Local and General.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume V, Issue 446, 29 October 1880, Page 2

Local and General.

Tub telegraphist of Akaroa has been notified that the following stations will bo exempt from the extra charge of sixpence from and after November 1 :—Malvern, County Selv/yn ; Manukau Heads, County Manukau ; Matanra, Southland ; Ophir, Vincent; Porongahau, Wa'pawa ; Roxburgh, Tttapeko ; Stratford, Taranaki; and Whangaroa, Mongoimi. We observe that Akaroa is still subjected to this obnoxious additional impost ; and yet our citizftrisare apathetic. Verily the "fair trial" Gog vcrnment seems to know the measure of Akaroa.

Last evening Mr Ribertshaw received instructions to take his departure. lie is not yet aware whnt his destination will be. He is to be replaced in the Akaroa office by Mr Dawson, of Duvauchelle's Bay.

In this issue of The Mail appears a further communication from our special correspondent in Melbourne re the Exhibition now taking place in that city.

Mn Castle's mare Malvina dropped a foal to Totara on Sunday last. Owing to a malformation of the jaw the foal had tube destroyed.

Mil P. Ilttglund, alias "One eyed Peter," seems destined to cost the Government a good deal of money before they have done with him. His capture, two recaptures and travelling expenses must have been tolerably expensive items ; but besides this, the mare which he is alleged to have stolen, impatient probablj , like her master at captivity, gave vent to her feelings of indignation by kicking a horse belonging to the police so violently as to break its leg. It has been necessary to shoot the animal.

The country has not heard the last of those two desperate ruffians, the Tozer infants, aged (as our readers will remember) four and nine years respectively. On Tuesday these desperadoes were brought before the K.M. Court at Ashburton, charged with having , escaped from the Burnham Industrial School. l\;ey were remanded for three days. We understand that during the time they were at large the police force was doubled in the neighbourhood, and the Government had serious thoughts of proclaiming that part of the country a " disturbed district."

Regarding the Agent - Generalship vacant by the resignation of Sir Julius Vogel, the Press correspondent telegraphs as follows:—"Sir Francis Dillon Bell has been appointed Agent-General, at a salary of £1250 per annum. The now Agent-General will bo required to act in every capacity required by the colony, including the negotiation and inscription of loans, &c."

An interesting civil case was heard lately at the KM. Court, Timaru. This was the trustees of 0. Johnson v. G. Cliff; claim £10 3s Bd. A set-off of £9 18a 7d was put in. Mr Tosswill appeared for the plaintiffs, and Mr Haniersley for defendant. The short fads of the case were that tho defendant had let a house to the plaintiff at 12s per week, agreeing to take the rent out in meat from the plainiift who is a butcher. The house was actually the property not of defendant, but of: his wife, although at the time of letting it the defendant said nothing about this, and Mr Tosswill now argued that the claim for rent could not be set off against Ihe plaintiffs claim, because the house did not belong to the defendant. Mr Haniersley in reply contended t!iat a tenant cannot dispute his landlord's title. In the event of a title being bad the actual owner only would have the right to call it in question. Mr Tosswill having replied, Mr Beelham gave judgment as follows :—" I shall give judgin this case ' according to a rule founded on justice and public policy ' —That every one should do as he ought to do. CHft' had the meat and ought to p.iy for it; Johnson had the house, and ought to pay for it. The two bankrupts were trying lo take advantage of one another—Cliff tiled, and tried to get out of paying for the meat, Johnson filed to get out of paying for the house. I'll make both pay. I shall put both accounts together, and give judgment for the difference which is 7s Id in favor of the plaintiff—each party paying his own costs."

The Ashburton Guardian says—"The situation has at last been defined in regard to the Ashburton Magistracy, and Mr Guinness has received definite orders by telegraph to proceed to Collingwood, his place on the Ashburton Bonch being supplied by Mr N. Wood, an Otagan magistrate and goldfie'ds warden. No appointment will be made to the district vacated by Mr Wood, whose jurisdiction will be divided between the Invercargill and Lawrence Magistrates ; while the present Collingwood Resident Magistrate—Mr A. Lβ Grand Campbell— retires altogether. These arrangements save tho cost of at least one R.M. to tho colony, without interfering with the efficiency of the public seivice."

A man without arms was brought before the London magistrates recently, charged with bigamy. The defence was that there could have been no putting on the ring by the husband, as enjoined in the Church Service ; and also that he could not have given the wife his hand. This was admitted, but the father of the first wife testified that she put the ring on her knuckle, and that the bridegroom "shoved it on with his teeth." " That," observed the judge, "is no! according to the Rubric." The bigamist, however, was acquitted on other grounds, the first wife having deserted him for seven years.

Michael Mukphy and Jaa. Watt were brought before the Justices on Wednesday in Christclmrch, charge:! with having committed perjury in certain evidence they gave in the trial of John Murphy for forgery. Mr Stringer appeared for the prosecution, and Mr M-Connell for the defence. The accused were committed for trial, and, on the- application of the prosecuting coun.se), bail was refused.

.Mv Pkoctor, the famous astronomer, has heen drawing crowded audiences in Christchnrch, as in Dunedin. His firpt lecture, " The Life and Death of a World," has had to be repeated. ♦ Rays the Echo (Christchurcli)—Ayonnf pup in (he Civil Service of New Zealand,, not a hundred miles away from Christ-, church, somewhat fancies himself in his capacity for calculation. He has literally never mastered the grammar, even, of figures, and such studies as the Differential or Integral Calculus are sealed books to our friend for ever and ever. Being a terrific braggadocio, some of his acquaintances determined, if possible, to administer to him such a lesson as would be engraved on the tablets of his memory throughout the term of his natural life. Consequently a letter is concocted, signed by Mr Proctor, in which it is stated thr.t, hearing of our hero's calculating capabilities, he had the presumption to beg that he would assist him in the measurement of one or two hundred thousand double starw, or some such trifles. Our friend is delighted, and rubs his hands with the invisible soap , and imperceptible water of eager expectancy. He heralds the honor to the very men who connived at the joke, and consults them as to the attire in which he should be arrayed during his interview with the renowned astronomer. In duo course our hero calls at the hotel at which Mr Proctor is staying, and enquires if the gentleman in question is in. lie is informed that be is engaged, that ha will be engaged till dinner-time, and that probably after dinnea he will not have time for the intervieAV With this our hero waxes furious, and sends up his card, together with the letter of invitation. Mr Proctor at once grasps the situation, and sends a message down to the young man to the effect that he had been the victim of a heartless practica] joke. A correspondent of the Southland Neios who evidently has a calculating turn of mind,, points out that the Exhibition number of the Argus contained 140 columns of closely printed matter —the largest daily publication ever issued in the colonies. The number of letters or separate pieces of type amount to 1,250,000, which is considerably more letters than are usually to bo found in three octavo volumes, each containing 400 pages. If the types were laid end to end, they would form a line more than 143 miles in length, or if laid side by side they would then form a line over twelve miles in length. If a person were compelled to count these types one by one, and devoted ton hours a day to the work, and counted at a moderately rapid rate, it would take him six weeks to complete the task. If one compositor had to do the mere " setting up " of these types, and worked ten hours a day at the usual ratei Ihe would bo nearly five months before his

work was done