Local and General.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume V, Issue 457, 7 December 1880, Page 2

Local and General.

On a bite Sunday, the Rev. James Hi-rirv of Wyndham, condemned in forcible language the too prevalent practice of carrying scandal amongst neighbors. He said this was especially the rase in small townships, and the smallest fault was magnified a hundred-fold, and the very

worst construction was often put on everything that was done or said.

DuniXG the bearing of a case in the Timaru Resident Magistrate's Court the question of the admissibility of newspaper advertisements cropped up. Mr Perry wished to put in a copy of a newspaper to show that a certain notification has been published. This was objected to by Mr Hamersley, on the ground that the printed was merely a copy, and the original manuscript ought to be produced, and its authenticity proved. Mr Perry replied that so far as the public were concerned, the printed advertisement was the original. The Magistrate was also of opinion that the newspaper being the vehicle by which the information was conveyed to those interested, it should be taken as evidence. The local Herald says that common sense pointed in this direction at any rate, but unfortunately the law often ran counter to common sense.

At the last meeting of the Akaroa County Council it was decided to telegraph to the Postmuster-General re the stoppage of the mail via Pigeon Bay while the s.s # Akaroa was undergoing repairs, and the following telegram has been received in re pl y :_<• Wellington, December 2, 1880. Mr E. S. Latter, Clerk the Akaroa County Council.—ln reply to your telegram of the 25th ult. I am directed to inform you that the temporary withdrawal of the Akaroa for repairs was unavoidable. Every effort was made to charter a suitable steamer temporarily, but no steamer was available. The Akaroa will resume her trips next week. The Postmaster agreed to the conveyance of mail by horse between Pigeon and Duvauchelle's Bays.—W. Gray." This telegram appears to us eminently unsatisfactory. In the first place it is dated no less than a week later than the one to which it is a reply. This scarcely evidences the courtesy due from the Government to a body such as the County Council. Next, it does not inform us by whose authority the service was intermitted. In fact, the delay in answering, and the expression used, " the Postmaster," net Post-master-General, confirm us in the opinion that the matter-was arranged v/iihout the authority of the latter functionary. We are informed that no suitable steamer could be procured to replace the Akaroa. Considering that for years the mails, were carried in a wha'eboat this pretext is a Mrtlc too thin. And n\> a further proof, ij' un, of wsro wanting, of ir.i insonk'N-ni y v.-c may .state flint, the mails won; 0.0...-) i yesterday in a whaieianu, The Aharoa v.'ili eoimnonce mrming to-tnoirow.

A Ni'jißKit of summonses were taken ' out on Frid iy last for the recovery of t c borough rates, and we understand that another batch will be applied for in a few days. We are indebted to the courtesy of the local agents for a copy of " The Southern Provinces Almanac " for 1881. This publication has now reached its 28th ye«r, and though we cannot speak from personal knowledge of its earlier years, we are nevertheless prepared to state that the volume before us excels its more immediate predecessors. Besides the items proper to an almanac and calendar, the volume contains a vast fund of information of a most valuable nature. The directory is brought down to the lalest date, and the particulars concerning County Councils, Road Boards, Benevolent Societies, and public bodies of every description is of the most complete and exact nature. A vast number of useful statistics, political and otherwise, are given, and altogether hardly any question concerning contemporary facts can crop up which could not be settled by a reference to its pages.