The Akaroa Mail. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 4, Issue 347, 14 November 1879, Page 2

The Akaroa Mail. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14.

A meeting of the committee of the Akaroa Horticultural and Industrial Exhibition was held on Tuesday evening.j-at the Government school. Present— His Stocker, Messrs Nicholls, Harris, Billens, and S. Watkins, secretary. The minutes of the previous meeting were read and confirmed..lt was decided that the following ladies and gentlemen .should be asked to adjudicate ort the various exhibits::— Dawber, Stocker, KisseH," Sunckell, Meech, Misses ,Walliden, and Tosswill. Art Exhibits^— Rev. H. Stocker, Dr Guthrie, ■ Messrs Tosswill, Welch* and M'Gregor. Writing, Mapping, Lettering, &c. — Messrs Watkins, Meech, Billens," Westenra, and* Wood. MusicMiss Connell, Messrs Wood and Billens. Bread—Mrs Sunckell. Horticultural Exhibits—Rev. W. Aylmer,. Messrs Nalder, jolly, arid . Perm. . It was resolved to advertise the exhibition in..the Lyttelton Times, Press, and the Aleawa Mail. It was also resolved to ask the following gentlemen to acton, behalf of the committee in Christchurch :—Messrs Crerar, Whitcombe, and Co., Messrs J. C. Hall, S. C. Farr, and R. Billens. The secretary was instructed to write to the Akaroa School Committee, asking. for the use of the school buildings, and also to confer !' with the Regatta Cemmittee as to printing. The present of a handsome writing case from Messrs Ferguson and Mitchell, Dunedin, was suitably acknowledged. A donation of £1 Is was received from Mr J. Ivess, also a year's subscription to the .Ashhurton Mail as. a prize. The Committee then adjourned.

The Annual Exhibition of the .Carterbury Agricultural aud Pastoral Association was held in Christchurch on Wednesday, and proved in every respect an immense success. The Peninsula was not unrepresented. 'Messrs, Hay Bros., of Pigeon Bay, exhibited in several of the classes of .cattle. The ■ Lyttelon Times says that the class for the best bull of any age was .represented by twelve creditable specimens. He thus describes Messrs Hay's contribution : — " Hay Bros.! exhibit, Lord Clyde, is a grand,' square-built lowrset animal, with prodigious fore-quarters and great- beefproducing qualities, but he does not handle so well as many others in the.class.- He deserved the commended distinction awarded him by, the judges, and many would have awarded him the place assigned to Mr Bluett's bull." From the same report we also learn that "The class for the best cow or heifer of any age, in milk or in calf, brought out some magnificent specimens. of the shorthorn breed, in .fact it. would be difficult to produce a better lot at any other show in the world. The entries numbered sixteen, and the blue ribbon fell to Annie Deans, one of the three exhibits entered by Hay Bros. Annie Deans is an aged cow, and she had a young calf at foot. She is a square-backed animal of grand pjoportipns, with a sweet head, and all the essential points of a first-class shorthorn cow. Tha same exhibitors' other two entries were really good dairy specimens, but they lacked the quality ofthe first prize-taker." In pigs, Mr T. B. Mould secured two first prizes for the best Berkshire boar and sow respectively under six months old, and Mr James B. Reid took first prize for a sheep dog.

We understand that the Canterbury Cup, run for yesterday, was won by Betrayer, Ray's two, for one or ' tithe'r 'of whom it was considered a " moral," being left out in the cold.

The Hon Dr Grace almost electrified the Legislative Council on Friday, during a discussion on the Asylums, by asserting as a positive fact that the majority of the greatest experts in the treatment of insanity were themselves insane. When the laughter and astonishment which, this statement evoked had partly subsided, the hon. gentleman.continued by remarking that it was generally agreed among the profession to which lie belonged, that those medical men who have for a long course of years been in attendance on mad people, and had allowed their whole faculties to be absorbed in the study of their duty, became mad themselves. The continuous tension in one unvaried direction was sufficient to unhinge the strongest intellect, and doctors came to regard it as axiomatic that all those who studied the treatment of insanity, and were enthusiasts in their vocation, were invariably themselves non compos mentiSi Here Mr Wilson interrogatively ejaculated—"Dr Skae ?'"Dr Skae has a wife and six children—that is enough to keep any man's mind to mundane affairs ; there is no fear for him," Dr Grace replied. It was some time (says the New Zealand Times) before the look of mingled surprise and amusement whicl , Dr Grace's assertions caused wholly disappeared from the faces of hon. members." We observe that Mr W. Barnett, of the Congregational Church, Akaroa, lias been gazetted an officiating minister under the " Marriage Act, 1854."

Some cases under the City By-laws were lately brought before the Resident Magistrate's Court in Wellington, during the hearing of which one or two rather important pointß were raised. A cabman for loitering at the railway statipri, thereby committing a breach of the4y-law. Counsel for the Jtended'.that there was no proper the Bench, inasmuch 'as^the 1 . .Corporation <vas the real complaining and] "gliolalji be represented either, by the City: '•Soiiojjtor or the Town Clerk. . Mr Mans- N said that the rule laid down by counsel only applied to civil proceedings}.--, -Ho-beld that, perspn coujd lay 'sbt| jntormation I against/ anothe/1 v Mr Forwood then proceeded to take exception ,t,Q, : thje,by-law,. ..which he. contended,was ultra vires, but — Mr Mansfield said he did not think it competent for'magistrates to deal with exceptions to by-laws. They should regard them as good, and act accordingly, and if they were bad, the proceedings could be quashed 1 by the Supreme Court. Now Mr Marisford is a lawyer, and although a, decision in one .Magistrate's Court is not binding as a precedent in another, we think it not unlikely that many lay magistrates will be glad to take a view of their duties, sanctioned by good authority which will have, the effect of relieving them of the responsibility of deciding on a number of purely legal technicalities. The decision commends itself also for its common sense. A magistrate'a court is not the place for the argument of nice legal points. The by-laws-of a corporation are; before such a court as presumably valid, and if any one desires to , upset them, it seems reasonable that he should have to apply to a higher court to enable him to do so.

The German Bay. school was examined by Mr Edge on October 2, and the sade school on the following dayi In the former .school twenty-two children were presented for examination, viz., Standard V,2; IV, 2; 111,3; 11, 10; 1,5. Of these/ all' passed except one in Standard 111, the percentage of passes being 95. Under the head of " General Remarks," the Inspector says :—"The present who had not long been appointed at the date of .my .visit, has already effected a very considerable improvement in the general character of the school. The pupils are now correctly classified, and good results may reasonably bo expected at next examination. Order is well maintained, and the school discipline is satis factory. ,. At the side school 12 were presented, of whom G passed, viz., 1 in Standard I, and 4 in Standard 111, showing a percentage of 50. Of -this school, the Inspector remarks:—".The pupils, considering the disadvantages under which they are taught have made reasonable progress during the past year." By advertisement elsewhere it will be seen that Raphael's troupe of gymnasts and acrobats are about to make a tour, of the Peninsula. They will appear at Little Kiver to-morrow evening, afterwards visiting Pigeon Bay, Little Akaloa, Okain's, Le Bon's, and German Bay in the order named. We understand that some additions have been made to the company since their appearance here, and 'have little doubt that they will do a' fair amount of business.