Local and General.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume V, Issue 513, 14 June 1881, Page 2

Local and General.

An Auckland telegram says that the Waikato Mail has ceased publication. It is rumored that it was bought by Mr Edgcornbe of the Waikato Times. ■ The special meeting of the Akaroa and Wainui' Road Board, convened for last Saturday, lapsed owing no doubt to the inclemency of the weather. It will take place on Saturday next, and a notice to that effect appears in our advertising columns. A crowpkd and enthusiastic mectinrr has been held in ]JuT,eiJ'"n ; lo exoress sympathy with the Irish 'Laud League. UoroUiticns expressive of .sympr.iiiy with the and disapprobation of the hai-h mea.Uir-H of coeicion inijodueed by the Government were oairj.d unan'mousiy. and a suhseiiplion list was sic:., leu to ;,dvo substantia! aid to the- organbatio:;. Anotl'.L-.r sign of the times.

An Irishman, writing from Dublin to the Postmaster-General, stated that iv consequence of letter opening by the authorities he had adopted posicards for his correspondence to save the officials tho trouble of opening his letters, and he suggested that, as some of his correspondence is longer than tho compass of the present postcard admits, a postcard of larger size should be issued. Mr Fawcett's secretary has replied that the present postcard was determined upon only after very careful consideration, and that the Post-master-General does not, at any rate for the present, see any goodground for altering the size. "Jkames" of the Press is off again. Tho way this gentleman gushes about millinery is a " caution." Last session he could even descant on the Premier's white hat, but in describing the late opening of Parliament he absolutely revels in the scene. We remember some years ago a set of amber satin curtains in the Government House being described as "aweinspiring." The description must surely have emanated from the talented individual who penned tho following which we find in Friday's Press :—" A few minutes after two the Governor entered the Legislative Council, quite [appalling all spectators by tho gorgeousness of his attire and majesty of his demeanour. His Excellency wore over his Windsor uniform the magnificant bluo and crimson mantle of the Grand Cross of St. Michael and St. George, the train of which extended far in his roar, and was borne by his young son, dressed as a page, in the proper colors of the Order. His Excellency advanced in a very slow and dignified manner, bowing low on each side as he approached the throne, where he seated himself with his head covered.

Information was received in Southbridge on Saturday about midday that a vessel had been wrecked on the Ninety Mile Beach Upon enquiries being made it was found that the vessel was the brig Pakeba, timber laden, and supposed to be bound either for Dunedin or Lyttelton. The fishermen of Lake Ellesmere were prompt in their endeavours to render as.-istanee, but it was impossible for them to do so owing to the, heavy sea running. Two of the fishermen, a Greek named Alick and his mate managed to get near tho wreck, and were fortunate enough to rescue one man named Christian, who was lying on tho beach insensible. They searched for over an hour, but were unable to discover anything of the remainder of the crew. They then conveyed the rescued man to their hut, where everything was done that could belle states that there was a crew of eight men on board tbe brig, and it is feared that the remainder are !o>t. as ihe fishermen saw the vessel break up when fully half a mile from shore. The brig was 170 tons, belonged to Messrs Findlay ami Co Dunedin and is insured for £1,200.

It is really refreshing to find a Licensing Bench who, when a Scoundrel comes before them for a license, put their foot down in an unmistakcable manner, and are even prepared to ignore the sacred rights of li property " if neces-ary, rather than the guilty should escape. Such a case occurred in Christchurch on Tuesday last, when Mr Thomas applied in the usual manner for the renewal of the license of Chas. Lewis, for the Riecarton Hotel. Superintendant Broham opposed the application. Mr Wood said the grounds for the opposition had been fully set out in the press reports of a case in which a drnnken man had been allowed, if not encouraged, to gamble away a horse, harness, and drny> which was not his property. The information gained from the above source had been supplemented by the police, and he had no hesitation in describing it as the grossest and most disgraceful misconduct he ho had ever heard of. He detailed at some length the facts of the case of the man Hulston. reading aloud the report furnished to the Bench by the police. Mr Thomas objected that no copy of this objection had been furnished to the licensee as required by the Act, and therefore the objection could not be entertained by the Bench. Mr Wood said he would tike the responsibility and proceed. After some argument Mr Wood said—"The Court is of opinion that when a house is conducted in such a disorderly manner as h.is been shown to be the case at the Riecarton H'tel, it is high time to withdraw tho license from it. From his act, or the act of Iris son or servant, it comes about that an unfortunate man may have to go and rot in gaol. If Lewis, when he found out what had occurod, had made promptly the reparation he ought to have done ; if he had caused.the drny , &c, to be given up at once to the ewner, tho Bench might have viewed the occurrence in a different light ; but he did not do that—ho hungon to the ill-gotten goods until they were dragged from him. A more disgraceful piece of business he had never heard of. Tho licei.se is refused. Sooner than grant : a license 10 such a man as Lewis. I would I Ic.-ivo the Bench, it' that was to bo the conseimcnce. of the refusal." Mr Thomas urged !!;-i.,n ihe Bench to grant Ids client, un opportunity to sell out. -Mr Wood ' j " At •;■!.>- rale, lo foilo-.v yo-.u suggestion, j Ihe v.'ould ictvc to he renewed -o \ Lewis, ;.!:•!. ;..■:. i have .aid, I wl!! not. be a j party ;•;• the grajiii (;,■._• of a !ie>?n?e lo him toi' a ihiv, no, nor for m> hour." Llilmaiely ' Uio ca:-e Wr'-.s -loo'-ved fo s'iith.'. over lor j

From the residents in a palace, says " .Egles," one would naturally expect a largo and splendid liberality. This by way of example : A lady staying at a Melbourne Coffee Palaco was introduced to Dr MacSom.thing, a vi.-itor from another colony also residing at tho Palace. The doctor offered himself as an escort to the Exhibition, and under his guidance the lady succeeded in spending a dull day. She subsequsntly received the following invoice :— Mrs Blank. Debtor to Dr Mac Something. 'Bus tare to Exhibition £0 0 3 Ticket for ditto 0 10 Tea, etc.; at ditto 0 0 9 £0 2 0 That ho was a real gentleman may bo inferred by there being no charge for his own time, trouble, and attendance. He gave all that in. But he prudently added a memo, to his account for the lady to leave the amount with the Palace secretary, as he (Dr S.) was at once going back to the place whence he came.

A correspondent sends us the following :—Notwithstanding the inclemency of the weather, the Barry's Bay Cricket Club succeedsd in carrying out their usual programme for closing the season. On Friday last, if the .weather had been anything like favorable, they had intended to have a match played between married and single members of the club. However, as things turned out, they were obliged to give up that idea and unke up a scratch match of all comers. Owing to tho same cause, they were not able to get the men until late in the day, so that only a one innings match was played, the result? of which aro as follows: —The number on eaoh side was eight, the two captains being D. LeComte and G. D. Bates. Bates having won the toss, elected to send his men to handle the timber first, his side making a total of 40, of which G, D. Batescontributed 24 runs, and T. Stewart carried out his bat with eight runs to the good For the other side Mr Brough contributed 32. R. Stewart 17, J. Lecomte 12,. and the rest of the team made up the total of 73. Mr Bites kept up his character as a first rate bowler, bowling de.id on the wicket every time, and making it hard work for his opponents. At the close of the first innings, the contestants were regaled with a substantial spread, to which they did full justice. After tho day's sports, the holiday-makers adjourned to the schoolroom, and went through a well selected programme, consisting of 24 dances Although there were not above sixty couples present, the whole affair was enrried through with spirit, and owing to the praiseworthy exertions of the working committee a most enjoyable day and night was spent, finishing up at the usual hour, viz., by sis the next morning.

A viciiY heavy rainfall, accompanied by strong southerly wind, took place during Friday and Saturday last. The greatest quantity of rain fell during the twelve hours preceding nine o'clock on Saturday morning. At that hour all the creeks in Akaroa were in full flood. The two points where the effects of the flood were most perceptible were in the neighborhood of the Mail office and Waeckerks's Hotel. The culvert across the road near the former locality is quite insufficient to carry off the water which comes down the creek in its rear in even a moderate flood; consequently the low ground in that neighborhood was soon covered with water, which also inundated the road for a considerablo distance, finally finding its way into the sea opposite Mr Black's shop. At the other end of the town affairs were more serious. The stream flowing through the Chinamen's garden becoming swollen, overflowed its banks, and submerged nearly the whole garden, canning away immense quantities of earth, and destroying a large amount of the cultivation on which so much labor had been expended. The culverts, though in?ufficient to carry off the water, which consequently flowed over the road, nevertheless withstood the strain upon them, with the exception of a portion of the smaller one running under tho footpath opposite Mr Waeckerle's private residence. This gave way, and the footpath for about fifteen feet was washed away. The most strious loss, however, is occasioned by the damage done to the garden occupied by the Chinamen, and i balonging to Mi Waeckerle and Mr Nalder. We have not as yet heard of any serious damage having been done in tho country districts, though they can hardly have escaped scatheless. Towards evening considerable speculation was indulged in as to whether the Christchurch coach would get the general opinion being against the probability of its succeeding. About nine o'clock, however, Joe McFarlane falsified these predictions of evil by driving up to ihe Posi office. Tbe delay had been occasioned by a slip in the road on the Little River side of the range. One of the horses had got into the treacherous miudr and it had taken considerable labor and lime to extricate the, animal. Besides this, it was necessary to get the slip cleared away to a sufi'bient extent to allow the passage of the. coach. In other places considurab'y more damage has been done by ihe storm, thorn-li it appears that no iiilecrupiion 10 railway traffic has occured except on iiiikaia arid Ashburton Fork fl line, in another column will be found an account or" a wreck on the Ninety-Milo Bead:, unhappily attended with a heavy > !..s of life. '

Somk idea of the violence of the southerly gale of Friday and Saturday night may be gathered from tho fact, that the s.s, Hawea, which left Wellington at 4 p.m. on Friday afternoon occupied no less than thirty-six hours and a half in reaching Lyttelton.

A total eclipse of tho moon waa visible on Sunday evening, and from the clearness of the atmosphere was observable with great distictness. Tho times of the various phases were as follows :—First contact with the penumbra, 3h 45m p.m. ; first contact with the shadow, 4h 41m p.m.; beginning of the total phase, 5h 44m p.m. ; middle of the eclipse, 6h 23m p.m.; last contact with the shadow, 8h 6m p.m. ; last contact with the penumbra, 9h 2m p.m.; magnitude of the eclipse (moon's diameter — 1), 1.348.

We find the following particulars of mail services on the Peninsula in the last Government Gazette :—" Christchurch and Akaroa, thrice weekly, coach, S. Lee, £300; Lyttelton and Pigeon Bay, thrice weekly, steamer, Cameron Bros., £249 ; Pigeon Bay and Akaroa, thrice weekly, coach, S. Lee, £100 ; Lyttelton and Port Levy, weekly, boat and horse, J. Harris, £40; Duvauchelle's Bay, Little Akaloa* and Okain's Bay, twice weekly, horse, J. B. Barker, £55 ; German Bay and Le Bon's Bay, twice weekly, horse, Arthur Condon, £35 ; Aknroa and Wainui, weekly* steam launch, Wight and Bruce, £30."