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Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 2, Issue 199, 14 June 1878, Page 2

By the report of the proceedings of the Borough Council on Wednesday evening last, it will be seen that it has been decided to remove the lamp, at present placed at the foot of Felgate's Hill, to the dangerous corner opposite Leprous forge. Wo trust that no time will be lost in carrying this into effect, as life and lirab are in jeopardy on dark nights so long as the present position of tba lights is unaltered.

At the usual meeting of the Good Templars held on Wednesday evening, the accounts of the late entertainment were gone into. It appeared that the gross receipts were £13 7s, while the expenses amounted to £3 9s 9d, leaving a balance to the good of £9 17s 3d. Wo believe this result is considered satisfactory. We have been requested to tender the thanks of the Good Templars to those ladic3 and gentlemen whe kindly gave their services and assisted in making the entertainment a success. As will be seen from an advertisment which appears elsewhere, there will be a meeting at the French Farm Kchoolhouse, on Monday nest, in connection with the Akaroa railway. A great many people seem to think that the Okute Valley is much the better route of the two Valleys, and as its existence is being totally ignored, the above meeting is to consider the question of Laving it surveyed, and comparing it with the present surveyed line. We would advise all those interested in furthering the object to put in an appearance. On Saturday last a young Maori girl, daughter of Eli, Chief of the Little River Maoris, died at Wainui from pulmonary disease. Great preparations are being made for the funeral, as the deceased was of the native aristocracy, and of noble lineage. On Tuesday last the s.s. Akatoa, which had been chartered for tiac purpose, arrived here from Lyttelton with some thirty Maori representatives, i'ruui Port Levy-and the plains, desired,, to pay the last tribute of respect to the dead, and assist at the Tangi, aud tho other customary funeral ceremonies. The deceased was, we understand, betrothed to a w>n of Tikao, Chief of the Wainui native settlement, and from this union, we believe, many advantages were expected to result, not tho least of which wero that the friendly relations and commons interests ol : the two Kaingas would be more firmly cemented. The body is to be laid in a brick vault, and through some delay in building this, the funeral has been postponed until to-day, or to-morrow. The Rev. IVlutu, Native Minister, assisted by the Rev. P. C. Anderson, will read the burial service, and the whole ceremony of which we hope to be able to give a full report in our next issue, will be of a most impressive character.

We have received from tha Itegistrar of Friendly Societies a list of Socictifis registered in Now Zealand, from which we glean the following particulars:—The Oddfellows (Maiicui;Kt<.:r Unity,) have 58 registered Lodge*, besides 3!. District. , ;. The Arncricaa Order luivo oi'i'j C'raud Lodge and one Lodge. The Foiesieru have 3-i coa ,,^, , ;v.;d ii\ o Disuicis. The H. A. C. 13. l>. have o jJ mucins, und iUisccilaueous (Societies ".matter 11. ']'].:■'.• toLai immbor of yocioiAw excluding JJktiict Lodges, is lut;. This coniinns our remarks on a former occasion that a large number of these Societies have not availed themselves oil registration, though it is so evidently to their advantage to do so. 'The District , Lodges should too to this. There is a provision in the Act by which*societies having branches can eftect, registration as a whole, and register all their branches simultaneously. Of the registered societies only 15 are located in Canterbury viz, : Oddfellows, 9 ; Foresters, 5 ; and Sons and Daughters of Temperancs 1. A cold-blooded writer in the New Zculandcr, evidently without the slightest regard for the feelings of the owners of domestic pets, is answerable- for the following:—" We are glad to learn that a wholesale system of dog stealing exists in Wellington, and we are still more pleased to learn that the dogs stolen are taken away in steamers. We only wish that even a retail system of dog- stealingexisted in the neighborhood in which our reportorial residence is situated, and we should be still more pleased were cat stealing combined with it, by way of variety. We are not judges of the value of either the canine or feline representatives which honor our neighborhood with their wailings and gnashing of teeth, bat we presume either their existence is not known or their value id not appreciated hence it is wo continue to enjoy their society while naughty sailors go prowling about less afflicted quarters of the city in search of dogflesh. So strongly do we feel the necessity for somo dog stealing '

in our neighborhood that we would not only undertake to assist in the capture of a few score, but would not consider it an offence against morals, nor any breach our amour propre, to be seen leading a string of curs down the Wharf to any number of steamers. ._ We should glory in tho deed, and returning home would thank goodness that steamers had been invented, and that sailors have a penchant for dogflesh.

That the wives of soma'of our London merchants are not always right in supposing that their husbands are in their counting houses when they do not come home to dinner the following tale will show : — Some few nights back the Prince of Wales t without giving precious notice of his intention, arrived at a West End Theatre. He ordered a box, but the Manager had to inform his Eoyal Highness that every box in the house had been engaged fo r some time. The Prince expressed his great anxiety to have some arrangements made to accommodate him, and the manager said that he would drive off to the residence of a gentleman who lived near, and who had a box, to request him to surrender it to H.B.H. The manager on arriving at the house of the gentleman, found that he was not at home. But he saw the gentleman's wife. She had heard nothing about her husband's having a box at tho theatre. However, she added that of course the Prince might have it» but that the manager should let her have two stalls. The manager gladly consented, and returned with the good news to H.R.H.) who duly took possession of the box. Meanwhile, the lady having waited some time for the arrival of her husband, and he not. coming home, she took one of her little children with her to the stalls. Soon her husband arrived at the theatre with a v fashionably " dressed young " lady." He proceeded to his box, and was informed that it had been given to the Prince of Wales. He replied, "No matter, let, us have two stalls instead." The stalls were placed at his service, and he and hi 8 " lady " friend were handed to two seats side by side with those occupied by his wife and child ! — Age.

A writer in the Ashburton Mail says :— " Ashburton is in a fair way" of acquiring greatness by the force of its own inherent characteristics and its surrounding circumstances, but if an inhuman writer in the Saturday Advertiser were to have his own way our progressive little town would have that somewhat diffieult-to delino thing

thrust upon U. We doutknow what we have

done to deserve such a gratuitous insult— to have it suggested that our pleasant, peaceful, and. comparatively pure-living town should be> made the seat of the Colonial G;ove.rnnj.Uiii;,,tu,e place where Parliament should meet once a year, and the head oilices of the. Civil Service be permanently located. Our greatest enemy could not have served us a sorrier trick, and we ha\c always regarded the Advertiser as one of our best and most genial friends. Ashburton made the seat of the New Zealand Government! If a town were, as a reward for the appropriateness of its situation and tne native worth of its inhabitants, to be made me seat of Government) then wo should say that no town in the colony ecuJtl be more entitied than ours to that honor, but in our own opinion, Parliaments, and Governments, and offices swarming with civil serv.mts, are inflicted

tAi. towns as for past and prosent; iniquities, ami we therefore lake the propo'-icii as the greatest insult that could be offered to any community of quietly resectable and decently industrious :nen aad women. An eagle in a dovecot would be nothing , to tho presence of the Legislature amongst our quiet townspeople. The ujt-caiiru'itioa of genius exhibited by lncmh'iiM oi ! the House would aiiect our nerves more than a thousand electric batteries, lx);• i.-iiii'brov-: , }- - stolid lespeolabiliiy of tlie

Coiacli would engender feelings more

ui'jad.ii.'iiy s:.;icicuii linn were over begotten l>v dyspepsia, wiill?. t':o presence .of all ihe (jii-Atrajoni, superannuated lieutenants, rented young swells, the laekeydoni and toadydom of the Civil Service, would throw the community into universal hysterics. And then the hybrid finatycial statements made by Major Atkinson and Mr Slevenr., tlie wit of Mr Barff. the poetry of Eii George Grey, cv.d the scintillator?; of Guoh :.ien f-.s Wiiliam Piolleston, bainuel Hodgkinson. William Wood, John Davics Otmorid, arid William Montgomery would drive the population into iiii; la-ii, stages of delirium tremens, and the whole place would probably dist-. nppoar in ;-. fit of spontaneous combustion —o'-'uporato into thejtniuneatof air, like the ponderous promises made by politicians at election rimes. No, we don't want to be brought to this complexion ; we are an unsophisticated people, come of poor but honest parents, and we desire not our town to be made the seat of the New Zealand

Mr Og-le, The Times correspondent at Viola, was mnrdcre;.! neox Mayranityra, after Uio t attlt;, by Turkish soMisrs, and deoapilsted, the object bcin;>" to prevent the recognition of the. body. He had used strong , language to the Turkish authorities about the conduct oli the soldiers , , and wr.s sbo'.ii returning to Viola to lay tho whole facts before the consular body. A largo rov/ard was? ofl'tsred for

the discovery of the corpse, which was vithoufc result for several days. The Greek Government fire having-the body interred at Athena at, the public: expense. There ie no. doubt that the Turkish authori-

ties, both civil and military, were coegnisant of the murder. Hobart Pasha, on hearing of the details, proposed that the consuls, in conjunction with some Turkish officers should form a commission of inquiry, but they declined on the ground that an inquiry must be instituted by the British Government, and that guarantees must be given for tho future protection of witnesses before any such proposition could be entertained. The matter has since been taken up by Mr Layard, and a man-of-war sent to Viola, Captain Pelly being directed to make a searching investigation. When Mr Ogle's ! remains were taken on board the Reynard gun-boat for conveyance to Athens, the foreign men-of war—French, Italian, Austrian, and American —hoisted their flags half-mast high. The funeral took place at Athens on Wednesday, amid the greatest display of national feeling ever witneseed in Athens.— Home News.

The Lyttelton Times of yesterday say : — " Whatever hope is held by some residents of the Peninsula of the railway being carried by way of Buchanan's, was effectually dispelled at last evening's meeting of the Trust, when, in answer to questions, the Engineer, Mr T. M. Hardy-Johnston, distinctly gave his reasons for taking the line by way of Barry's Bay. These reasons were very simple ; they were—a longer working line, and a better gradient. By the other way there would be too short a run down. Mr Johnston remarked that he had not lost sight of the valley on the other line, but they must adopt one route or the other, and he distinctly preferred that by Barry's Bay. They could stretch the line out easily from Barry's Bay, and extend it to French farm, or carry it round to the town. He would, however, have had a survey made, only there "was no time—at the same time, he had not the least doubt of the superiority of the other route. The Board appeared unanimously to concur in Mr Johnston's view." This will, if the route here advocated be carried into effect, prove a disappointment to those who have speculated in land under the belief that the line would rje taken by the other route. We observe, also, that " Mr Montgomery, M.H.R., has undertakeu to give the Akaroa Eailway Trust every assistance in helping their project through Parliament, and last evening was present at their meeting and conferred with them. v

" Anglo-Australian," writing about the visit of the Australian cricketers to England, says:—" As usual, there has been the old confusion in uninformed, though by no means uninfhiential. circles, as to whether the men are black or white, and many have boon the queries which have boon addressed to Australians upon this subject, but all fear of a cannibal outbreak has been dispelled by tha assurance that they are men of like complexion and degree with ourselves."