Untitled

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 3, Issue 276, 11 March 1879, Page 2

On Thursday next the s. s. Akaroa makes an excursion from Pigeon Bay to Lyttelton and back. The fare is tionally loiVj.and, l»y "making a long day of it, visitors from Akaroa can spend the day in Christchurch, and reach home the same night.

. The Wellington correspondent of the Sun writes as follows re the bankruptcy of Mr Assistant Under Secretary A. M. Smith : —" The rumour is that Smith was promised that he should be reinstated, but the disclosures have been such, that Ministers see this cannot be done, and as soon as the difficulty is over, therefore, he is to be relegated to some obscure country position, with just enough" salary to keep body and soul together. The lesson will be a useful

one."

Respecting recent official appointments at the seat of Government, the Wellington correspondent of a contemporary writes:

—"The Native Under-Secretaryship has gone to Mr T. W. Lewis, who began life as a messenger, has been the obsequious servant of every Native Minister for the last fifteen years, and will fetch and carry like a water dog. Verily those who know how to toady get their reward- Little Tommy Young, the popular interpreter to the department and to the House of Representatives, has just been promoted to a Native Lands Court Judgeship. Ido nnt know whether the judicial dignitaries of this Court claim to be called ycur Honor, but if they do it will come hard on a good many who have been accustomed to speak to the new Judge as Tommy, to get round the change of title."

Mr Gγ. M. Waterhouse, one of the most obstructive of the Colonial " Lords " has just made his debut in a new character. It appears he has made the discovery that the Wellington Corporation has somewhat exceeded the borrowing powers conferred on them by the Act in th 6 matter of an overdraft. Instead of calling the attention of his fellow-citizens to the subject and evoking an expression of opinion from them, which would doubtless have had the desired effect, he takes upon himself to write to the Corporation personally, ordering them at once to reduce their overdraft, and threatening, in the event of non-com-pliance, to sue the members individually. In his letter, Mr Waterhouse calls himself a " public man." We are afraid there are too many "public men" like the Honorable George. We presume he would consider it a gross insult to be asked to take a seat in the Council. It would be '< so low, you know. , ' But he can stand aside fronr the work and pick holes in the performances of those who are doing their best in the service of the public. Yes, we fear there are other places beside Wellington possessing public men of this calibre.

We remind our readers that claims to be put upon the Electoral Roll for the General Assembly must be made before the end of the present month. It would be as well for ratepayers not to rely on the section of the Act providing that clerks of Road Boards shall furnish lists of ratepayers for insertion on the roll, as, from differences of opinion between these officials and Registration Officers, it happened last year that such lists were in many cases disallowed in toto. The trouble of rilling up a form is very slight, and it behoves every intelligent man not to neglect so easy a means of securing his electoral right, especially as a dissolution is an event by no means improbable during the current year.

The Education Board of North Canterbury offer ten scholarships to be competed for in June next. Full particulars of dates and conditions appear in our advertising columns.

Wβ have received the March number of the New Zealand Press News. The little journal has become. enlarged, appearing now in sixteen pages royal octavo instead of eight pages demy quarto. It contains a vast amount of information of interest to the trade, and among other things a very fairly written article on the recent dispute between the compositors and the master printers in Wellington.

Referring to the death of the late Jertningham Wakefield, the New Zealander makes the following pertinent quotation : \ l He certainly possessed one of the most potential intellects in the colony, but in the language of Burns lie was * A man whose-judgment clear Conld othersteach the course to steer, Yet ran himself life's mad career Wild as the wave.'"

Two gentlemen-announce their intention of contesting the seat on the Road Board, rendered vacant by the resignation of Mr Duxbury, viz., Messrs E. Chappell and Etienne Lelievre. Their addresses to the ratepayers appear elsewhere. The nomination takes" place at the Road Board office to-morrow. No other candidate has as yet announced himself, though rumor has it that someone "over the water " is expected to come forward.

It will be remembered that a short time ago an enquiry took place into the circumstances attending the death of a boy who fell from the rigging of the barque Easterhill on her outward passage. As a result of the enquiry a charge of what is equivalent to manslaughter is about to be laid against the master of the vessel for that he did " wilfully omit and neglect to do any act or thing for saving the life of William Taylor, apprentice on board the said barque, who, on the said day, with the knowledge of the said D. Evans, fell overboard into the sea and drowned ; whereas had the said David Evans, as said master, hove his ship or barque to and lowered a boat, and with"Tlsfelv r orr"Boaff9 endeavoured to save the said William Taylor, or recovered his body, as the said David Evans ought to and should have done, the said William Taylor might not have been lost and drowned, contrary to the terms of the said Act in such case made and provided."

We are informed that the Rev. Mr Walker, Pastor of Trinity Congregational Church, Christchurch, is expected shortly to visit Akaroa, when he will preach the opening sermon of the Ebenezer Church, and hold a week of evangelistic services in Akaroa and Le Bon's Bay. During M r Walker's stay, two tea meetings will take place in connection with the denomination to which he belongs.