Local and General.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume V, Issue 428, 27 August 1880, Page 2

Local and General.

V ' 1 . ■ • , .' t ; -, . : k . ! ~■■■:■■■.! ' ; i We.beg to call attention to the, fact that the nomination of candidates to fill the ■ vac«ancy : in the Borough Council caused by _the resignation of Mr Armstrong takes place- at noon. * ■' A T '"'•''■- I In another column will he found a noti- ■ fication from the County Council, inviting applications from persons .willing, to act as ranger to secure the registration of dogs throughout the county, or rather to secure the conviction of owners of unregistered animals. ; . : While the Wanaka was lying alongside last evening Mr C. Henning stepped or fell over the end of the jetty.' ;The accident was no doubt due to the- misleading glare of the steamer's lights in the water. The gentleman was promptly rescued from his uncomfortable, if not perilous, position,and ac far as we can learn is no worse for hie immersion. ; We have to record another unfortunate accident which-.happened to one of the members of Mr Brown's family in Little Akaloft. One of his 'sons, a lad about 15 years old, was helping his father to exca vate the foundation.of a diihy when a tree fern fell upon him, fracturing his leg severely. Dr Guthrie vyas fetched as soon as possible, and set.the injured lim'>.—The gale of lant week wns felt very heavily in this bay, and several trees were uprooted by its violence. An outhouse belonging to one of the inhabitants was blown down by its force. Pursuant to notice, a meet'hg of .-the Akaroa Mutual Improvement Association was held "oil Wednesday evening in the schoolroom. The Eev Mr Stocker occupied the chair. The treasurer, Mr J. D. Garwood, presented a statement of accounts, showing a balance in hand of L 2 14s. Mr Garwood proposed that the society be disbanded, and that LI of the funds in hand bo given to the Industrial Exhibition, and the.balance to the Literary Institute. Mr Robertehaw proposed as an amendment to the latter part of. the motion that the whole amount be given to the Institute. The,.amendment was carried. A vote of.thanks to the retiring officers was proposed by Mr Black, and carried unanimously. On Friday and Saturday ,last f was experienced at Le Bon's Bay the heaviest gale of Avind that has been felt there for some years. In some parts of the valley large trees were blown up by the roots, and a great niany r large..blacly,piue s trees were brokeir'ifilikelpipe- ste'ras. s Aj few haystack's we're J blown away, and' in'one or two cases chimneys were blown down, but were very slightly damaged. In Waikerakikari tho gale was felt very much,'and wo are sorry to learn from a man in the employ of Mr Smiih that tho whole of the roof was blown from oft' tho saw-mill on Saturday, thereby causing n serious loss, the building being about 90ft by 40ft. It appears that all the hands had cleared out in time, or it is more than probable Borne of them would bare been seriously injured. All the bush hands had to leave tho bush, as the trees were falling in every direc'ion. 5 From Pigeon Bay a correspondent writes :—On Friday. kst a north-westerly wind blew into the bay here with a force greater than lias been experienced for a long tiriio. The sand and dust were so blown about that to a person standing on the bay beach and looking lip the flat it presented tho appearance of a .mist or drizzling rain. It showed its power by nprodting trees in exposed situations, and looking up to the heights might see the trees fall. It did .some damage beyond this : Mr Oossar, the new tenant of the Misses Marshall,had his-milking shed unroofed, and a house belonging to Mr Biulua, situated on the Akaroa road, suffered the same fate. Since the wind changed.into tho south it has bocome very cold, and a slight covering of snow is to be seen on the hills.

A CoimiisroNDENT of the Printers Itegi*ier \vrite3 as follows, nnd the worst of the whole thing is, we are afraid, the story, in its essentials, is true :— '■ I daresay ' iEi^les.'the versatile contrilmtor to the Melbourne Australasian, fancies he knows n ' tiling or two '—in fact, everything— but he doesn't by long chalks. No. sir, he doesn't! Probably he does not associate with comps., who are, I believe, three grades above his clique ; so he doesn't know what funny fellows they are, and what things they invent, think, say, and do. After such a ' lot of preamble,' my courteous readers must think its about' timo I came t<? that which I am attempting —viz., a joke. .Well, hero goes. In a seaport town not far from—well, I'll be easy, and say from—Akaroa there resided a worshipper of Bacchus who was so stricken with the ' virtues' of his charmer that ho was never contented unless sitting at his feet. One night, the subject of my' Note' ruefully discoved that all his ruses to obtain 'materials for boozing'were exhausted —in fact, the Bonifaces ■had ' tumbled' to all of them, and refused to supply any more drink l without 'being paid cash upon delivery. My friend: went the rounii ot the ' pubs' on ' getting a drink intent'; but all his ' good ' designs in that direction were frustrated, so he retraced his steps homewards 'drinklese. . Not to be undone, however, he ransacked the fowl-house, and (lucky find for him) he discovered two whole oggs ! (Eggs are 2d each in the town in question, and beer is 6d a pint, and the publicans don't object to bartering.) Boniface 0 was serving an old customer with a ' schooner' of the amber-coloured liquid, and was having a chat with him, when he was suddenly startled into a fit of laughter by hearing a juvenile voice say—' If you please, father says will you let me have a pint of beer, and here's two eggs in part payment, aud father says he will pay you the other egg as soon as the fowl lays it; and I'm to chase it about, and watch it till it lays.' Now, Mr iEgles, did you ever mortgage a fowl's egg before it \ras laid ? If you did, you haven't told us about it yet",

An entertainment, given by the members of the Hope of Little-Akaloa Gool Templars and their friends, took place on Thursday, the 19th inst., and was attended with, great success, many coming from long distances to give their services. It was opened by Mr H. V. Chichester with a .pianofortesolo,"Marcho aux Flambeaux"; and the following ladies and gentlemen greatly contributed to tho evening's entertainment by their songs:—Mre A # Waghorn, Misses E. Waghorn and A. Hunter, Messrs J. B. Barker, jnn., T. Barker, D. Ur juhnrt, A. Wnghorn, Hart, 11. Slmttlewortl , , J. Hunter, T. (Joyno, II: V. Chichester; and Mr I. Borland and Master Storey gave a recitation each. The jncce (h resistance was a charade admirably acted by Mrs A. Wnghorn, Misses J. Marshall and A. Hunter, and Messrs A. Wnghorn, li. Shutlloworth, J. Hunter, and J. B. and T. Barker. Where each performed to his or her utmost ability it would be invidious to criticise. At the conclusion of the entertainment the terpsichorean art was carried on by its votaries with great spirit till the " wee sma' hours. ,.

In testimony of the slight knowledge of the geography of New Zealand many of even the old settlers, more especially those residing in large towns, have of any places beyond the belts, we learn that a certain gentleman in this town deputed a friend of his residing in Christchurch to purchase for him a sofa. The friend did so, and in order that no time should be lost in delivery he put it on a carrier's cart bound for Olphert's Hotel, Little River. The sofa has reached that distance, but considering that the carriage of even such a light article from Little River to this town would probably be far in advance of its original cost, the intended owner thinks the best thing to be done in the matter will be to sell it where it is for any price it will fetch.