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Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 77, 13 April 1877, Page 2

We draw the attention of the members of the Mutual Improvement Society to the fact that the Phrenological Journal advises young men to be governed by the chin in picking out a wife. It is the music of the chin which quite frequently governs them afterwards. We don't know in what way the chin indicates character, but will leave the settlement of that question to the members of the society who can argue it when they meet to consider the advantages pro and con of " single blessedness, and married bliss." A lad, named Samuel Wooddill, in the employ of Messrs Haylock & Co., butchers, received rather an awkward kick from a horse in the knee yesterday, the result of which will most probably incapacitate him from following his occupation for some little time. We are at a loss to know who is at present responsible for the discharge of the Custom-house officer's duties. The papers were applied for by us in the usual wayyesterday, but we were informed that they were locked up, the consequence being that we are unable to publish our import and export information in to-day's issue. Baker's Hibernicon was again exhibited to a very fair audience on Tuesday evening last. Mr. Baker, who was accompanied by Mrs. Baker on the piano, sang the " Death of Nelson " with great perfection, and at its conclusion was favoured with the prolonged approbation of the audience. The company adveitise an afternoon performance, at the Town Hall, to-morrow, at 3 p.m. The Bye-laws for the Borough of Akaroa are now completed, and will be advertised on Friday, the 20th instant. The • Registration Officer has received 28 new claims for registration on the Electoral Roll for the District of Akaroa. The names are exhibited outside the Court House. We are informed that one of the Chinamen who lately visited Akaroa with the view of seeking a site for the establishment of a market-garden, returned this week, and completed an agreement to lease a portion of the fiat opposite Waeckerle's Hotel, from Mr. Nalder. The Celestial gardener intends losing no time in preparing the soil for the prosecution of this new industry. At both Little Akaloa and Pigeon Bay harvest thanksgiving services will be held on Sunday next. At Little Akaloa the service will be in the morning, at 11 o'clock, and at Pigeon Bay in the evening, at 7 o'clock. We are requested to call attention to the alteration in the time of services, they being now the reverse of the hours first announced. The date of meeting of the Trust Board appears to be as remote as ever, and we are certainly of opinion that the Government have been grossly neglectful in allowing such a lapse of time to take place without calling a meeting of the Trust. It will be remembered that Mr. Montgomery brought the matter under the attention of the Hon. Mr. Bo wen, on the occasion of that gentleman's late visit to Christchurch, but the matter has not been attended to up to the present. Cr. Wagstaff, at the last meeting of Council, moved a resolution invoking the powers that be, and we hope the result may be the placing of the machinery of the Trust Board quickly in motion. Mass will be celebrated by the Rev. Father Chataigrier in the Catholic Chapel, Akaroa, on Sunday nextOwing to the late hour at which the reports of the meetings of the householders in the Educational Districts of LittleRiver, Okain's, Gebbie'sFlat, Little Akaloa, reached us lastevening, we are unavoidably compelled to bold over their insertion till our next issue.

The annual Easter meeting for the election of a churchwarden and vestryman will be be held this evening (Friday), in the Town Hall, at eight o'clock. The Masonic Lodge " Akaroa" will celebrate the first anniversary of the lodge on Tuesday, tlie 24th instant, on which occasion the Masonic Hall will be formally opened. Tne installation of officers will take place, after which a banquet will be held. A large gathering of the fraternity is expected on this occasion. A meeting of the Local Board of Health was held on Wednesday evening last, immediately after the close of the Borough Council, the Mayor in the chair. The insector reported that Mr. Gandon had partially abated the nuisance, but the cesspool was not yet quite within the meaning of the Act. He also reported that the police closets were in a bad state, and that he had served the Resident Magistrate with a notice to cause the nuisance to be abated. The inspector was instructed to write to a large number of householders requesting the removal of offensive matter complained of. The residents of the Head of the Bay and surrounding districts will have an opportunity of witnessing the exhibition of Baker's Hibernicon on Monday evening next, at Barker's Hotel. The new map of the Borough of Akaroa was presented by the contractor, Mr. Pavitt, to the Borough Council at its meeting, on Wednesday last. The plotting has apparently been executed with great accuracy, and bears evident testimony the high professional abilities possessed by Mr. Pavitt. The new map will be found of immense benefit to section-holders,. in assisting to define the correct boundaries of their properties. The map is about 11 feet long by 4 feet wide, and has been drawn at.a scale of an inch to the chain. A most extraordinary accident occurred on Saturday last, which to our knowledge has no parallel. It appears that some children were playing near the mill-race of Messrs Redwood Bros., at Spring Creek when one of them, the son of Mr. John Withey, fell into the water, and was carried on to the wheel. It would seem that he floated broadside on. Howevei, he was caught within one of the buckets, carried underneath, and cast forth on the other side with the water. Strange to say, he emerged quite unhurt, and was enabled to get out, and went home apparently no worse for the accident beyond a good wetting. Such a thing could scarcely happen twice.— Marlborough Express. A local Auckland politician, named Dr. Wallis, got " on the stump" the other day at Auckland and fairly convulsed his hearers. He was energetic, funny and dramatic ; in fact, he seemed to have been reading of the famous trick of the great Commoner's just before meeting the electors. The doctor complained of a Mr. Mansfield trying to rob him of the honour of proposing to bang up the Counties Act in Eden, and said : " Mr. Mansfield has attempted to supplant me, and I hereby, in the presence of his constituents, publicly constitute him the hangman of the Act, and here, sir, is the rope to hang it with.'' He at this point produced a halter from his coat-tail pocket, and flung it with a tragic air of defiance upon the iloor, amidst roars of laughter mingled with deafening applause. In fact, the doctor completely " brought down the house." The Melbourne Argus says : —Anyone desirous of libelling a foe or a friend with impunity may learn from a decision given the other day in the County Court, a safe and easy way of doing so. In the case in question a man received a postal card) threatening that unless he called and paid for certain board and lodging he would be served with a summons, and stating that his conduct was disgraceful. Similar cards were addressed to ■him in care of various other persons, the object being of course, to circulate the offensive imputations as widely as possible. The cards were signed with the initials of the defendant in th c case, they were in his handwriting, and there was no dispute that they amounted to a libel. But the point was raised that there was no evidence that the defendant actually posted the card, and the judge, holding the point to bo invalid, nonsuited the plaintiff. It is stated that the decision will probably be reviewed by a higher Court, and in that case we may be permitted to hope, in the interests of the harmony of law and common sense, that the judgment may be reversed. We (N. Z. Times') have heard it stated on pretty good authority that Mr. Mac andrew, M.H.R., is about to permanently leave the colony. He is disposing of his property in Otago, or has already disposed, of a considerable quantity of it, and is about to settle in California. Under the heading " Up Side Down," the Lyell Argus thus apologises for one of its shortcomings in the art of printing :

—" Those of our subscribers who got last week's paper ' printed upside down' will we trust, excuse us, when .we tell them that, being short handed, a lady volunteered to do the printing. She said she could turn a mangle or a sewing machine, and it was darned odd to her if she couldn't run a printing machine. The ' Den" and her went at it, and between the two they run the Argus upside down. The woman consoled the editor by remarking, ' Never mind old chap ; they will only say, the printer's tight again.' Who wouldn't be a printer?"

The Wellington journals seem very polite towards each other. This is the way in which the Argus speaks of the " Colonial Journal,"the AT. Z. Times:—"Onr morning contemporary seems disposed to run a muck with lawyers and correspondents. Two columns of leading matter this morning are devoted to the abuse of two lawyers and a newspaper correspondent, towards whom the vagrant editor of the wretched rag which Wellington has to be content with as a morning journal, entertains feelings of personal animosity. Its lies about Mr. Travers, and its abuse of him will not, under the circumstances, do much harm. Curses are like chickens, and still come home to roost. The Wellington public now pretty well understand that no falsehood is too great, no misrepresentation too gross, in the eyes of the Times, to prevent its being eagerly seized on to gratify its malice." We recently referred to the fact that Mr, Bennett, of the New York Herald, had been cow-hided by a Mr. May. Mr. Bennett was engaged to be married to Mr. May's sister, but at the last moment the match was broken off, owing to irregularities on the part of the bridegroom. Thereupon Mr. May, providing himself with a cow-hide, waited for Mr. Bennett at the entrance of the Union Club-house, and struck him three times across the face, marking him probably for life. The papers (the Herald of course, excepted) gave full accounts of the affray, and it soon became current news that a duel would come off, as soon as possible. And it did come off, on the borders of the two States of Delaware and Maryland. The seven actors in the meeting have preserved absolute silence so far, and we really know nothing about what happened. The received account, however, says that three shots were exchanged, and at the last shot Mr. May was slightly wounded. Mr. Bennett has gone to Europe, and Mr. May is in hiding. Dr. Phelps, the surgeon, has been summoned before the Grand Jury, but was allowed to depart without saying anything, on the ground that his answers would criminate him. The authorities declare that if they can get any evidence upon which to base proceedings, the actors in the affair will be rigorously prosecuted. Duelling in New York is as extinct a custom as it is in England or in any other civilised country, and popular sentiment is strongly in favour of enforcing the very severe laws that exist on the statute book against it. Strange excuses (says the Guardian) are sometimes pleaded in extenuation of the offence of getting drunk and disorderly. An old soldier who appeared before the Bench yesterday with the marks on his forehead of a very recent engagement, informed the Justices that his inordinate tippling was due to the receipt of bis pension. The next inebriate on the list pleaded that he got drunk to drown his sonows over a new coat which bad been stolen from him. A nominal fine was inflicted in each case. Two candidates for a seat in the Victorian Parliament are likely to figure in a divorce suit—the one as petitioner, the other as corespondent" The former is a well-known medico and lecturer, and very recently he had to postpone an announced lecture because the Herald of the same day published his wife's application to a judge in chambers to file a petition for a divorce on the grounds stated, which include intemperance and adultery. He now makes answer that the thing is a vile conspiracy to damage bis candidature, and that he intends proceeding against his wife for adultery. The male co-respondent is his opponent for the seat in which he is seeking election. Amongst farmers, opinions vary considerably as to whether or not it is profitable to clip lambs. While some old breeders recommend it strongly, others as strongly condemn the practice. So that it is for each owner of sheep to do what he considers best. Advantages of shearing lambs may he stated to be as follows :—A good many ticks are destroyed. The lambs are not so liable to get on their backs when they get older. The wool brings in ready cash, which is sometimes acceptable. If lambs are clipped, they should be done early, so that the wool may grow before the cold weather sets in. — Weekly Neios. An elector at one of Mr. Hutchinson's meetings in Wellington is stated by the Argus' to have made, unintentionally, a very funny joke. He referred to the question of religion and nationality, and said he did not like to see such questions brought up at political meetings. What did it matter what a man's nationality was? For his part he was an Englishman, but he could have been born in Scotland or Ireland if he liked. It was nothing to do with anybody. This innocent elector could not join. The laugh was still more furious when he indignantly repeated that he was an Englishman, an d that his " old woman" was an Irishman, but for all that it concerned no one. On March 31 an accident occurred at the Railway Station, Christchurch, to a man named Sola Perchey, who was employed in shunting an engine and some trucks. The unfortunate fellow* in some way caught his foot between the rails, and was thrown down by the engine. Several of the trucks passed over his arm, breaking it in two places, and one of his feet was also badly injured. He was conveyed to the Hospital where he died on Monday evening.— Lyttelton Times.

That man of libel, the " Intelligent Vagrant," in the New Zealand Times, gives publicity to the following:—" Mr. Travers' supporters worked hard. One of them on Monday offered a." line" of flour to a customer at £1 a ton under market quotations, exacting from the customer at the same time a promise to vote for Travers."

Mr. Travers, the newly-elected member for Wellington, made his profession of faith, at a meeting of his constituents in the following comprehensive terms. "At his last meeting an elector had asked him a question as to the faith he professed. He bad never in all his political experience heard such a question put to a candidate before. But he believed that it had been asked on this occasion with the view of relieving him from what somebody had called an "imputation" of some kind. He had made inquiries about that question, and his friends had told him that it would be better for him to give a clear and distinct answer to it. He would do so now, and would observe at the same time that any man who was ashamed to look his fellowmen in the face when he was stating to what religion he belonged was not worthy the name of man. The days of persecution were over, and he had no objection to state the religion he belonged to. He was a member of the Church of England, and he always had been. His father was before him ; his wife and children belonged to the same church; his mother too ; her father was a clergyman of the Church of England, who occupied two livings, from which he received a considerable amount of tithes. He himself was not a Catholic, and if he were he would admit it at once."