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Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 3, Issue 267, 7 February 1879, Page 2

We clip the following from the Marlborough Express. The Mr Bruce, who is the hero of the adventure, is well kuown in Akaroa. He is the second son of Mr W. Bruce of the steam launch, and was employed in the Telegraph Office here. His conduct on the occasion "related,' appears to have been extremely plucky:—" A narrow escape from drowning and a gallant rescue occurred about seven o'clock on Monday morning last. Messrs Bruce, Heraus (junior), and Willcocks, of the Telegraph Department, went to bathe in the Opawa river, and Willcocks, not being able to swim, attached a flax rope to his body and tied it on shore. He jumped into the river intending to haul himself out by the flax rope, but unluckily it broke and left him in an awkward predicament for a non-swimmer. Messrs Bruce and Hemus had gone some distance higher up the river, intending to swim down with the current to the place where -Willcocks was. Suddenly, Bruce observing .Willcocks bobbing up and down in the water, and evidently out of his depth, instantly struck for the bank, which he quickly' reached, and then ran along it, plunging into the river again, at a spot in a* line with the place where he last saw Willcocks, who had sunk. He dived and managed to seize the drowning man by the hair of the head. Willcocks had by this time been carried, by the current far below the bathing place. On reaching the bank Bruce found it irhpossible to land, the bank enrving in below the water. In this position he held Willcocks with one hand, and clutched the clay bank with the other, which more than once gave way with him.. Hemus, who followed, then attempted to descend the bank from above, but the bank giving way all three were in the water again. Bruce still stuck to his man, and Hemus swimming up the stream effected a landing, and again descended the bank, which Bruce had again clutched with his ringers, and this time succeeded in dragging Willcocks out. Bruce then swam up the stream till the nature of the bank allowed him to get out. All three men were very much exhausted. Willcooks was black in the face when brought to land, and for some time was unconscious. Had Bruce not been a powerful I jAan, and behaved with great pluck, Willcocks must in all human probability have been drowned, as not only had he sunk the third time, but after reaching the bank it required great effort on Bruce's part to stickto hfrh and clutch the bank at this particular p.irtof. the river. All honor is due to Bruce for his manly courage on this occasion."

We have to acknowledge receipt from the Acting Commissioner of Railways of a free pass for the railways in the Middle Island. n ' _.„_,„_ &*, n &*&$&&. . , ■j to enquire :/"i/ito between the j BorougljsnjsJ fife Rjiad E&ard held another fitting cJn W-ednesdayv-a't the Court-house, | occasion Mr Williams, Board, and Mr I on behalf of that MayW andlTown Clerk representing the Borough/ Mr Williams asked for an adjournment of the enquiry for ten days - to enable ••him' to proci|ref and iommunicateiwith ex-members'ot the Board. The enquiry was accordingly adjourned till Monday, the 17th inst.

~ -The- Akaroa School Committee met Mr Kane, whb has charge of the proposed additions to the district school, on ''Tuesday;' and went over the premises with a view of-fixing|Upan the best method of carrying . jjierji agreed that the additipn 1 aljQuld.be erected.at, right ( -angles 4o« the «ow. part of- the '.present school. » With regard to fencing, 'the dividing fence of will probably be shifted to the corne*r of the school building, and carried down to high-water mark.

,' (Another meeting of the Borough Council lapsed on Wednesday evening for want of a Quorum.;,--The< only councillors present were Messrs Cullen, Penlington, and the

Mayor. The absentees were Cfs Alger ? Beecher,.Billens, Bridge, Bruce, and Meech. 'These frequent lapses of regular meetings

are anything but creditable to the members of the Council. Several important matters were, to the.- knowledge of councillors,'tobe dealt with on Wednesday, among others the consideration of a letter re the leasing of the Ashburton Reserves, a report of the Committee appointed to examine the valuation roll, the by-laws, and other, matters. Yet, only three out of ten take the trouble to turn up. If gentlemen cannot spare two or three hours once a fortnight to

attend to public matters, they have no ' right to allow themselves to be placed in public positions. The meeting now stands "adjourned till thitr day (Friday) at 7.30 Xi„ > "> "

- MrO. W» Bridge will hold an important gale of] Btdckt|-d|y||Mf;Breitmeyer's farm, German/ Bay.f pie sherd to be •offered consists of milch cows, two and ttifee-year-old 'steers' and heifers, and yearnings.; The. breeding; of the .stock i 9 kri'own j to. be good,- and the, sa|e..will, no doubt, attract a Urge number.of buyers.. The Manse Committee met last Wednesday in Mr GillespieV Pigeon Bay. Several of the members \were unavoidably absent. The only business before the meeting was the corisideratiwtof a bill for £100 due on 'the 6tM -ft-wW* resolved to renew the.bill for another six months. It may be stated that the total cost of the Manse, fencing, deeds, discount, &c, has been about £520. Of this sum j there remains unpaid only £100—a state of thing's exceedingly creditable. But tile Committee hope that even this sum will not long be allowed to remain a dead weight. Could ten ladies be prevailed upon, now that the gentlemen collectors are pretty nearly done up, to undertake £10 each, the sum required would be found in a very short time. Will so many volunteer?

In consequence of another race meeting having been already fixed for the same day, the Peninsula Jockey Club have altered the date fixed for their annual races. They are now to be held on the 21st, instead of th 9 28th of February, as previously arranged. Nominations for the handicaps close on Feb. 13, and entrances on Feb. 17, in each case at 8 p.m., in Akaroa. - ... .

Under date Wellington, Feb. 4, we learn that " both evening papers to-day. have very strong articles denouncing the lenient sentences passed oh the Glasgow Bank directors. The Chronicle', says— 'The whole thirig'is monstrous, and it will make the heart of every honest man throb with indignation, that infamous scoundrels like those directors should not have had their proper desert- served out to them.' The Post says the intelligence , (of these sentences) caused an absolute thrill of astonishment and indignation to run through the whole community." We should imagine that the feeling, given utterance to by our Wellington) contemporaries will be shared throughout the length, and breadth of the Empire. If these men have been guilty of anything, they have perpetrated robberies of the most heartless description. They have robbed the wido\v and the fatherless, arid have rendered hundreds of homes desolate. They have continued the perpetration of these villainies over a series of years, and have icloaked them under a veil of extreme .piety./ We; are afraid that in this instance a gross miscarriage of justice has taken place, and we fear also that, if it- could be traced to its ultimate cause} this would be found to be the twin gods of our'hineteenth century adoration —money and " respectability."