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Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 72, 27 March 1877, Page 2

Sometime since we drew the attention of the public, in these columns, to the desirability of an agitation being commenced in Akaroa, for the purpose of inducing the postal authorities to give those residing within the borough the advantage of a daily delivery of letters. We are sorry to Bay that from then until how the.public . have, been singularly apathetic in this matter, nothing whatever, as far as we know, having been done to ward this muchneeded object. Will the residents invite his Worship the Mayor to take the initiative ? The matter only wants starting. . An unwonted- quietude pervaded the streets of Akaroa during the latter part of last week. A something seemed wanting or rather was missing from amongst us, what that something was puzzled us for a time. Meeting with an acquaintance the puzzle was solved by his enquiring if we had not missed the musical voice of Ward, the powerful lunged hawker and crier. We are informed that an aerated water factory is shortly to be established here ; we hope with profitable results to those embarking in the business. The condition of the Government Jetty is now positively dangerous, many of the planks being in an advanced state of decay, and unless prompt measures are taken to replace the rotten pieces with sound timber, accidents will be inevitable. There evidently must have been some lack in the supervision of the quality of the timber introduced by the contractor in the late addition to the wharf. We again beg to remind non-electors , that this is the last week they can effect registration. Persons desirous of having their names inserted on the Electoral Roll can obtain the necessaryform at our office, free of charge, and all information as to the correct filling up of same will be afforded. At the Resident Magistrate's Court on Friday last, there was but one civil case set down for hearing, that of Shad-" bolt v. Morris, to recover the sum of £2, being the value of a bag of sugar arid bag of flour supplied by plaintiff to defendant. The defendant denied having received the goods, and used anything but complimentary epithets towards plaintiff, for which he received a reprimand from the Bench. The case was adjourned till to-day, for the attendance of Mrs. Bryant, to sustain the entry of the goods in the book. The past season has been one of the most favourable for dairy farmers that has been known for years on the Peninsula, now when the trees are showing their rich and varied autumnal tints, the paddocks "are brilliant with emerald green, and the circumambient hills are clothed in the verdure of spring; as a further instance of thejnildness of the season, a double and , single primrose were left at our office yesterday, and in the garden ,of His Worship the Mayor, a Rhododendron may be seen in full bloom. . . • ■ " '

A match at cricket has been arranged to take place between two elevens, representing Akaroa and Okains respectively, on Saturday next, on the ground of the latter club." . '_'~,. •An exciting race, took place, between the s.s. Tarariaki and" 1 s\s. Albidifon their trip from Pbrf Chalmers to Lyttelton.,; Both boats left'the wharf together on Saturdaylast, a,good deal of ••chaff" being exchanged between the passengers of the. respective steamers;' those Oh board the Albion good-naturedly offering to throw out a line to.aid the smaller boat in her efforts to keep upi The Taranaki oh Sunday morning, on Arriving off the Akaroa heads, had the satisfaction ' of. beholding the Albion 7 miles in the rear. As will be seen frbmjhur advertising columns, Akaroa is to be favoured with a visit from Baker's Hibernicon Troupe, who are announced to appear at 'the Town Hall on Saturday and.Monday next. The scenery is, without doubt,- excellently executed, and will well repay a visit. ~ The panorama has .been exhibited in-the chief towns of New Zealand with unvaried success, and we trust that Mr. Baker's enterprise in visiting Akaroa will be rewarded with bumper, houses. The singing is also well spoken of, and should add as an additional attraction to the entertainment. Mr. Seymour, surgeon-dentist, will be In Akaroa on Monday : that all persons requiring dental attention would do I well to take advantage of. his brief stay.. Mr. Penlington is pushing on the. work of the enlargement. of St.- Peter's Church so as to have tlie transept ready for. divine service on next Sunday, (Easter day.) In order to leave the building free for the carpenters to "work after hours, the evening services which were to have been held in the Church during Holy Week, will be held in the Parochial Hall, except on Good Friday evening. We are requested to remind the members of the Church of England, that, by a regulation of Synod, all the collections on Easter day. are handed direct to the clergyman, as an Easter offering. The seventh anniversary of the Congregational Church, Le, [Bon's, will- be celebrated by a tea-meeting on Good Friday. In the evening a public meeting will be held, at which, the Rev, Mr. Tout and other gentlemen are expected to deliver addresses. The anniversary sermons will be preached on Sunday next, at 11 a.m., and 7 p.m. There was no smalL amount of excitement created; in Robinson's Bay, oh Thursday last, by the report that two boys, named Neilson an<L Rasmesen, .aged respectively 13 and 14 years, had been sing, during the dayf rom their homes. As, the two lads had been known to have been out in the bay oh a raft,'it was feared that their frail, craft ■hac| i and the youths were drowned, S! Their unhappy parents, were plunged into, a state of grief at the conjectured melancholy occurrence which had deprived them of their promising boys. During, the evening, they were visited by nearly the whole neighbourhood, who were "anxious to learn if any tidings of the missing youths had come to hand. It was arranged that a search party . should be formed, and next morning (Friday) all the mill hands cheerfully turned out, when a systematic search was commenced for any particle of evidence likely to lead up to their fate. The raft, on which the lads were accustomed to take their aquatic exercise,.was discovered on a point, between the Head, of the Bay and Robinson's Bay, close by were observed the tracksofa small boy, the remains of a fire which had been used but a short time previous, and. a place where some one had lately i been reposing. The party at once resolved to abandon further search, coming to the conclusion that the boys must have met with a watery grave, and at once retreated their steps. On Saturday last, during, the absence of the father, brie of ; the lads was observed by his sister entering the and carrying off some food to. the bush. All fears for their safety are now at an end. We learn that their parents have resolved to wait for hunger to doits Work, whenino doubt the truants will return to jheir. homes,, duly penitent ..for having caused; so much uneasiness to b& manifested in their behalf. [Since the above was in type, we learn that the boys were discovered in the bush late on Sunday afternoon last, and duly conveyed to their homes, where upon arrival, we trust they received a wholesome horsewhipping at the hands of their parents for their capricious prank.]

A youth, named James Taylor, one day last week, called at a hut, at the Head of the Bay, in the occupation of Mr, Alfred Johnston, and requested to be. accommodated for the night. His request was Complied with,-and next morning, after breakfast, Mr. Johnston left for his work leaving the youth engaged wrapping up his swag. On. his return in the .afternoon, he missed his watch, and immediately communicated his loss to the police. The youth was accused of the theft in Barker's Hotel by some man, who " bounced" the lad to return his ill-gotten gains. The youth was arrested by Constable Lamb at Kaituna, on Sunday, and will be brought up on Wednesday next. His father is a very respectable man, being the head -feacher of one of the Christchurch schools. A recent return states that in Ireland there.are no less than "two hundred and fifty-nine persons of 100 years old and upwards."

/The'editor of the Lyell Argus is evidently pining for fresh fields and pastures new. In one column of his paper he hints that the District Road Board is about to destroy ' all the Scotch thistles in the district, and in another he writes thus:— " Leading article —there is none.this week, for reasons best known to ourselves. There are, it would appear, two distinct parties in the Lyell, and when they shake hands and go to,work in earnest to improve the place, we will do the same ; in the meantime we are open for an engagement. As well try and please a woman as two parties of village politicians. We have only one end in view, viz., to do good to those around us; if we cannot do that, then we shall gravely and calmly say goodbye." A sad story comes from the village of Walton-on-Trent. One Sunday afternoon, when the village children came out of school, one little fellow, aged eleven, named James Mewis, was teasing a girl named Charlotte Butcher, and pulling her dress. She' told him to be quiet, and pushing at him with an umbrella, the point accidently entered his eye, and he fell unconscious to the ground. He was taken home, and the effect of the shock upon the father was so great that he was seized with a fit, and died shortly afterwards. The little boy died about seven the same evening, and his mother has since been confined to the house, owing to the influence of the the sudden double bereavement,

At the Liverpool Sessions a man of respectable appearance, named John Daniel Elliott, dyer, was convicted of stealing two pocket-handkerchiefs from the shop of a draper. It was urged in defence that the prisoner, who was the owner of property worth £500 or £600 a year, suf-. fered from kleptomania, and was irresponsible for his actions. Two previous convictions were recorded against him, and the Recorder deferred sentence in order to communicate with the Home Secretary. ' -' That " the course of true love never runs smooth," especially when it is a onesided affair, has recently been forcibly illustrated in that remote digging township on the West Coast called Ross. A man named James Brewster Armstrong paid considerable attention, with a view to matrimony, to a woman named Helen Macgregor, and he got a notion into his head that she had whispered or implied that thrilling little word "yes," and that they were to be married on a certain morning, to witj the 29th of last month. On that auspicious day the was-to-be bridegroom called upon his Hebe, and asked her to go with him to the Registrar. This she declined, and in order to smooth the way her lover ordered drinks for six. Finding, however, that his importunities were of "none effect" he a few days later sued the idol of his heart for a sum of money alleged to be due. On. the matter being brought before the magistrate it turned out that the amount claimed was for presents he had given her, and the case was dismissed. Determined to have his revenge he a few days later lodged an information against Miss Macgregor for selling grog on the sly. He assured the Court he only did it to vindidate the law, and for no other reason. It oould appear from the evidence that he supplied the grog himself to the woman, and that when it was afterwards drunk no money Was paid for the drinks. The magistrate walked into Armstrong's affections, and said he had an escape of being committed for perjury. He considered the information had been laid by Armstrong out of sheer ill-will and malice, because defendant disappointed him. He would dismiss • the case, and must say it was brought through right down malice. Mr. Armstrong is not likely to try and vindi. cate the law. for a while again.

' v A rather rich incident occurred at the Governor's ball, Westport. It seems that the gentleman who had the general direction, of the reception arrangements thought the ball would be incomplete without a master of the ceremonies, and accordingly appointed to that office a youth not unknown to Reefton and Lyell of the name of " Teddy Clemens." On the vice-regal party entering* the ball-room and taking up position to open the dance, tMG music struck up, when the redoubtable "Teddy " cried out "Top lady and bottom gent swing in the centre." This piece of direction it seems was not acted upon with sufficient alacrity, whereupon the indefatigable "Teddy," who had taken up position at the elbow of His Excellency, gave the latter an unmistakeable push forward. The Marquis instead of diving a-head into the arms of his lady vis-a-vis, at the command, turned round and looked unutterable things at the M.C. " Teddy » was riot to be " put away " by even the darkest of vice-regal frowns, and accordingly took no notice of his Excellency, but repeated the direction in a much louder tone of voice. At this stage his Excellency beckoned to his aide de camp, and a few minutes later "Teddy" was quietly yet ignominiously " scruffed out" of the room. How the dancing got on without " Teddy " history does not relate, but he having declined to leave the precincts of the bali-room until he was paid his fee, obtained the amount and proceeded to have a " fly round."— lnangahua Times. The- Grahamstown Star says that the larrikins there have become so great a nuisance, that five constablesin plain clothes are required to parade the streets in order to protect wayfarers from insult and annoyance.

An unpleasant adventure happened lately to a man in the employ of Mr. Marks, plumber, of Auckland, who had been sent to repair the spouting on the roof of the Lunatic Asylum at the Whau. While so engaged, mounted on a long ladder, a patient walking round the building came along to take stock. Seized with a sudden freak of his wild fancy, he caught hold of the ladder to take it away, no doubt imagining it would be high old sport to see the luckless wight at the top come suddenly down. The victim did not see it in the same light, and shouted for him to desist. But the patient was inexorable, and began to draw the ladder, away. * The workman was now in very imminent peril, but instantly comprehending the situation, and seeing that to attempty the descent would mean almost certain death, he seized the spouting, trusting to hold on until assistance could arrive. The ladder was drawn clear away, and the plumber "continued thus suspended in midair for some time, calling lustily, as may well be supposed, for some less crack-brained fellow than the one who stood grimacing and capering below, apparently in a state of inexpressible delight over the fun. A warder came on the scene at this juncture, in time to prevent the. occurrence of any more serious consequences, and the ladder was restored, to the intense relief of the almost exhausted workman. A good dog. is often worth as much as the flock of sheep he drives. The following, the Scientific American says, is said to be a Texan practice for training sheep dogs:-—A dog is taken from its mother before its eyes are opened and put to a ewe to suckle. After a few times the ewe becomes reconciled to the pup, ! which follows her like a lamb, grows up among and remains with the flock, and no wolf, man, or strange dog can come near the sheep, and the dog will bring the flock to the fold regularly at half-past seven o'clock if he is habitually fed at that hour. It is feared the last of the antique, school of tragedians ,may lose his sight. The accident to Mr. Barry Sullivan has resulted most seriously. When Mr. Sinclair's sword grazed his fellow-actor's cheek and pierced his eyelid, Mr. /Sullivan was at once removed to his lodgings at the. Charing Cross Hotel. It was soon discovered that the sight of the wounded eye was partially destroyed; since then sympathetic blindness of the unhurt eye has set in, and the patient is confined to a darkened room. Mn Sullivan is a popular man in the world and behind the scenes, and much, sincere personal sympathy is expressed for himv The New Zealand correspondentpf, the Brisbane Courier makes the following, extraordinary statement with regard to the Counties Act: —"ihe working of the Counties system has set all the people in New Zealand at feud with one another —even to the setting of brother; against brother and father against son; members of the County Councils opposed to each other go into public houses, get excited, fall to fighting, and get bound over to keep the ■■] peace.; the lieh oppress them and endeavor to unfairly overtax the poor,and generally a condition of the greatest anarchy and confusion has arisen." The Wanganui Chronicle hints vaguely about some strange disclosures being expected in connection with certain Supreme Court proceedings at Marton, and adds that the name of a clergyman is involved. • "Murder will out, and so will truth. The fact that G. Black has the best assorts merit of drapery and clothing in Akaroa, at a low price, is now known to be bebeyond dispute. The incredulous are invited to pay one visit to be convinced. For particulars, see advertisement in third page,—[Advt.]