Local and General.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume V, Issue 436, 24 September 1880, Page 2

Local and General.

A meeting of the creditors.of William Kearney was held in the Courthouse, Akaroa, on Wednesday'last. The debtor and bis brother, George Kearney, were examined at considerable length.'

Messrs .W. 11. Wood and Co. will hold an important land sale to-day at Waeckerlc's Hotel. The property to be offered consists of two rural sections in Okain's Bay, the property of Mr W. Fluety. ' At the same time they will also sell some fire wood and posts and rails. To-morrow they will sell the stock of clothing and drapery now on sale on tho premises, Armstrong's Buildings, Beach Road. Mr Luke Wright, of Island Bay, writes' to inform us that on Sunday last, while taking a walk on the beach, he discovered a mast.in the water. With the assistance of his brother, and with considerable dilliculty, he succeeded in getting it above high water mark and securing it. Tho mast is about GOft. long. In another column will be found the second of a series of letters from a talented correspondent who writes, under the norn de plume of "Asbestos." We hope to be able to continue the series at short intervale. Wednesday last was the day fissd by the Returning Officer for receiving nominations of candidates for two vacancies which still exist in the Borough Council. No nominations, however, were received, and the vacancies remain unfilled. In this connection it may be as well to mention that by " The Municipal Corporations Acts Amendment Act," passed last session, an alteration is made in the qualifications of councillors. Section GO of the original Act provided that only those rated at £25 per annum and upwards wore eligible as councillors. This section is now repealed, and henceforth any burgess may bo elected a councillor, irrespective of the amount at which he is rated. The choice of the ratepayers is thereby considerably extended.

The antiquarian and the lover of the picturesque as dis.inguished from the useful, mourn over the destruction of ancient buildings however ruinous, or the march of modern improvement substituting neatness for slovenliness, order for disorder. We findaßuskin mourning over the transformation of a weedy, sloppy lane into a well-built, cleanly paved and brilliantly lighted street. But the moat of us are practical and unpoetical enough to bail the construction of any useful work, or the demolition of any obnoxiously offensive structure. The latter has just been Accomplished in Akaroa, that eyesore known as " Rotten Row" having been doomed to destruction, and the sentence having been vigorously carried out. If the buildings in question were among those which, according to the writer in the Witness, helped to give Akaroa its picturesque, romantic appearance from a distance, they were certainly of a kind which lost nil charm oh a nearer view, and j we consider the place to be congratulated

on their removal

We have to acknowledge the receipt from the Government Printer of the Statutes of New Zealand, passed in the session of 1880. The Statutes are printed in different form to that hitherto adopted ; the size is quarto instead of folio. In this and other respects we believe they are made to correspond with those of the Mother Country; '.The paper is very superior, and is what is caHed "toned " —

a kind hitherto reserved for the production of profusely illustrated editions of poetical alul other ™»^ s - The index is very full aful complete; the Acts are arranged ~,.,,, „ , alphabetically, and a summary of the , .. ". . . .. „ clauses or each is given, with a reference to tljo pflgo IIp0 „ which such clause may be foul|(i Altogether, the volume is a great improvement on former ones of the same nature.

The popular Lynch family of Bellringers arrived at Lyttelton from the North by the Te Anau. They purpose making a trip to the West Coast. i The Postmaster at Lowther, who has filled the office gratuitously for some years past, has received notice from the Postal Department that he is to be reduced ten per cent. The Tiniarn Corporation have been defeated in an attempt to exact a licensefee from milk rctailcfVori the ground "thatthey arc pedlars and liawkeiW The, test prosecution was dismissed with costs against the Borough Council. Colonel Reader and Inspector Broham paid an official visit to tho Lyttelton Gaol in reference to the Maori prisoners there. Twenty-eight of them are on Ripa Island, and it is probable some now in L)ttelton Gaol will bo removed there to make room for others expected from the North. On the Ist of next month the new law relating to receipt and other stamps will come into force, and as this introduces several alterations in the present practice, it may ho worth while to explain its provisions. That which has already excited some attention and some little grumbling is the proviso that "all receipts given to Her Majesty, or to any person on her behalf, shall lie chargeable with

stamp duty under tile provisions of/ The, Stamp Act, 1875,' and any exemption of such receipts from a stamp duty is repealed." That is to say all .Government officers will.have to give :penny-ajampeel r eceipts for their monthly salaries, an! Government contractors for their tcontract

pa3 r ments. But, on the other hand, " all receipts given by or on behalf of the corporations of any county, borough, road board, education board, or harbour board,," are declared exempt from duty, as also are transfers registered -under " The Government Insurance and Annuities Act, 1874," and all assignments or transfers of life insurance policies effected with any company or association. But transfers of shares in public companies are to be taxed 10s, and foreclosures are to be liable to the same duties as conveyances on sale, while valuations are to be subject to'duties ranging from Is (for appraisement up to £20 value) the latter being leviable on valutions exceeding £500.— Wellington Post,

A tall stalwart gentleman (says the Sydney Bulletin) who is well known on Moore Park, where tho color of his lock* corresponds with the warmth of .his tt-nr per, thrust his head out of the window of a stationary train and angrily demanded of the. guar! " Why the train was not going on '? " The guard quiet!} - responded : " Oh, put } - er head in ; bow.d'ye think the train's to go ahead when i\\a danger signal is a stickm' out ? " Tnnt crestfallen footballer's look was a study. He is now known as tho " danger signal."

We find the following in the Times concerning an old resident of Akaroa. Mr Chad wick, chemist, Ea--t Oxford, with the assistance of several of the residents in the neighbourhood, has erected in Mr Love's paddock a large oven, in which are built two 400 gallon tanks, , with the intention of making experiments in the manufacture of pyroligneous acid from birchwood. The product in question may be described as a crude acetic acid. Should the experiments be successful and remunerative, it will prove of great advantage to Oxford, as it .vill be tho means of using up all waste wood and give employment to a considerable number of men in splitting it up. The first trial will be made tho latter part of the week, the material being all on the ground. The quickest passage from Australia on record has been made by the Liguria, which delivered the "mails in" London' 32 days from Adelaide. ; : . ; ; Tuii,Standard is thus severe on some citizen of Rangiora. . The gentleman in question may have won the belt for meanness up north, but he must not come fooling round here or he might lose it in no time. Our contemporary says : — How strange it is that there are people in communities—in small ones especially— who, occupying positions of a respectable character, and who, by their own boasting aro in affluent circumstance, are utterly indifferent to the little pleasures of their neighbors. If a subscription was started round to buy up Palestine, we should not be afraid of obtaining something from almost any business man in Rangiora, with

the exception of its proverbial mean man he who shelters himself behind "on principle " when called upon by the collectors of the North Canterbury Race Club. The noble sport of horse racing was too debas-

ing for this good nnin, and, Spartan like, lie held on to. the dimes and tallied "on principle " The innocent sports, however;

to be provided: at tho Oddfellows' Anniversary in Rangiora next month cannot l>r> placed in this "debasing" category, and several members of the Committee appointed to arrange for the carrying out of the coining anniversary of the Rangiora Lodge of this Order, soon waited

upon the "man of principle" for a subscription, inspired that even he would not refuse where the widow and orphan were concerned. But, nr>. "On principle" shield was again in the way, and the Committee have now voted him the Champion mean man of Rangiora.