The Akaroa Mail. TUESDAY, JULY 12.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume V, Issue 521, 12 July 1881, Page 2

The Akaroa Mail. TUESDAY, JULY 12.

We are gratified to find that Master Bateman Missen has sufficiently recovered from the effects of his late accident to be able to recommence his duties in connection with the Telegrapl^Offioe.

The Chrislchurch Telegraph states thnfc a rumor is current that the editor of a certain Society Journal, not a hundred miles from the Triangle, has been pitched bodily into a water-tank, as a penalty for some alleged insult. The verdict was "' Served him right."

A story comes to us from the last meeting of the Akaroa County Conncil which has both its serions and comic sides. A well-known member of the Council, who takes an interest in its finance, was objecting to any action being taken at present in taking over any more respon. sibilities, as the the fun Is of the Councij were to a great extent hypothecated " Hypothecated ! what is that ?" exclaimed one of the members, and there was a brilliant flash o£ silence. Then comes the reverend member with the original Greek words of which it was composed, their Latin synonyms, and the use of the word by Blackstone. The Council then breathed freely and passed.

The usuaF monthly meeting of the Akaroa School Committee was held in the schoolroom last Tuesday evening. All the members were present, with the exception of; Mr Kedjro. The Rev. 11. Stocker occupied the chair. The minutes of the last meeting were read and signed. A circular was received from the Board of Education in reference to the future payment for instruction of pupil teachers, and the Chairman was requested to hand the same to the teacher. The Chairman reported what had been done in regard to sanitary matters, and that the cleaning had partly been done at present caretaker's ri.sk—the cleaning was still unsatisfactorily per. i .Hind. The Chairman was directed to '■;<!' I.)," fn.'sh tenders nt the end of the [<r. sent contract, and the committee went !ii length into the details of the new s|H :i '!ii:-atioii, A conversation took place i;.': Li lit" (jtni.lUy of t!:e nmtovial the cotiij;ici.ur l'o<■ tho now fence hid put on the ■.■"Him!. A;';<-r'.v.u\ls Mr '1. , , Adams was ...■;■!.-V'.':l t.» sei. , iht? erection- or! the new W". ••■. (.'(urioil oiil, mil his attention was il Mcto.'l to be driiwn to tho material. The Committee then adjourned for a inonfh.

Two slight but quite distinct shocks of earthquake were felt in Akaroa during the last two days. The first occurred about 2 p.m. on Sunday last, and the second at about 6.30 on Monday morning. The direction of the former appealed to be from a little to the north of east to west. It was sufficiently marked to cause some articles in an upstairs room to be shaken in a noticeable manner.

An accident happened to a little boy of Mr Parkes, Chief Keeper of the Akaroa Lighthouse, at the Heads on Friday last, in a rather pecular manner, by which the child's leg was broken. Mr Parkes was employed removing some clay from the neighborhood of the cottages or the lighthouse and throwing it some distance with & shovel. While he was in the act of delivering a shovelful the boy ran in front of it and received snch a blow from the contents as to cause the injuries above described. The child was seen during the day by Dr. Gutherie who set the injured limb and the little sufferer is now doing as well as could be hoped.

The Bruce Herald says:—Wo have heard a very laughable story which emanates from a small town between Dunedin and Oam'aru, where there lives a man who appreciates cheap coal, and whose mode of securing it is one more illustration of the proverb, " necessity is fhe mother of invention." Engine-drivers are a hearty race of men, and it was on this fact the " inventor" to whom we refer based his stratagem for obtaining cheap fuel. Ke fixed a wooden image of " Aunt Sally" pattern close to the railway line, and its comical aspect so tickled the fancy of the engine driver that he invariably threw some choice lumps of coal at it, which our " friend in need " picked up when the locomotive was out of sight.

The Lyttelton Times, publishes a letter on the state of affairs in the Transvaal. The letter is from one well kuown in his youth to many of our readers, a son of the late Captain Greaves, for some time Customs' Officer at Akaroa. We have not space for the the Jetter, which is very sensibly written, but this is how our contemporary introduces the writer : —The tol. lowing letter is from a young Now Zealander born at Akaroa, who does no discredit to his Colonial education in the graphic description he gives of the present state of affairs in the Transvaal. Our young friend seems capable of wielding his pen as boldly, ably, and to the point, as he did his sword in the Zulu war. Having received an engineer's education, he betook himself to ths Cape of Good Hope, to seek his fortune in the arts of peace; but on his arrival, war having broken out with Cetewayo and his thousands of dusky warriors, he found every art, but that of war at a complete discount. So, with the promptitude of decision and the energy which characterises the true Anglo-Saxon—whether born here, or in (he Mother Country—he at once volunteered for active service. Of this he had an ample share, and rose rapidly to the position of Lieutenant. He was one of those few who escaped from that fearfuJ slaughter of Isandula, or lsandwalla, after which he received Captain's rank. Since the cenclusion of the war he has been farming peaceably and successfully near Pietermaritzburg, where, let us hope, he will make a fortune, and so be able to attain his dearest wish—to return to the land of his birth ; a land that one born in may well be proud of, and ever covet to to remain in to the end of his days.

An entertainment of a very pleasing and successful nature was given at the Oddfellows' Hall, Akaroa, on Friday and Saturday evenings, and also on Saturday afternoon, Messrs B. Levoi and W. H. Manning were the caterers for the amuse ment of the public, and to judge by the frequent applause and hearty laughter evoked, succeeded admirably in their task. The first part of the performance consisted of a number of tricks of legerdemain, which were executed in a very neat manner, and were evidently due entirely to sleight-of-hand, as there was no imposing array of apparatus and machinery; in fact, the appliances appeared to consist of a gin bottle, one or two packs of cards, and a couple of ordinary glass tumblers. To this succeeded a ventriloquial performance by Mr Manning. This was excellent, and the performer may certainly hold his own in this art with any who have appeared. The usual business with two figures was gone through, and caused great amusement. But Mr Manning also performed some feats [in ventriloquism pure and simple, without any illusion, which we consider excelled the other portion of his entertainment, clever as it was, and reminded us of Love and ventriloquists of a former generation,when dummy figures were unknown. We allude to his making his voice appear to come from underneath the stage, the roof, through a trap-door, the voice approaching and receding in the most natural manner. On Saturday evening Mr Manning also gave some capital imitations of well-known public characters, the best, tn our mind, being that of Mr W. Hoskins as Shylock. Besides the amusements provided, the proprietors also distributed a number of prizes among the audiencs, and not a few went away with presents exceeding in value by many times the prices they had paid for admission. On Saturday afternoon the entertainment was specially adapted for children, who showed their appreciation l>) attending in very largo numbers, and went awayjjdelightcd.j

The Akaroa and Wainui Road Board invite tenders for keeping the Onuku ioad in repair for twelve months, and for repairs to the culvert near Waeckerle's Hotel, damaged in the late floods.

The charge of fire raising at Ashburton brought against a tailor named Buxton, his wife and Miss Buckman, a sister of the latter, has occupied the Ashburton Resident Magistrate's Court for two days. The' result so far has been that Miss Buckmtin hns been ; discharged, His Worship finding nothing to connect her with the case, and the case against the other two defendants .remanded to enable the Bench to hear the evidence for the defence.

The sculling race for £100 a side and the championship of New Zealand took place on Saturday afternoon. The weather in the morning wa3 threatening, and it was not until some time after noon that the competitors agreed to start. A considerable amount of interest was taken in the race, but little or no betting was done. Hearn was'the favorite at 3 to 2, but in one pr two cases 2 to 1 was offered on him. Hearn justified the confidence reposed in him, coming Jin the easiest of winners by ten lengths. The distance was three and a half miles, and the time 27min 27sec, which is considered to be good.- •

Various schemes for checking the consumption of intoxicating liquors have been devised and propounded. The palm of originality, however, for the invention of novel devices for preventing drunkenness must be awarded to the State of Indiana. Its Legislature is- busy with a Bill by which every person who desires to drink anything stronger than tea or zoedone must take out a yearly license costing two pounds sterling. The license fees are to go to maintain inebriate asylums, and the license' is to be forfeited on the first conviction for drunkenness. The idea of licensing the drinker instead of relying solely upon controlling the licensed vendor of drink is novel, and if the Bill passes it will be interesting to watch its operation.

On Saturday evening word was brought to the Lyttelton police station that the body'of a man had been found on the hillside just above- the road leading from Lyttelton to Sumner. The police immediately went out, and found the body as described lying in a small patch of bu.sh on the slope cf the hill, near the foot of which stands a cottage occupied by Mr Hedgtnan on the Sumner road, and distant from Lyttelton nbout a mile. The deceased was. attired in moleskin trousers, Crimean shirt, blue diagonal vest, a pair of laced boots and grey socks. There was no coat nor hat. In the pockets of the trousers were.-found three pearl buttons and a farthing ; nothing by which deceased could be identified, and so far no one who has seen the body has been able to recognise it. The deceased was probably al out thirty years of age, adout five feet two inches or a little more, broad built, had a little beard sandy colour and brown hair. As f.-ir as could be noticed no marks or." violence were found on the body, and up to the present who the man was, or how he came by his death are a mystery.

The report of the Middle Island Native Land PurchaseJCommission has been presented. The Commission find, what every body acquainted with the matter knew already, that in the acquirement of land from the Natives gross injustice has been done, and the most solemn engagements have been violated. The report says :—- ---" A literal fulfilment of the treaties referred to, and of the promises made in connection therewith, ia not now possible* The evidence before us shows that lands which by the terms of the Ngaitahu deed should have been excepted, have been Crown granted to European settlers; that reserves were promised, which have never been made, that eel proserves, kauri groves, and other sources o£ food supply which, under the term " Mahinga kai," were not to be interfered with, have been destroyed in many ways, the terms of the contract have been violated, and to restore it is impossible. A compromise of the claim for compensation is the only possible way of meeting the case, and we submit that the mode suggested by us is just and reasonable," The arrangement above referred to is stated as follows: —" We propose that an account should be opened as between the Government and the Ngaitahu ; that on the one side shouH be entered the eleventh part of the proceeds of all land sold by the Government within those two blocks. On the other side of the account should be entered the value of reserves in possession of the Natives, and all money payments made for their benefit, the balance to be regarded as a funded debt, a fair interest on which should be allowed and applied for the general purpose of ameliorating the condition of the Natives interested, in such mannei as may be found from time to time expedient and practicable." The above arrangments would apply to the Akavoa and other Peninsula blocks, concerning which the Commissioners say : —*• The evidence in the, case of the Akaroa block showed many of the Nativo owners were absent at the time of the purchase by Mr Hamilton ; that they have since returned, and in several case's are homeless and destitute, having received no portion of the purchase money, and not being admitted to share in any of the reserves

A MEETIKG of the Banks Peninsula Farmers' Club was to have heon held on Saturday afternoon- at, the Head of the Bay. After waiting" for over an hour after the appointed time, however, the secretary and some three or four members who were in attendance gave it up, and the meeting lapsed for want of a sufficient attendance. .

By a notification which appears elsewhere it will be seen that it is intended to introduce a Bill for the establishment of a High School at Akaioa. The member for the district has already given notice of his intention to introduce the Bill, and Meessrs Grarwood and Tosswill announce themselves as promoters of the measure. There can be no doubt that the establishment of such a school would be a great boon to.the plnce, cut of as wo are from easy means of communication with the places where superior educational advantages'exist.

A meeting of those interested in tlie formation of a sparrow i'lub for Akaroa and surrounding districts was held at Bruce's Hotel on Thursday evening last. Mr J. D. Garwood, Mayor of Akaroa, occupied the chair. The Chairman read various letters he had received from other clubs, ahd'an offer to supply poisoned.grain at 19s per bushel f.o.b. at Lytte ton. It was resolved .that a sparrow club be formed, the subscription to be 5s and 10s, entitling members to a proportionate quantity of grain. The Chairman was authorised to procure a supply of poisoned grain from Kaiapoi, and to act as distributor of the same.

It will be seen that the prognostication of our Melbourne correspondent as to the defeat of the Victorian Ministry has been realised even before the time he anticipated. Mr Berry has been defeated by a direct want of confidence motion, proposed by Sir Bryan O'Loghlen and carried by .a small majority. The result has been brought about by an unholy alliance between what in the French Assembly 'would be called the "extreme left," and the Conservatives. Each party thinks it is making use of the other but the former are more reckless, the latter more astute. It was thought that Sir Bryan would not be able to form a ministry, but it appears he has done so, and associated with himself Messrs J. M. Grant, D. Gaunson. Bolton, Bent, Young, Greaves, and Dobson. Ad but three are men almost unknown to fame, and the exceptions have achieved a reputation for extreme radicalism, noticeable even in the most j democratic community in Aus- • tralasia.