The Akaroa Mail. TUESDAY, MARCH 18.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 3, Issue 278, 18 March 1879, Page 2

The Akaroa Mail. TUESDAY, MARCH 18.

Tha closing meeting of the Financial 'Committee of the Presbyterian Church for the years ending February 13, 1879, wfe held last evening. It was decided to hold the annual tea meeting in the Town Hall, on Wednesday April 2. It was also decided that the Le Bon's Bay tea meeting should take place on Tuesday, Ist April. The following were the Commtttee eiected for the ensuing year, viz., Messrs Billens, Bruce, Black, Dalglish, Meech, Missen, and Dr Guthrie. The Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer were re-elected. The Treasurer made the satisfactory report that after meeting all liabilities, there was a small balance in hand. Votes of thanks were passed to the retiring officers. Full particulars of the tea meeting will be advertised. The new Oddfellows' Hall is now complete, with the exception of hanging the lamps, which will now be proceeded with at once. Mr Penlington, the contractor, has, we understand, completed the work to the entire satisfaction of the architect, Mr Simpson, of Christchurch. The building is a credit to the order and to the town. In our next issue we propose to furnish our readers with a detailed description of the edifice. The Oddfellows propose open. ing the hall on the 3rd of April with the appropriate ceremonies, which will be wound up by a ball, notification of which appears elsewhere. The cases set down for hearing at the R. M. Court on Friday last were postponed for a week, owing to the absence of the Resident Magistrate on Assessment Court business, and the fact that two Justices were not present. On Monday a man named Edward Cahill was fined 10s and ; costs of two witnesses for an assault on Mr Olphert, of the Forsyth Arms, Little River. The Resident Magistrate and the Mayor were the presiding justices. A slight difficulty occurred between the : captain and crew cf the Hawea which called in here on Sunday. It appears that about eight of the crew struck work, on the ground that they ought not to be called upon to work in port on Sunday without extra pay. The captain called upon the police to arrest the recalcitrant seamen, but the " men in blue " declined to interfere. The officers, therefore, had to turn to and load and discharge the cargo themselves: - '

I As many of our readers are doubtless insured in the Government Insurance office the following memorandum of the Insurance Commissioner may be read with interest by them. It appears that some delay had taken place in the payment of a policy in favor of the wife and children of the insured person, and this delay being commented on', the' Commissioner forwarded the following explanation. We should strongly advise all insurers to comply with the instructions and advice therein given, and thus save trouble to those coming after them. 'The delay arose mainly from the circumstance that the policy was ' a settlement' policy in favor (as was rather badly set forth in the original proposal) of the wife and the children. The assured did not specify the name either of the wife or children or any of them, nor did he in any way apportion the share or shares which he may have intended should fall to. this widow and children respectively, neither did he appoint any trustee for a minor or infant. No proof of his age or of his marriage had been produced, and to avoid further delay the Commissioner two days ago dispensed with the production of the legal proof requisite as to age. The law is very stringent in matters of trusts which such settlement policies really become, and it demands the fulfilment of a variety of forms before the payment is legally justifiable. Many intricate legal points arise in connection with policies of this nature, and difficulties are apt to present themselves unless provision is made by the parties concerned to simplify the final settlement. This simplification can be effected if the assured (as soon as possible after his policy is completed) furnishes the Department with proofs of age and all the information which may expedite pay" ment when the claim shall arise in ' settlement policies' for the benefit of wife and children. It is always desirable to mention in the proposal the name of the wife, and when possible of the children, and also to state in what proportion the money shall be divided on the death of the as-, sured, and who shall be the the trustee for his children in their nonage ; that is when it is intended that the children shall be recipients independently of their mother, or stepmother, as the case may be. The law both here and at Home in relation to such trusts and contracts in which the interests of infants and other persons under disabilities are concerned is somewhat difficult to unravel, but much can be overcome by precision and fulness of information'given by a proposer who seeks the advantage of obtaining an invaluable policy for the benefit of his wife and children after his death, and he can thus secure a promptitude of payment which it was difficult to obtain in the recent case for the reasons It will be deemed a courtesy on your part if you will cause similar publication to be given to this memorandum, as was obtained by the paragraph to which it relates. D. M. Luckie, Commissioner of Government Insurance. Wellington, March 13, 1879."

We have been shown the plans for the proposed offices for the County Council, about to be erected at the Head of the Bay./ They have been prepared by Messrs ,Fentori 'and Wilkins, architects and civil engineers, of this town. The building will consist of a central portion with two wings. The centre consists of the Board room, out of which opens a maproom on one side, and on the other, offices for the Chairman and Clerk respectively. The whole presents a neat frontage to the Main road, and is capable of being added to when requisite, without destroying the symmetry of the design. Altogether the architects have produced a design which is probably as good as the limited means at the disposal of the Council at present would justify. The only objection we can see to it is that the outer doors open direct into the Council Chamber. Tenders are invited for the work which must be sent in to the Architects not later than the 27th instant. We observe that nominations for the handicaps to be run at Little River on the 28th inst. close to-day. They must be addressed to the secretary, Little River. The San Francisco* «mail arrived in Akaroa yesterday.' ". / One of our Heaven-sent legislators has been engaging himself in a most undignified squabble with a policeman. It appears that the Hon. ColoneKßrett was attending a meeting of a Licensing Court at Malvern. A certain Mounted-ccnstable Bashford had also to attend the Court on duty. On his arrival, the latter was told that he was to be brought before Colonel Brett. Brought before him he was, and accused by the; Colonel of two heinous offences. One was " not knowing " the great man ) and the other failing to salute him. To the first offence the constable pleaded " Guilty," and to the second justification on the ground that he did not know him to be a J.P. Hereupon a most unseemly altercation ensued, in which the constable seems to have conducted himself with modest dignity, and the " Honorable," like the wicked Count in one of Richardson's melodramas, winding up by exclaiming— " Away with him to the deepest dungeon below the castle moat," or in modern phraseology—" Sergeant, arrest that man." The " man" was arrested, but was immediately liberated on being brought into the Christchurch depot. We learn that legal proceedings are about to be taken against the Colonel for this arrest. Those gentlemen who have taken charge of subscription lists for the testimonial to Sergeant Ramsay are requested to forward them, with the amounts collected, to Mr C. W. Bridge, Akaroa, by Saturday next.