THE S. S. STELLA.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 2, Issue 143, 30 November 1877, Page 2

THE S. S. STELLA.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE AKAROA MAIL. , Sir, —Like all Britishers, I have a grievance—thusly ; I was -yoused from my humble couch tins day, at about* four o'clock a.m., by a whistle, which proclaimed that a vessel belonging to H. B. M.'sNavy (New Zealand Brand; had honoured our poor harbour with her presence. I presumed, innocently enough, „that her inten- „ tions were to lay torpedoes, <&§., for our "profcctiotf *agnirist when, judge of my dit-giiisl, at finding that the only means of olience and defenoe,'the twins of- security, were the cause of her. ' visit, and that we were left defenceless..Would I were a "Maolise" or "Frith," to depiet'the scene. Enough, that I could but admire the handsome uniforms of both officers and men, as they shone beneath the early rays of such a sun as few places like Akaroa can disclose. The seamanlike manner,,too. in which the "Iron Dogs of War " were handled, passes conception, for, with the exception oFismashing "a portion of the deck of H. M. S. Stella, with barker No. 1, and nearly punching a hole'through her bottom with gaspipe No-.-2,'a1l was well managed. I always had a firm conviction of the value of our colonial navy, but never till this day did I fully realise its power. In confidence, it was (don't be alarmed) hinted to me that our garrison guns were being removed to Wellington, but whether for the purpose of aweing the members- of our (?) Legislature into a sense of-their duty, or to form moorings at Wellington for the Hinemoa and~other toyß, I could not ascertain.' *

Finally,' as an inhabitant of this borough, 1 beg to tender my thanks for the way in which the Stella fed the fishes with soot and cinders, and spoiled my morning bath thereby.

A GROWLING BRITISHER. XAj; Akaroa, Nov. 26, 1877.