The Akaroa Mail. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 4, Issue 343, 31 October 1879, Page 2

The Akaroa Mail. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31.

A meeting to organize races was held at the Somerset Hotel, Head of the Bay, on Monday evening. Mr B. Shadbolt occupied the.chair, and there was a good attendance. A large committee was formed, and Mr B. Barker was appointed secretary. Over £20 was subscribed in the room. After a certain amount of business had been transacted, the meeting adjourned till Monday next, when a programme will be drawn up and Stewarts appointed. A meeting of the Akaroa Model Yacht Club was held at the Oddfellows' Hall on Saturday last, when a number of rules were considered. It was decided that the opening race for members of the club should be held on Monday, 10th November. Entries will be received up to the Saturday previous. It is expected that there will be about twelve start in tho race, so that should the weather prove fine, we expect it will be a great success. The Parliamentary correspondent of tho Lyttelton Times writes as follows :— Talking of petitions, a man named Corbett, known to the habitues of the lobbies aa " the dog-man," is a terror to Committee reporters. He has some grievance about 1 a dog—whether the dog bit him or he bit the dog, I really cannot say— but he has 'managed somehow to get a Committee upon his case. The other day he pronounced the evidence he had given as taken down by a short-hand reporter to be " a fragmentary attestation of an unprincipled atom." The " unprincipled atom " contemplates suicide. We are informed that the Akaroa telegraph station is again open on Sunday mornings. Mr C. W. Bridge will hold an auction sale on Monday next, at the premises occupied by Mr T. B. Chadwick, chemist. The goods to be offered consist of the usual stock of a chemist and druggist, and a variety of sundries. Full particulars appear elsewhere. Referring to an evening paper in Timaru which has lately changed hands, the Timaru Herald says :—" We find that we were misinformed as to the new proprie- j torship of the South Canterbury Times, our evening contemporary having passed into the hands of Mr Robert Stansell, our well known and highly respected fellow-citizen, and not into those of Messrs Hogg and Clayton,, as previously stated. Wo are quite convinced that it will be no fault of j Mr Stansell's if the Times does not make its mark as a thoroughly independent, straightforward, and enterprising journal, j and we wish him every success in his new J career. ' Five of the female members of the Loftus Variety Troupe, Misses Linnie Leslie, Emma Dubois, Genevieve St Mars, j Minnie Esmond, and Nelly Inman, have been summoned to the City Police Court, Dunedin, inconsequence of their performance last evening, in what is known as the " High Kicker's Carnival." The informations charge them " for that on Oct. 27, at Dunedin, in the Princess' Theatre, they did unlawfully act in an indecent manner in a burlesque known as the • Indian Princess,' and contrary to the Licensed Theatres Ordinance, 1862." This is a Provincial Ordinance. On the case being called on, Mr E. Cook appeared for the defendants, who were not in attendance. The case was adjourned till 2 o'clock on his application. The Court was crowded, and the people were disappointed at the non-appearance of the fair ones. At 2 o'clock the case was dismissed on technical objections raised by the counsel for the defence.

A public meeting of the Canterbury Liberal Reform Association was held at the Oddfellows' Hall, Christchurch, on Tuesday evening. The building was crowded to excess. The chair was occupied by Mr Clephane, and the following resolutions were carried all but unanimously :—" That the Bhameful betrayal of their principles and party by Messrs Reader Wood, Colbeck, Swanson, and Hurst —members for Auckland constituenciesis not to be regarded so much as a disaster to the Liberal cause, as • deplored as an event certain to bring the professions of public men into general distrust and constitutional government iv New Zealand into public contempt." "That the Hall Government, in seeking to maintain themselves in office by the seduction of their opponents—by the medium of traitors from the Liberal ranks—have shown themselves unworthy of the support of all honorably minded men, and that no effort should now be spared to secure their immediate extrusion from power." " That' this meeting protests against the seating of Mr Edward Richardson as member for the constituency of Christchurch as unwarranted by precedent or authority, and utterly repudiate him as the representative of this electorate in Parliament." " That this meeting pledges itself to assist in any legal effort that may be made to extrude Messrs Richardson and Stevens from their seats." " That copies of the above resolution be forwarded to every member in the General Assembly."

Mr Joseph Ivess is a candidate for the Mayorality in Ashburton. He will be opposed by Mr Hugo Friedlander. As far as we are aware, no one has yet come forward as a candidate for the office in Akaroa. From the annual report of the Marine Department, we learn that it is anticipated that the lighthouse at Akaroa Head will be lighted early in 1880. The Marine Engineer speaks of the works connected with it being in a forward state.

A proclamation has appeared constitut ing a new oounty, to be called the County of Timaru. The new county is carved out of Geraldine, and is to contain three ridings, called respectively Opihi, Ngawhai, and Levels.

We have received the first number of the Malvern Independent, a new weekly journal, circulating through the Malvern, Courtenay, and Ifororata districts. The paper is printed and published in Sydenham. The typography is excellent, and the reading matter judiciously varied.

Among a batch of Parliamentary papers we have received the report of the Sheep Inspectors for the year 1878. The numbers of sheep returned for the principal districts of the colony are as follows:—Napier, 1,495,768: Marlborough, 707,100 ; Canterbury, 3,350,000; Otago, 3,482,GG3. In the case of the two last districts, the numbers depastured on freehold land and on runs respectively are given. In Canterbury, 1,750,000 are depastured on freeholds, and 1,600,000 on runs. In Otago the numbers are—on freeholds, 1,348,949 ; on runs, hundreds, and commonages, 2,133,714. The returns further disclose the fact that, out of the large number of sheep-owners in the sheep district of Canterbury, 1437 persons, or nearly three-fourths of the whole, own less than 500 each, 02 persons own from 5000 to 10,000, 53 from 10,000 to 20,000, 28 from 20,000 to 40,000, and 8 from 40,000 to 90,000.