubt the application for subscriptions to the building fund will be largely responded to. Besides the amount promised, about £60 will be required to provide temporary sittings, remove organ, &c. A lad, named Frederick Higginson, met with rathsr an awkward accident on Monday last. He and a number of other boys were amusing themselves with one of the trucks attached to Daly's wharf, when the lad was suddenly pushed forward by one of his playmates, the wheel passing over his head, inflicting a nasty contusion. The lad is progresiing favourably under the attendance of Dr. Buhner. To show the extremes in the sizes of newspapers, a correspondent of ours sends us a copy each of the Toronto Globe, and supplement to the Montreal Weekly Witness. The Globe is an eighteen folio paper about the sized folio of the Australasian, the Witness being the most diminutive specimen of journalism that we have ever seen, containing, as it does, a great amount of reading matter, interspersed with illustrations. The print is barely readable with the naked eye. We believe it to be printed by the autotype process, the original newspaper matter having been reduced to its present size by photography. On Wednesday last, as a boy, named Kodrigues, was engaged exercising a horse, the girth of the saddle suddenly snapped, the animal immediately becoming restive, and in the course of his freaks fell over on its youthful rider. Mr. Kissel, who was fortunately close by, immediately ran to the lad's assistance, and rescued him from his perilous position in a senseless state. The lad was taken into MrKissel's residence, and after recovering consciousness, was removed to his home. A thief at Melbourne when convicted of his thefts expressed himself as much pleased at the ladies, whom he had robbed, having regained their property, for from their appearance he regarded them as respectable persons. The thief goes by the name of " Gentleman John." A candidate for Legislative honours in Victoria is recommended by one of his friends and supporters because "he has 14 or 15 horses, employs 14 or 15 men, and has 14 or 15 children, while there is plenty of work in him still." The police in Dunedin appear to have been alarmed at their having recently mistaken apoplexy for drunkenness ; for when a man was found at the railway station in an unconscious state, although he smelled strongly of drink, the constable to whose charge he was consigned had him taken in a cab to the hospital. The authorities there were strongly of opinion that he suffered from barley fever, but notwithstanding he was supplied with a comfortable bed, in which he slept off the effects of his sudden illness. It is stated for a fact that some of the miners on the Auckland goldfields have paid over four hundred per cent, per annum for money borrowed to aid in developing their mines. Where were the consciences of the money-lenders ? As an instance of an honorable desire to make reparation for a fault committed, the following facts will be read with interest :—About 12 years ago, a teller in the employment of the Bank of New Zealand at Invercargil, Avas the cause of the Bank losing a sum of £240. The Bank made a claim for that amount upon the Colonial Assurance Company, in Avhich the officer was guaranteed, and the claim was promptly met. The teller left the service of the Bank. Having succeeded in business, he recently sent the Bank the sum of £240 to make good the loss he occasioned them so many years before. The Bank have since written to the Australasian Alliance Assurance Company, of Melbourne, the legal representative of the Colonial Assurance Company, enclosing a cheque for the full amount paid 'by the latter company under the guarantee policy referred to. Representatives of several journals in the other Colonies have lately visited different parts of New Zealand, and we may expect soon to see descriptions of their first impressions of these parts. One of these gentlemen, a member of the staff of the Melbourne Age, passed through Hokitika on Saturday, and has since visited Kumara and Greymouth. It is understood that a now celebrated writer in the columns of the Melbourne Argus, who is known to its readers under the name of " The Vagabond," lately paid a visit to the different ports of the Colony, having taken passage in the steerage of one of Messrs. M'Meckan and Blackwood's steamers. Such, at least ; is the statement of some who pretend to be acquainted with him and his movements. A Chinese costermonger in Dunedin goes home this mail, having realised nearly £4000 in a few years.

The Dunedin Star informs us that in answer to certain queries from the Dunedin City Council, "Mr. Whitaker says distinctly that a tenancy of not less than six months is necessary to qualify a person to have his name entered on the valuation list for property he may occupy ; that it is not open to : the Assessment Court to place upon the valuation list the names of any. ratepayers for this reason omitted ; that the citizens' or burgess's roll must be made up from the-valuation roll; and that names not on the valuation roll cannot, under any circumstance, be inserted on the burgess's roll. The Napier Telegraph says :—Owing to the floods in this district last week, the price of potatoes Jias risen considerably. We hear that on Saturday as much as £1 per cwt. was asked by farmers. Jem Mace will visit New Zealand after a tour in Australia. As a striking instance of the desperation to which the want of grass and water for their stock has driven the graziers, the Hampden Guardian (a Victorian paper) says it has been informed that in the Ballarat market a week or ten days since, one lot of 3000 sheep was knocked down at 7d. per head, and a similar number were bought in at 5d. —the reserve being 6d. Under the heading of extortionate usury, "Father of a Famliy" addressed the following letter to the Auckland Herald: —" I feel it my duty to make public a matter of an iniquitous nature. I am informed there is a money dealing firm in this city which is in the habit of advancing young men amounts at rates of interest monstrous to reflect upon. I have heared of £3 being paid for the loan of £7 for 70 days, and 35s for the loan of a similar amount for 30 days, and in addition a charge of 3s 6d in each case, under the name of commission, for negotiating a loan; and this rascally business was transacted with a minor! Now I feel that this firm is a trap for young men, of which their fathers should be aware, and that young men should avoid like poison a temptation to indulge in extravagance which, by causing them to enter into engagments which they cannot fulfil, may lead them, perhaps to the perpetration of graver offences." Respecting the late gold discovery in Nelson, the correspondent of the Guardian sends the following particulars:—For more than 20 years portions of this district have been worked by miners, with the result known as " poor men's wages." There is, on an average, 10 feet of stripping to be done, and if the lead runs across the flat it will not be very even if fairly, payable, unless it is of considerable width. If the lead takes up the river, it may run for 14 or 15 miles. One man working in the bed of the river made £9 last week, but had worked a week previously for nothing, The flat has been pegged out at the back of Biggs' claim—the best claim on the ground—and a shaft sunk through the washdirt, but the yield so far has only been a grain to the dish. The three men reported to have earned £30 in Biggs , Claim in three days were six days obtaining that yield, but were sluicing three days. The gold is flakey, of the same quality as in the Sherry district, and is worth £3 15s per ounce. Nuggets of about 1 dwt. are occasionally, but very rarely found. Previous to the rush 17 men were on the ground doing well, and averaging £1 per day. There have been no really large finds, and the prospects would not warrant men leaving employment, or coining from long distance to take their chance on the field, which will probably do no more than yield wages to a limited number of miners.