Local and General.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume V, Issue 474, 8 February 1881, Page 2

Local and General.

A Melbourne paper states that Cole' circus cleared L'G,OOO by its New Zealand

trip after paying all ox/ eiiacs Not so d list v/i his

The swimming match bct.ve. n Yess M. Daly and G. Clarkson took place last Saturday at 25 p.m. Tho course was from Daly's wharf to Mr Black's yacht Venture (which was moored about 375 yards fr.mi the said wharf) and back to the place of starting, making on tha whole a distance of 750 yards. The competitors got a.way well together, Daly taking a lead in the dive of about three yards. He kept the lead until rounding the Venture, when he gained a few more yards on his opponent, and maintained the lead to the-finish, winning by about ten yards: :. We learn that Mr Clarkson has challenged Mr Daly to swim the same distance again. We cannot say whether the challenge has been accepted. The Tarnaki Herald sa}-s--" Some dnyg ago a party of six Natives came down to tho White Cliffs from the King country, the object Of their visit being to secure a trophy which was buried under a rock near the camp. Five ,of the Natives went to the camp, but the sixth, a youig man who was tabooed, went to the rock and found the concealed treasure, where it had been buried during the war in 18G1. It appears the King desires to possess himself of the buried hatchet, or mere, but for what purpose it is not easy to imagine. After having been buried so many years, surely the digging up of the mere protends something."

A Si;li:ct Committee of the House of Commons was appointed to enquire into the law of libel. Tho Committee—which contains some eminent names—sent in a report containing inter alia the following recommendation :—" Your Committee recommend that no criminal prosecution shall be commenced against the proprietorpublisher, editor, or any -one responsible for the publication of a newspaper, for anyjibel published therein, without the (hit of the Attorney-General being first obtained." This recommendation, if cariied into effect by the colonial legislatures, would tend to do away with such futile attempts at prosecution as have been lately witnessed in New Zealand.

Tin-: Australian cricketers commenced their match at Wellington on SaturdayThe local team (22) went first to their wickets and were disposed of for 82. The visitors then went i", Groube and Spofforth batting. The ■former put an easy catch in the way of Sa'mon, which was accepted. Murdoch was sin-irtly caught out by Marchant o!_ Francis wiihout scoring. After this, however, the field were treated t > a good deal of leatherhunting, and when time was called Spol" forth ami (Slight were still .it the wickets' the score, standing at GI with three wickets

How d'es the dog tax apply to Maori villages? The dog registrars in this (lisln'ct are in a ri\-. They know that a Maori village cotitiiins nearly as nijiiiy dogs as men, but to go and seize the dogs or shoot them at the whares is a native

question that may involve open winMr Bryce has retired just in time to escape this new native trouble. It would require. as many A.C.'s to caplure the nali.o dogs as to capture Parihaka. A dog

registrar may go into a native village with his ten-shilling licenses in one hind and revolver in the other, and he may threaten

these as alternatives, but is he likely to get 10s for each dog ? To expect

I Maoris to welcome the pakelu dog-taker js like expecting the leopard to change his spots. The collector won't get the money and will perhaps try to shoot, the dogs. A prudent collector should make his will and appoint oxeciitors, before starting into the bush to collect the dog-tax from Maoris. - Pa tea Mail. At Oainaru three young men were fined by the Collector of Customs three times the value of some tobacco they had brought ashore from a vessel lying in the road stead. A lenient view was taken of the matter, as there was evidently no intention to smuggle. In the Supreme Court in Dunedin Mr Justice Johnston and Mr Justice Williams ruled that a trustee in a bankrupt estate was personally responsible for costs in sirng, or being sued, as trustee. Willi X the whole country is ringing with remarks as to the manner in which Taranaki is being pampered at the expense of the rest of the colony, the residents of that favored spot do not seem to be permeated with gratitude, to judge by the following extract from a local paper, in which the writer s-iys : —At " The Corner " we heard the following dialogue the other day: ■• I say, Jim, the Government are to be changed, I hear." " Oh, I should not be surprised," was Jim's reply; "but if you dropped the c it would be no more than they deserved." A ckutain" Boniface who had been boasting for some time of a superior kind of cheese he was lucky enough to purchase from a fanner, at last produced it on his table ; and to bis surprhe all the boarders rose and left the room. As he thought somcth'ng was wrong with it, he sent it down to the kitchen, when the servants i n a body immediately afterwards came and gave him warning, saying that they would leave if: he did not send Hint cheese away. As a last resource he had tho cheese con. veyed to a house inlesled with rats, but it j wars so strong that they could not stand it J and ono and all left (he place. We can hardly believe that this was Akaroa cheese, but our informant "-rears that it was— an 1 he used a double D, too, when telling us of the circumstances.]

Till': Ln-Jii!/) Globe has the following paragraph :—" The sawdust of a mill at Victoria llarboiir.isvburnt in a kiln eighty feet high, made of boiled iron." In tho name "of .[nil itlial is wonderful what is "boiled $fon"?

be published in four separate||:;t rarisj.it ions '.in ',lho Russian laitguag&Oiis soon as it leaves the Censor's hands. Two hewsp-ipers -will also re-

produce ir,

It is understood that Mr 11. 11. Fentom J.P., of Akaroa, has received the appointment of Clerk and Surveyor to the Kowai Road Board. At the former meeting three gentlemen were chosen, and the Tnal selection has resulted in favor of Mr Ferdon. We understand that tho applicatibiis'for this post filled up about twelve pigeon-holes in the office, and amongst the applicants were J.P.s, C.E.s, R.A.M.'s. B. A.'s, etc, etc, etc. Sign of the times !

Says the Liberty.— The politeness of some ladies is really entertaining. It was particularly observable at the cricket match last Saturday and in the early part ; of this week. The dear creatures mr.da their way to the front and opened their parasols with the most charming unconcern, and looked as if they didn't know that they were obscuring tho vision of half-a-dozen gentleman af the back ; while they swayed their skin protectors about in a maimer calculated to give glass-eye polishing a grand impetus.' One old ! lady caused a regular stampede by opening a three-acre gingham, which cast quite a gloom over the oval.

Tine reports which have appeared in the Lyttelton Times anent the cricket matches played by the Australian team are really excellent, but one cannot help smiling at the sarcasm contained in the following letter addressed to the editor of that journal :—Sir, —I am dying to know all about the cricket' match ; but how can a woman understand the following :—"Corfe got a single off the Demon's- second, and poked IVmer's third to short leg. Watson broke, bis duck for a square leg hit, and then drove the long.bowler for a similar number, but Was run out in attempting .1 thort one next ball. I—4—2. Corfo snicked Spoftorth for one, and hit all round at a curly one," etc, etc. Do telb and oblige—Only a Woman.

The House of Lords has decided, on an appeal, that a wife has no power in law to pledge her husband's credit without his express sanction. The original action was for the recover)* of ,£4O odd for millinery, etc. This decision ought to be of interest fo many of our col nihil " hubbies" these dull times.

Lawf.u Komisky. arguing in'a -divorce suit at New Orleans, held that a husband had a legal right to make his wife stand in the corner with a sprin , r clothes-pin on her nose. '" If such mild means of com- [ elling obedience arc forbidden," h» says, "what is to become of tho husband's authority as the m ster of the household? '

The Australian Eleven play a two-days' match in Wangamn, commencing on Fe'-. 12. The vi.-iting team are to receive all the piivilcgcs.

Among the latest curiousities of advertising are two from an American contemporary. One of them by a farmer, wdio warns the public against harboring his wife, who has left him at the begining of summer's work, though he has been at the expense of " wintering her;" and in another a laundress is wanted who will be willing to " t ke her pay in lessons on the.guit-.r, and board on washing days."

Brown's wife went to the dentist's lately and took gas. The new set of teeth is not ready, nor is she ready ; and so there has been peace in the Brown family for several days. As Brown jo\fully remarked, " Her mouth is closed for repairs." This is the way a Canadian paper heads its report of Ilanlan's victory overTrickct: —" Victory !" "The Little Cantuk Scoops the antipodean !" " Neil stoops to Wipe his Face in the Thames!" ''Utter Discomfiture of tho Crrnstalk's Friends and Backers!" "The championship of the world Won in 25 minutes 10 seconds !"