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Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 82, 1 May 1877, Page 2

As we promised last issue to review the performance at the concert given to Mr. F. W. Baker last Thursday evening somewhat in detail, we proceed to redeem our promise. The first item on the programme was a selection from " La Fille de Madame Angot" b} r the Orchestral Society, considerably reduced in effect by the absence of the flute and violoncello. The selection was fairly played, only it struck us that the piano and cornet were playing from different scores, as at times they did not seem quite unanimous. The solo '• Guardian Angel,"' by Mr. 11. Billens, opened the concert in the vocal department, Mr. F. J. Robertshaw gave the " Christian Martyr." Mrs. Baker was not in so good a voice as we have heard her, but. the recitative and air, " Arise Elijah, and 0 Rest in the Lord" was artistically given. Of course the great attraction of the programme was Mr. F. W. Baker, who sang the whole of the pieces opposite his name with fine feeling and finish ; his *' Come into the Grarden Maud" being esjjecially good. We may remark that we prefer hearing Mr. Baker in ballad music to some of his more ambitious efforts from the groat masters. What was on the whole an enjoyable evening'was brought to a close by the farce of " The Echo in the Woods," Mr G. Black being very funny as Steve, and Mr. Baker, who had to take the part of Ponipoy at a few hours' notice through the indisposition of Mr. W- Adams, was very amusing. We noticed during the performance what we imagine is a novelty in the history of the opera, the throwing of bouquets to gentlemen performers. On the whole we can hardly congratulate the local musical talent on their appearance on the present occasion. Would it not be" possible for those of musical taste to have some united action during the winter evenings for practice. We are quite sure a considerable amount of focal musical talent exists amongst us which only waits for development, education, and culture. The Borough Council held a special meeting last Friday evening for the purpose of considering the Bye-laws as published in our issue of 20th instant, before sending a copy to the Colonial Secretary, Wellington. We understand they were adopted as printed with very few alterations. Up to the time of publication, nothing has been heard of the schooner Edward, and we fear she must now be regarded aslost. We extract the following from the Otago Times, which has reference to the ill-fated vessel :—•' Fears are entertained for the safety of the schooner Edward, of Lyttelton. We have some information of this vessel up to the Bth ultimo, when in company with the schooner Zior ; she was hove-to ten miles north of Banks Peninsula, under a jib set aft as a sort of stormstaysail. She just bowed the sea, and was sagging bodily along the coast before the gale, whilst the Zior, being under double reefed foresail and close-reefed mainsail, head-reached off shore. Nothing further I

has been heard of the Edward, but Captain Falconer, of the Mary Ogilvie, states that after the gale subsided, and his vessel, after having been driven north from the Banks, was recovering ground with a light N. E. breeze, she sighted a small fore-and-aft schooner astern, standing south, under mainsail and headsails. Her foresail appeared to have been blown away ; but, as this was at the beginning of last week t fjthe Edward, if it were her, should have arrived at Lyttelton a day or two afterwards." The Dunedin correspondent, of the Lyttelton Times tells the following story : ! —A respectable young man some months i ago bought a pair of unmentionables from a tailor, the tailor immediately after became insolvent, and his estate was placed in the hands of a wholesale firm in Dunedin. The firm sent the customer an account for the article supplied ; the bill was promptly paid, and to the firm's collector. Judge of the young man's surprise when, on coming to the office one morning, he, on opening a letter addressed to him in the senior partner's hand-writing, found it to contain a memorandum from Messrs—the liquidating firm, to the following effect :—" Mr Senioi Partner, —Mr. Blank, in the employ of your firm, owes the enclosed tailor's account. Will you kindly see that it is paid." The young man so treated was naturally irate. He had paid his bill, and immediately showed his employer the-receipt in proof of his assertion. But even presuming a case in which payment luul not been made, the sending of a trumpery account to an employer is a practice that cannot be too strongly reprehended, and in this case the victim of the practice was manly enough to administer some stern treatment. He demanded that ajyritten apology be at once forwarded to his employers. This was declined, whereupon he punched the head and wrung the nose of the person who gave the' refusal. The police were sent for, but, as the matter did not take place within their range of vision, no arrest could be made. The head of the liquidating firm, the person who ordered the letter to be sent, he met in the street, and publicly squirted tobacco juice into his teeth. A lawyer, whom he accused of putting the firm up to the course he met in the bar of an hotel, publicly charged him with having given such advice and then gave him a quid of tobacco juice between the eyes. The compliment was calmly taken ; a receipt paid on the 9th ot! the month for money claimed through the employer on the 24th, together with liquidating firm's letter to his employer has also been shown round Dunedin. So far, the person so dealt with, has been unsuccessful in getting the parties he has piuWcly insulted to take him to Court, but at the present rate a crisis will soon be reached. The " yarns" now circulating (says an exchange) about what happened to so and so, through the sudden rise in Moanatairi shares are startling and plentiful. It is said, for instance, {hat an Auckland man who owned a goodly lot of them instructed his solicitor to file a declaration of bankruptcy, and went,* into the country" to escape the malediction of creditors. He returned after a few weeks' absence, was taken by the hand, and congratulated by all his acquaintances, and his creditors offered to lend him more. His shares were gone up from 13s. to £21 10s. A man who was clearing out-to Sydney said to his landlady, " Well, I owe you for two months' board; take those ten Moanatiri's and cry quits," and she took them, because there was nothing else to get, but on the distinct assurance that there was to be no more calls. She got £15 from the first dividend, will probably get £40 more within a fortnight,' and the shares are worth £200. A contemporary says : —lt has been officially intimated that " the Government recognise the necessity of maintaining hospitals throughout the Colony, for which purpose arrangements of a definite nature will have to be made during the forthcoming session of Parliament, by handing them over to the control of Borough and County Councils on such terms as may be decided on." With regard to subsidies, it turns out that the deductions from them on account of the charitable expenditure are determined by the proportion each subsidy bears to the whole amount required. The Town Council of Lyttelton applied for an explanation to headquarters, and have been informed in reply that the computation is made as follows:—"As the total subsidies to councils and boroughs within the provincial district is to the total appropriation for hospitals, &c, within the district, so is the amount of each subsidy to the amount of its contribution." The Guardian tells the following pathetic story:—" That there is a good deal of distress prevailing among the poorer classes was made painfully evident by an incident that occurred yesterday. A strong able-bodied man, dressed in labouring clothes, presented himself at the Policestation. He stated that one of "his children had just died, and a second was at the point of death ; that he was out of euijjloyment, and that he had no means whatever to pay for their burial. He was referred to the Commissioner of Police, as since the abolition of the Provincial Government there was no provision to meet such cases. The man, it may be stated, bore the frank, honest appearance of one who was willing and ready to work ; but he

declared that he had been searching in vain for employment. Messrs Mollison and Hislop were interviewed in succession, but they could do nothing. The Rev. L. Mackie was then applied to, and, hearing the nature of the ease, he addressed a note to the City Coroner, Dr. Hockcn. That gentleman, after some time, found that he was permitted to act in such cases, and he gave the necessary instructions to have the child buried. Such an incident as this proves that there is more destitution at the present time among a section of the laboring classes than some who profess to be well informed on such subjects would readily believe." I After very many years (says the Indian Standard) there was an execution at Lucknow, on Tuesday, the 29th ult. A Moulvie of some little repute paid the last penalty of the law. He was convicted of a most brutal act of murder, alb.eit not committed by his own hand, but through means the most revolting to humanity, and was sentenced to: death. He kept a small school, and one of the boys who had been absent for two or three days, on coming to school was locked up by him in a small room, In this room a snake had been found some days previously, but was not killed. A little while after the boy's incarceration he called out a "snake! a snake!" and implored the Moulvie to open the door.'" Oh," he said, " open the door, and see for yourself—f or Mahomed Russool's sake open the door." The Moulvie would do nothing of the kind. At last the poor boy was bitten in several places in the ankle, and he called out, '• 0, now that I have been bitten, open the door." The Moulvie was inexorable —he would not open the door. About midday the father of the boy came to the school and enquired why he had not come home for his usual meal. The Moulvie said:—" I have confined him for his absence." ''Well," said the father, release him now." The door was then opened, and the corpse of a lad 12 years old, the only child of his parents, was the sad and shocking sight which presented itself, with the snake coiled near his neck. A remarkable disputed will case has just been decided at Sydney after occupying the attention of the Primary Judge in Equity and a special jury of twelve for nearly a week. A few weeks ago there died, leaving money and property to the amount of £120,000, an old man, Robert Hancock, who carried on business in Sydney for several years as a wheelwright, and had lived here for upwards of half a century. At the time of his death he kept a small public-house at the Glebe, living very economically, if not miserly* notwithstanding his immense wealth. He formed an intimacy with a Mrs Hannah Hincksman, by whom he had a son, and also with a young woman named Mary Payne. He left a will bequeathing half his property to Mrs Hincksman, and the remainder to Mary Payne. Probate of this will was granted to the executors, but subsequently a document, purporting to be the last will and testament of Robert Hancocks, was found, and the legatees under this will sought to stay probate. The legatees under the first will declared this document to be a forgery. Under the second will Hannah Hincksman receives only £8,000 ; Mary Payne, £3,000 ; and George Hincksman, £2,000; the balance being distributed amongst nine or ten different people—amongst others, Mr. Read, the governor of Darlinghurst Gaol— and to a Sydney charity. The jury before whom the case was tried declared this second will to be bad, and allowed probate of the first will to go. War.—As Russia has declared war against Turkej', so have I against long time. All old accounts not settled immediately will be sued for previous to the invasion of the country by the enemy. By order, G. Black.—[Advt.]