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Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 75, 6 April 1877, Page 2

The Otago Guardian states, that at the close of the proceedings in. the libel case tried at Wai in ate last week, Mr. Reed laid a criminal information for libel against Bichard Charles White Cuming, as printer and publisher of the aforesaid letter. The nest sitting of the R. M. Court, at Waimate, on April 12, was fixed for the hearing of the case.

Beyond the fact that young ladies occasionally fish, or are alleged to fish for husbands, there would at first sight appear to be, but little connection between fishing and matrimony. But in some parts of Scotland the herring season is equivalent to the London season as regards matrimonial prospects. If the season is a dull one, weddings are few in number, whereas when the season is brilliant, young couples " pair off" with comparative briskness. This year the failing in the herring fishery has had, it is stated, a very depressing effect on the matrimonial market at nearly all the fishing stations. The decrease in the marriages in the three months ending September 30th last is very considerable. In the Island of Lewes, with upwards of 25,000 inhabitants, there were only two marriages, and in Wick, with a population of 13,000, the nuoiber of marriages was only thirteen, being rather more than half the usual total. Over the whole of Ross and Cromarty, with about 83,000 inhabitants, there were only thirty marriages. The fishermen, in short, seem to be displaying the same kind of willingness as the herrings.— Pall Malt Gazette. The South Canterbury Times says :—On Saturday last, after some goods had been landed from the steamer, a document was discovered laying between two of the cases on the beach, which, on being examined, turned out to be a visiting magistrate's report on the convict department at Fingal, in the Australian Colonies, bearing date as far back as Franks. It gives the names of certain men who were to receive certain sentences for various misdemeanors, the ship they came in, &c. Perhaps the most curious part in the history of this relic is the perfect state of preservation it is in, looking as fresh as if it only come out of some departmental pigeon hole. It is quite a mystery as to how it found its way hither, especially laying loosely between two cases. It is at the present time in the hands of the police for them to solve the problem. A remarkable recognition of a long-lost parent is reported by the Western Morning News. Five and twenty years ago a gentleman left Devonshire for Australia, accompanied by his eldest son, and commenced farming near Melbourne. Subse-quently-two younger sons emigrated, but the wife, with three other children, continued to Hveatßishopsnymbton, receiving the rental of an estate in which her husband had a life interest. Three years after reaching Australia the father left the home, and did not return, and as nothing respecting him could be learned, it was concluded that he had been murdered. Three since the wife died, the estate was sold to the husband of a daughter, and the purchase money distributed among the children. A few weeks ago one of the emigrant's sons was reading some placards, when he entered into conversation with an elderly stfanger similarly engaged, and shortly afterwards they recognised each other as father and child. They proceeded to Adelaide together to see another son, but learned that he had been crushed to death by a waggon a few days previously. The dispensed estate has now a claimant, and a curious difficulty has been created. Says a correspondent in the Hawke's Bay Herald :—" Referring to our Agricultural and Pastoral Exhibition, a good tale is told up here of what took place at a similar show in one of the other provinces. It appears that, among the miscellaneous articles of provincial produce, the society offered a prize for a cask % of the best provincial brewed beer. Now, there was a wealthy and popular brewer, whose establishment was in the heart of the city, and feeling satisfied in his own mind that the judges would be chosen from amongst his friends who reside in the metropolis, he, in the fulness of his gushing generosity, gave an up country publican ten guineas wherewith to purchase a silver cup, to be given as an extra prize for the best cask of beer, assured within himself that the cup, as a certainty, would be awarded to him, and that it would act as a standing advertisement for his beer; but unfortunately for Mm the result was otherwise. The society having chosen strangers to act as judges, who impartially decided upon the merits of the beer, and not upon the position of the brewers, an up-country brewer secured the society's first prize, as well as the silver cup so liberally and patriotically given by the city brewer. His feelings can be better imagined tlSm described when he read the award of the judges, and it is thought down South that he will never attempt so amiable a dodge again. How lucky we of Hawke's Bay ought to be to think that nothing of a similar character could possibly take place here." He might also, and with equal applicability and truth, have added, "in Akaroa." An extraordinary marriage took place at Jevington, England, the other day, the ceremony being performed by the Very Reverend Archdeacon Philpot, in the presence of a large congregation. The married couple both belong to the parish of Jevington, but the singular part is, that the bride had no arms, and the ring had to be placed on the third toe of the left foot. At the conclusion of the marriage ceremony, she signed the marriage registrar, holding the pen with her toes, in a very decent 'hand.' It may interest our readers to learn tha L the Palmer goldfields yielded for the last year about half as much as the yiel d of New Zealand.

Anglo-Australian writes in the European Mail: —" Sir Julius Vogel has taken up his quarters at the New Zealand Agency in Victoria Chambers, Westminster. He came down one morning in a cab and took possession very quietly. There was no crowd around the doors to welcome him, as there would have been in New Zealand, and the only " official" he encountered on the staris wa the housekeeper's head maid dusting the bannisters. After making a tour of inspection of the offices, and impressing the clerks with the ease and dignity of his bearing, he retired to the Agent-General's ' own room,' where he is reported to have partaken of a substantial tiffin. This over he summoned one of the officials, and making certain pertinent inquires as to the conduct of business, said very blandly, that would do, a hint which the aforesaid official regarded. as equivalent to the assurance that business was over for the day. Thus the office was entered upon without the least demonstration or excitement, and as i its tenure is said to be but temporary — possibly for a year—there seems no good or valid reason why the business should I not go on smoothly, or at least be conducted in a spirit of fairness and impartiality in regarded of vested interests." There is scarcely a newspaper published from one end of the year to the other that will not, if critically considered, give offence to somebody in the community. The politician objects to the way his speech is reported. The buyers of one set of shares are offended because the money column reports another set as going up or down. Gentlemen who find themseh'es in the hands of the police are aggrieved at the license of the Press, which reports their arraignment and trial among the police proceedings. The newspaper thus offends someone, just as the weatherrainy to-day and sunshine to-morrow—is sure to annoy somebody. The common sense view is that the newspaper is the history of yesterday written torday; that it is the mirror of the time, and that those who conduct it care nothing for individuals except to do them justice. A native chieftain (says the Poverty Bay Herald) after talking himself hoarse the other day at the Makaraka Land's Court whilst asserting his right to countless acres of hill, wood, and dell, found it necessary to assuage his thirst after thelabors of the day. The fleeting hours, flew swiftly by while the noble savage quaffed goblet after goblet of the farfamed local XXX. Meanwhile his faithful steed, which was waiting at the door to convey him to liis kainga, .inspired, some gay pakeha revellers with a brilliant idea* Loosening the girths they reversed, the saddle with pommel f%cing the tail, and then left. At length the rangatira behim of his home and the wife of his bosom, and striding to his horse, he placed his hand on the pommel, his foot in the stirrup, and instinctively felt for the rein. None was to be found, however,, at that end of the quadruped, and with a wild cry of and anguish, he rushed back into the house, exclaiming, " Who'scut off my horse's head ?" » The Melbourne correspondent or the Hamilton Spectator is responsible for the* following story:—Among the passengers by the Suez mail steamer were an old resident of Queensland, returned from a visit to England, and a tall, lanky, rawlooking youth, from one of the inland counties. As the young fellow gave out that he was visiting the, colonies for the purpose of buying a station, the old squatter became communicative, and spoke of his. possessions' in Queensland, his lands, his herds, his flocks, his horses, and his copper mining interests. Some hitch occurred in. theyoung fellow's affairs financial. He was disappointed at the-non-receipt of money, but was able to show letters which apeared to be from respectable citizens in London. His first move was t<j borrow £1500 from his colonial friend. Within a few days he succeeded in obtaining £5000 from the old gentleman, who became suspicious, obtained proof that the letters were not genuine, and put the matter in the hands of the detective police. A hunt .for the young Englishman is going on by the smartest officeis in the force, but though it is known that he' is somewhere about the town, he has contrived so far to keep out of the way of arrest. Since the passing of the Debtors and Creditors Act of last session, there are no newspapers specially appointed as Gazettes in Bankruptcy. The fourth clauses of that Act provides that the word " Gazette,'* as used in the Act, " shall mean any newspaper published and generally circulated within the district in which the proceedingor matter is taken or pending." Every such notice must further be published in two papers circulating in the districts in which reside people affected to any extent by such notification. A Thames contemporary says : —The following medical certificate was presented at a Good Teniplars' Lodge the other night in vindication of a charge preferred against a member, of breach of his obligation :—" I certify that ■ tried to keep his spirits up by pouring spirits down at my instigation, and to his store of animal heat while in cold water by mixing eaid water with alcohol in the shape of P. 8., also at my instigation, and to add to his 1 exhausted strength by the same means.—Martin H. Paynd. , Wellington.-..newspaper amenities continue. One editor! refers to a contemporary as the " vagrant "editor of % wretched

The London papers tell a ghost story based on the death of Mr. George Smith, th& Assyriologist. It is as follows: '-Mr. Smith died at Aleppo on the 19th of August, at or about the hour of six in the afternoon. On the same day and between three quarters of an hour or an hour later, a friend and.fellow worker of Mr. Smith, Dr. .Delitzch—was going to the house of a third person, the author of the account of the labors of the departed scholar which appeared in the Academy. In the course of his walk Dr. Delitzch passed within a sione's throw of the house in which Mr. Smith lived when in London, and suddenly heard his own name uttered aloud in a most piercing cry which thrilled him to the marrow. The fact impressed him so strongly that he looked at his watch and noted the hour. Dr. Delitzch, who strongly disavows any superstitious leanings, was ashamed to mention the circumstance to his friend on reaching that gentleman's house, although on his return home he owns that his nervous apprehensions of some mournful event in his own family found relief in tears, and that he recorded all the facts in his note-book that same night. Dr. Delitzch told the story on the 6th inst., at a friend's table, with all the circumstances mentioned above, including the shrill cry. He distinctly denied having been thinking of Mr. George Smith at the time. The following very sensible suggestions are made by the 'Poverty Bay Standard , : —" What we demand on behalf of those who desire to 'pay as they go , is that there shall be a marked distinction made in their favor, as against those who take long credit, or do not pay at all. Let those who have heretofore done what is known as a booking business make it clearly ■and emphatically understood that the cash price for goods is so much, and credit price so much more. Traders will very soon learn how much the principle will be appreciated, and how many will only be too ready to avail themselves of such an arrangement. There should be , no evasions on the part of those who sell, and no excuses for departure from the rules laid down by those whose who buy —So much for cash payment; so much for credit." A curious calculation, in regard to the amount of work done by printers, has lately been made, giving the following results : —A good type-setter sets up about 24,000 letters each day. The distance travelled over by his hand, in reaching the cases of type averages one foot per letter ; in.taking and placing each letter his hand performs a journey averaging two feet per letter. Thus, the average distance travel, led by his hand, each day, is 48,000 feet, or 16 kilometers (10 miles); so that> leaving out Sundays, the hand of a journeyman printer averages in the course of each year 5000 kilometers, or about * 3125 miles! In comparison with the vast Amount of manual labor performed by the .army of printers now doing their part, m modest but indispensible, towarde the destruction of man's greatest enemies—ignorance and prejudice—the labor of the ■copyists of other days seems to be reduced to very small proportions ; and yet their action in perpetuating and transmitting the intellectual achievements of those earlier days, has been of incalculable advantage to the world. A curious and interesting relic of the pre-printing epoch of this world's mental development,"carefully preserved in the National Library, is the most ancient manuscript, written on paper made of cotton, possessed by this country. This old relic dates from the year 1050, about a year after the first specimens of paper had been seen in Europe, whither the precious substance had been brought from Japan. The Paris correspondent of the London * Standard writes:—" It has often been said that the science of telegraphy ia as yet in its infancy. What it will be when it reaches the age of maturity it would be difficult to say with certainty, but some idea may be formed from an extraordinary telegraphic discovery just made in Paris. It appears that some inventor has found out the means of sending portraits by telegraph. The modus operandi has not yet been disclosed, but experiments have been made and—if we are to believe the papers —with complete success. The trial was made by ' the police authorities of Paris and Lyons.. The portrait of a Lyons official was forwarded from Paris by the new telegraphic apparatus, and was at once recognised. In return the Lyons police telegraphed to Paris the portrait, accompanied by the usual description, of a clerk who had just absconded with his master's money, and the Paris police, thanks to the telegraphic portrait, were enabled to arrest *» the thief on his alighting from the train at the Lyons railway-station. The facts are published on the best authority, and, incredible as they may seem, are no doubt authentic. So far, the ingenious discovery is only being employed for the detection of criminals; but it is evident that the police authorities will not be able to monopolise it, and that it will be turned to account by society at large under the very trying circumstances of life, and more especially in the cases of deserted wives and husbands, missing heirs, disconsolate lovers and similar interesting beings. K. Sherrin was brought up on Thursday At Waimate, on remand from Timaru, with a criminal libel on G. Eeid, of the Otago Guardian. He was committed for trial, bail being allowed.

A very painful occurrence (states the Wagga Wagga Express) took place on the Wagga-bridge and nearly resulted in the death of a well-known and highly respected resident in the district. The gentleman in question has been unwell for some time past, and this illness has been attended by frequent fits. On Monday, we believe, he suffered from three while at the hotel. In the evening he was driving across the bridge, accompained by his father and brother, and when he reached about the centre of the structure, he jumped out of the buggy with barely a word of warning, and leaped on to the parapet, threw himself into the river, a depth of about 40 feet. In his fall he struck one of the piers of the bridge. His brother immediately ran round the approach, and swam to the rescue, which he happily effected, and returned safely to the bank. The blow which the unfortunate gentleman sustained rendered him senseless, in which condition he was removed to a neighbouring hotel, where he has since much improved." The State of New York alone has now nearly 1,000 cheese manufactories, which use the milk of more than 250,000 cows making therefrom 80,000,000 pound of cheese, which is 1,000 pounds for every three cows. The cheese production of the whole United States if now over 250,000,000 pounds of which 96,000,000 are exported. England scarcely exports 25,000,000 pounds, while little Holland, whicli used to be the principal cheese-pro-ducing country of the world, exports at present 90,000,000 pounds- This latter fact suggests the extent which the cheese production of the United States may reach in the course of years, and the wealth its exportation will bring back as the Hollanders used to boaststhat their cheese production alone was more valuable than a gold mine, very few of which surpass the Dutch cheese in the profits realised. — Journal of Applied Science. Sir Arthur Guinness, the Dublin brewer, lately sold his share of the business carried on in his name for one million of money. The story of the marriage of Lamartine, the great French poet and statesman, is one of romantic interest. The lady was of an English family named Birch, and very wealthy. She first fell in love with the poet from reading his " Meditations Poetiques." She was slightly past the bloom of youth, but still young and fair. She read and re-read the " Meditations, ,, and nursed the tender sentiment in At length she saw Lamartine in Genoa } and her love became a part of her very life. Not long after this she was made acquainted with the fact that the poet was Buffering even to unhappiness, from the embarrased state of his pecuniary affairs. Miss Birch was not long in deciding upon her course. She would not allow the unhappiness of a lifetime to slip from her if she could prevent it. She wrote to the poet a frank and womanly letter, acknowledging her deep interest and profound respect, and offering him the bulk of her fortune, if he were to accept it. Of course Lamartine could not but suspect the truth' Deeply touched by her generosity, he called upon her, and found her to be not only fair to look upon, but a woman of brilliant literary and artistic education He made an offer of his hand and heart" and was promptly and gladly accepted and in after years Alfonse de Lamartine owed not more to his wife's wealth than to her sustaining love and inspiring en thusiasm. "What are the Wild Waves Saying?'We cannot say, but we confidently affirm G. Black has a splendid stack of drapery, boots, and clothing, nearly all new goods, at a low price. For particulars, see advertisement in third page.—[Advt.]