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Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 2, Issue 190, 14 May 1878, Page 2

We have to call the attention of our readers, and especially the travelling portion of them, to the advertisement in another column, notifying a change in tbe hour of departure of the Christchurch coach from Akaroa, and the other bays, on and after Friday next.

To-morrow is the last day up to which the electoral rolls of the different ridings in the County of Akaroa can be inspected at the various offices named in the advertisement which appears in another column. From the following section of the Counties Act, 1876, it will be seen that notice of all objections must be given at the Resident Magistrate's Court on or before the last day of May :—"Any person who considers himself aggrieved by his own name or that of any other person being entered on or omitted from tbe roll of the riding, or by tbe number of votes allotted to him or to any other person thereon being more or fewer than that to which he or such other person is entitled under this Act, may, on or before the last day of May, apply for relief to the Resident Magistrate's Court in the riding."

We understand that a special meeting of the Borough Council will be held this evening to receive the accounts of the Borough for the twelve months ending March 31. ; The accounts, with the auditors' certificate appended, have appeared in our advertising columns.

We would remind our readers that the nomination of candidates for the Borough Council takes place at noon to-morrow, at tbe Borough Council offices.

We possess a good many pianos in Akaroa, and of those not a few are suffering from the disorder known as being " out of tune " and " flat," as the ears of those who have to listen to them can testify It will be good news to the OAvners of such instruments that a surgeon skilled in the tieatment of these maladies is about to visit Akaroa. Mr Chattaway, pianoforte tuner, announces in another column his intended arrival here to-morrow evening. Persons who Avish to secure bis services are requested to leave their orders at the office of this paper. Orders will receive attention in the order of priority of application.

A meeting of the Vestry of St. Peter s was held at the Parsonage last Thursday evening. The members present were—jftev. P. C. Anderson, Chairman ; Messrs Westenra and Wagstaff, Churchwardens ; and McGregor and Henning, Vestrymen. It was resolved, inter alia, that the Incumbent and Churchwardens form the Cemetery Board for the Parish of Akaroa. The appointment of Parochial Nominators was postponed until the next meeting of the Vestry which will be held at the Parsonage at 7 p.m.-on Tuesday, 14th inst. The Chairman was requested to notify this, and to state that tbe chief business of the meeting would be the appointment of Parochial Nominators, and the setting on foot of some definite plan for liquidating the various claims, amounting in all to nearly £150 against the Vestry. The matter of appointing a Lay Reader for Akaroa, led to a discussion as to the desira-! ability of retaining a clergyman in Akaroa. No definite resolution, however, was passed, the general impression appearing to be that until the present claims against the Parish are met, very little in the way of raising money for other objects can be done.

There was no morning service at St Peter's Church, Akaroa, on Sunday last owing to there being no lay-reader available, the Rev. P. C. Anderson being absent on his usual monthly visit to another portion of the parish. This fact should shew most forcibly the necessity for the immediate appointment of a local lay-reader, so that the regular routine of of the services of the Church may not be interrupted. The Rev. Mr Anderson cannot be übiquitous, and while discharging his duties in other parts of the parish, some provision should be made for supplying his place here. We trust the matter will be at once placed on a better footing.

Thefollowfng letter which appears in columns of The New Zealand&r of the 6th inst., may not prove uninteresting at the present time, when the recent fearful death f rotia the | exploding of a "kerosene lamp, and the burning, down'of an hotel from thej samel cause, are. still fresh in the minds of our •readers, having left, doubtless, no inconsiderable, amount of nervousness as a,-legacy to_all those who are a'ecustomed to use' this mode of lighting in their dwellings. Jibe writer advocates a simple remedy foi the prevention of explosion from kerosene lamps, a prevention seemingly so insignificant that, like Naaman, the. Syrian, people may be apt to pass it by with contempt, deeming that so terrific an evil must require some scientific antidote with a long-sounding, crack-jaw name, in the composition of which must be assimilated all the wonderful ingredients known to our most renowned chemists. We do not vouch for the correctness of the writer's statement, but leave it our to readers to test it, or not, as they may think fit. The following is the letter referred to :—" Sir —I apprehend that the late and much lamented death, at the house of Mr Benzonij will, like many of a similar kind, be soon forgotten by the general public, and that housekeepers will continue using the treacherous and at all times dangerous kerosene, whithout at least using a very simple precaution against accidents and loss of life. For years past I have been forced to burn kerosene in dwellings such as a digger's tent to a well-appointed cottage, and always escaped the horrors of: a lamp explosion. The remedy or prevention against accidents may be regarded by many as too cheap and good to be true) but let those, like myself, forced to va c kerosene oil, take a teaspoonfull of table or common salt, and drop this salt in the bottom of the globe, or that part of the lamp containing the oil. The salt neither dissolve or evaporate, but remain intact Let the lamp be daily charged with oil in the usual manner, the salt will still remain without requiring replenishing. I am not a chemist nor a scientist, and am therefore unable to say what preventative power salt exercises over kerosene, but of this I am sure, that with a charge of salt disposed of as above described, you could not cause a lamp to explode if you tried to do so.—l am, &., A. Hatter." The signature " A Hatter " may be a norn de plume, and if so is rather liable to be twisted into a joke reflecting on the sanity of the matter contained in the letter, but we think on so serious a topic there can be no levity intended. The suggestion however is open to be taken cum grano salis. We notice that Mr T. S. Baker of French Farm has been winning laurels at the sports, in connection with the South Canterbury Amateur Athelis Club, held in Timaru on the Bth and 9th instant. The Champion Challange Cup, valued at from 50 to 80 guineas, which becomes the property of the gentleman winning it three times, was awarded to Mr Baker for the greatest number of points gained at the meeting.