Local and General.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume V, Issue 499, 26 April 1881, Page 2

Local and General.

On Saturday a warrant was issued for the nnei-t of Mr W \V Charters, who is now positivly known to have left the Colony by the ship Orari on April 9. The information upon which the warrant lias been issued a'legos defalcations, it is said, to the amontt of .£2OOO, in connection with the Building Society of which Mr Charters was a director. Constable Brooks leL't with the warrant by the mail steamer on Saturday. A passenger from Sydney by the Wakiitipu writes as follows of some of his follow pasi-cngers :— On the way down, the i.):ike of M-uich«ster played cribbago with the Ladies Marslnm and their brother, theHonourable Marslnm. Theie was no such thing as •' one for his nob," but it was, " I score one for my knave being of the same denomination as the card tamed up on the pack." Positively demnu , !

It will bo remembered ihut on last NV-.v Year's l);iy, souk; very successful rural spoils were organised and carried out in Akaroa. There was certainly something s-.ud nt the time about yotiiiig up a similar gathering o:i the n u'Cti's ISirtlulay. The hitter holiday is now approaching, and it is (piith time that souie-steps were taken in tho matter if anything is to be done. Who speaks first ?

We find it slated in a Diimnlin paper that the celebrated " Bonanza King," James Maekay, wa.su miner at the Dunstan rush, and left New Zealand for San Francisco in 1804. Now lie lhes in Paris, and rejoices in an income of several thousands a week. WIS arc informed that since the departnie of the Rev. W. Douglas from the Manse in Balguerie street, the grounds around it have been taken possession of by the neighbors, who seem to think they liAve a perfect right to graze it off. Numbers of cattle nnd horses have been turned in, the owners evidently think they have struck a patch. Their attention is called to an advertisment elswhere which will perhaps be the means of making the owners keep them on their own land, or they will be taken to interview Mr F. Hahn, Poundkeeper, etc. A conuRsroNDENT of a Dunedin contemporary thus humorously describes a lire in a country township ;—"The township doesn't possess a fire brigade, but it boasts a very big bell, -and (his bell broke out about midnight with clamor enough to waken the dead. My friend, who is the local agent for an insurance company, sallied forth, and his shirt-tail might have been seen playfully fluttering in the breeze as he ran up the only street in the township like a Red Indian on the war-path-I dressed and followed, and besought him to so far humor the prejudices of society as to assume a pair of trousers, as the feminine element was appearing on the scene, and his own store was in i;o danger. lie admitted the force of my logic and retired. Tlie fire started in a pie-shop, next to this came a chemist's, then the Oddfellows' Hall, then a vacant half-acre section, and then an hotel. With wonderful unanimity the crowd con centrated its efforts on that hotel. Several people ran up stairs, and with great presence of mind smashed the windows, the better to enable them to save some basins and jugs by throwing them into the street. One woman came rushing out with an apron fu 1 of crockery, jerked them with much judgment on to a heap of stones in the middle of the road, and then hastened back for a fresh supply. Cases of spirits were saved in the same way. With a zeal that was scarcely according to knowledge a burly helper essayed to rescue a chandalier, nnd began by carefully getting on a chair and smashing the globes with a big stick. It would savor of en piousness, however, to complain, for the intensions of the crowd were of the best, and it labored with a vigor and heartiness beyond all praise. The fire died a natural death in about an hour, and .strange to say, neither the half-acre section nor the hotel was burnt. The

township in its corporate capacity of mayor, councillors and citizens then took up a favorable position between a bane] of beiT and a quarter-cask of whisky, and proceeded to discuss the events of the night. How it came about—whether from the heat of the yet smouldering lire or not I cannot tell, but discussi >n giew 'vanner —led, in fact, to argument of the hi quoqve type, and the result was a free fight that lasted till tho barrels were empty. Tho next day was devoted to Buffering a very severe recover}', and I question whether all the burgesses are guile recovered yet.

A cor.UKhrONDKNT sends us a very leuglhy account of an encounter with an intoxicated bullock, "which took place last Wednesday, on the Pigeon Bay road. " Boiled down." the adventure amounts to this. Our informant, on the day in question, was walking towards Pigeon Bay. On ilie n> d four small boys (from Mr Baker's French Farn>) passed him. To them suddenly enter.-) a " big heavy bullock," who makes towards them in a vicious manner. 0. I. advances with a view of interposing between tho animal and the boys, and persuading the former to retire by means of a " strong four-feet stick. The juveniles, however, make for a neighboring fence, anil 0. I. has ''never seen boys get over a fence so quickly." Then ensues an all but mortal combat between 0. I. and the beast, who, disappointed of his first prey, was " more vicious than ever." It woidd need a Homer appropriately to describe this fray. The bullock used the weapons with which nature had provided him. the man employed the '' strong four-L'ect stick." (Our i'nnny man here interpolates that, but for this stick the man would have had to for-felt his life. Shocking !) 0. I. gets one good blow in on the bullock's snout, and at the same time goes on to grass himself. Bullock goes a few yards and then "slewed himself iouiui for a second attack." Though prostrate, however, our hero has ihe presence of mind to shake the stick at him, whereupon tho craven animal •' hoo-ed out loudly and ran away towards Pigeon Bay." 0. I. thereupon remains master of the situation, though it is his opinion that, had the bullock followed up iiis advantage, ho, would have '• prepared him for a long rest in tho cemetery."' 0. I. retires from tin; scene covered with glory and bruise*, and rinds out afterwards that the misconduct of the bullock is duo to t ie- animal hay. ing parlak'jn too freoiy of what he ealis

i- toot leaves," the moral he draws froir. it li'jiu^ , that proprietors slioul.l enforce a s"'f f>t Maino Liquor Law among th° I'fiHle, liy clt'iirinjj tliis seductive plisu off the 1.-iiid.

On Easter Monday, a cricket match between the Okain's and Little Teams took place at Okain's Bay, and resulted in an easy win for the former. The weather being unfavorable in the early morning, the Little River players were for a while doubtful about starting for Okain's. This made it very lute when they arrived, the wickets being pitched about 1.30 p.m. Only nine out of f be River eleven having pjt in an appearance, two Okain's players took the places of the absent ones, and a very pleasant and friendly, though from the start an unequal game ensued. The Okain's men won the toss, and took the batting, puting together the respectable total of 93 in their first innings, the Little River men then going in were all out for 28, and following on with their second innings got 48, thus being 1G behind the Okain's first intiii.gs. After the match the cricketers were regaled with a capital dinner catered by Mr J. Graham, winding up with a ball which broke up in the early morning. The Gazette contains a notice that a bonus of £500 will be given for the first twenty-five tons of butter or first fifty tons of cheese (produced in a factory working on the American principle, and to which factory any farmer, subject to certain conditions, may *end his milk), which shall be exported from New Zealand and sold at such prices in a foreign market as shall show that the articles are of fair quality. A bonus of £500 will also be given on the first 100 tons of fresh meat exported from New Zealand in vessels fitted with refrigerating machinery. Such meat must have been collected in a refrigerating chamber in this colony, and must have been landed in Europe in a sound marketable condition.