The Akaroa Mail. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume V, Issue 449, 9 November 1880, Page 2

The Akaroa Mail. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9.

The annual election of! Mayor for the Borough takes place on the 24th hist. Elsewhere the Returning Officer notifies that lie will b<s prepared to receive nominations up to noon of the 16th. It will be w<. , ! 1 for the burgesses to take time by the forelock and endeavor to secure tho services of some one thoroughly competent

for the position

Til!'. Okain'a Road Board invite tenders for the lease of the Lo Bon's Bay jetty for Iv.-p'u , months from Nuv. 21.

Ouu local dniniatic amateurs gave a pcrfoniiaiii'c on Frid.iy last ill the Oddfellows' Hall, The pieces selected for performance were " The Little Sentinel," " Brother Bill and Me," and an original sketch entitled— " All Among- the Mormons." It is not onr

intention, for various reasons, to give a detailed criliiisin of (lie whole performance ; hut it would not be lair to those engaged in it, and who had evidently taken great pains to get up their respective parfs, to pass the result l>3 - in bilence. The first piece is a brilliant little comedy with sparkling dialogue and telling situations. The verdict which we heard unanimously expressed on it hy good judges was that it was the best piece of amateur acting they had seen. The parts were all well sustained, but the one requiring the greatest amount of go is undoubtedly (hat of May, the Little Sentinel. This was admirably rendered by Mrs Stocker, and she was well supported by Mr..Robinson as Sim, a jealous lover, Mrs Glew looked and played the part of Ihe pretty widow, Lctty Hawthorne, to perfection. In the succeeding farce the chief weight of! the acting fell upon Messrs Parsons and Wilkins as " Brother Bill and Me." It is hardly necc-'fty to say that all the humor of the farce was perfectly safe in such hands. The remaining parts were well filled. The last piece brought Dr Guthrie and Mr Wilkins to the fore. The " Turkish Bath having failed as a speculation, the late proprietors, Bill Sprigge and Tom Griggs, turn their attention to literature, and secure an engagement as special correspondents of The Aicauoa Mail to report on tho manners and customs of the Mormons. Arrived in Utah, they are instantly provided with six wives each in tho persons of the twelve widows of a deceased elder. Just as they are beginning to feel the matrimonial yoke rather heavy, they are relieved of it by being informed that the elder in question is not really dead, and that they arc wifeless. The piece abounded with local allusions and bad puns, and provoked laughter of the heartiest description. We must not omit to mention tho music, which was capital. The local performers were—Messrs J. M. Wood (conductor and violin), Daly (cornet). Adams (flute), Meech (tenor horn)and L. Watkins (piano); besides these (he band was supplemented on this occasion by Mr G. A. Martin, of Dunedin, who played the saxiphone, a reed instrument ; and Mr. C. • M-ulin, who undertook . the second cornet. We understand that the instrumentalists had very littlo opportunity for rehearsal, but in spite of all this the result was eminently satisfactory, and rellected the greatest credit on the leader and all concerned. Altogether tho performance was an excellent one, and we hope that the ladies and gentlemen who gave it will soon let us hear from tliuin again. Since the was in type we find that the amateurs have decided, in accordance with several requests, to give another performance on Saturday A farce entitled "No 1 Round the Comer 11 will be played to commence with, to be followed by " Brother Bill and Me," and " Tho Little Sentinel " will conclude the entertainment. The prices have been lowered, and altogether \vj an:icipate a crowded house

on the octft-ion

A man named Baker, residing in Wellington, who claims to be a relative to Baker Pasha, went home drunk last Tuesday night and fired a revolver at his landlady, in order, as he said, to wake her up. He was sent, to gaol for a week.

Instructions have been &cnt to tho various Resident Magistrates throughout the colony to exercise the utmost caution in connection with applications for the committal of juveniles to the Industrial Schools at Burnham and Caversham, both of which are represented to be in a crowded position. No wonder they're crowded, if there have been many committals like that of the now celebrated Tozer infants.

Tim Times' Wellington correspondent writes m follows: — Apropos of Mr Proctor—l happened to be on the wharf on Sunday afternoon when the stoamer that brought the celebrated astronomer and liis belongings arrived. Amongst the later are astronomical maps, &c, duly labelled. A U.S.S. sailor was handing- out these to an Occidental Hotel runner, who acknowledged receipt after the manner of his kind—"The sun--right!" "(he planets—right!" " one carpet bag— right!"' A pause. " Bill, where's the bloomin' moon?" To which Bill replied, "Oh we shoved her in the forard hold." And the runner went off contentedly with the sun, and the planets, and the carpet bag. However, the moon turned up before the lecture was delivered.

At the Auckland Police Court Samuel Williams was charged with assaulting Mary Davis, by striking her on the face and about the body with bis clenched list Ho pleaded not guilty. Mary Davis deposed to the accused ill-treating her in trying to take from her souio bilver which she had in her possession. A Dr Hooper.gfive evidence as to the nature of the injuries. Her arms, face, and body were greatly bruised. Kachel Volons and Constable Graham also gave evidence. The case was proved, and the accused was

r<eritfciieud to sis months imprisonment with hard labor. After the os fines .so frequently inflicted in case* of brutality like this, it is quite refreshing to hear of such a sentence, Cowardly roughs had better steer clear of the Auckland Bench.

As an instance of jmirnnlistic pluck and enterprise we clip the following :—Over £000,000 was sunk on the " Daily flews " before it paid one penny of dividend. The capital with which it started was £150,000 and it had Charles Dickens as its editor. Within the last six or eight years it has begun to "payy after 20 years' ruinous expenditure.

:Some amusement was caused in the Dunedin Police Court a few daj*s ago when a Higlilandman was placed in the prisoner's dock to answer to a charge of drunkeness. In reply to the usual question as to whether he was guilty, he characteristically replied "Oh, I 'pose ehe was " trunk," and when ordered to pay 5s or go to gaol for twenty-four ho expressed a wish to know "if being trunk was all they had to say against her."

Tins is how a musical critic at Ashburton describes one of the performers :> — '• He glided through the softer passages with the voice of a seraph, and declaimed the angry defiance of the Macgregors with the tones of an archangel.

Somk ruffian has been digging up the graves in the Maori cemetery at Te Ore Ore, in the Wairarapa, to rob the cofiins of the greenstone buried in them. This outrage has caused intense indignation among the natives.

The following is the Press Association telegraphic summary of the trial, and conviction of Ned Kelly :—ln the Supreme Court on Oct. 28, before Sir Redmond Barry, Ned Kelly was arraigned on the charge of murdering Constables Lonergan and Scanlan, at Mansfield. There was an immense crowd outside the Court, amongst it being Mrs Skillion, Mrs Lloyd, Kate Kelly, and other sympathisers. A strong force of the police, armed with loaded revolvers, kept back the crowd. Messrs Smyth and Chomley prosecuted, and Mr Bindoii defended, Mr Molesworth having refused the small fee offered by the Go vernment. Several jurymen were challenged by the prisoner and the Crown. Kelly was alloy/ed a seat in the dock. The chief witness was constable M'lntyre, whose evidence was identical with that which he gave in the former proceedings ) and was unshaken by the cross-examina-tion. The general evidence traced Kelly's career from 1878. Tho trial lasted till 11 p.m., and being unfinished, the jury were locked up all night. On t;e followingday, it was continued, and when terminated the jury were 20 minuted absent, and then found a verdict of guilty. The Judge was repeatedly interrupted by the prisoner while passing sentence. The latter as sinned the role of an injured martyr, and when removed seemed quite unconcerned.

Says the Patea Mail :—Wellington is laughing over a really clover joke. Wellington has a journal whk-h claims to be the leading journal of ihe colony. People" are exceptionally critical of a leading journal which doesn't know how to lead, and cannot even follow. The new manager has made the leading journal absurdly pompous and stupid, so that Welljngtonians are making fun of him for not setting the harbor on fire. Now that the Umpire City has disbanded its fire brigade, the people might console themselves in having ft leading journal which will always be handy as a \vet blanket to smother even a conflagration. That is no joke; but a joke that was a joke has been printed by the leading journal with charming innocence. Cecilia sent a poem to the editor— a nice poem, neatly turned : and the editor printed it. Wherever ho went next he heard people laughing and sniggering ; hut he didn't see the? joke, nor even smell a rat. Jokes don't penotrate sometimes, without a surgical operation. This one didn't, for the editor of the leading journal ia a serious person. Cecilia's little poem was an acrostic. Tho initial letters of the first stanza formed the editor's name, and the initials of tho other lines suggested he is an idiot. This was clearly libellous ; but as tie editor had printed it in his own journal, he decided that he will not sue himself for damages." The editor of the Patea Mail makes one little mistake. The poor fellow ridiculed in the acros'ic did, it is rumored, consult a solicitor, but was met with tho reply, "My dear sii, you aro evidently laboring under the vulgar impression that the greater the truth the greater the libelAnd so the matter dropped.