Local and General.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume VI, Issue 523, 19 July 1881, Page 2

Local and General.

The magisterial enquiry into the charge of arson against Ruxton, a tailor, and his wife- at Ashburton, lias resulted in the accused being committed for trial. Miss Buckman, a sister of Mrs Ruxton, also arrested, v/as discharged.

Another of the "old identities "' has joined the majority. Mrs Leleu, better known under her former name of Mrs G-uindon, breathed her last yesterday morning. The deceased lady was one of the original French settlers. Though she had been ailing for some time, yet at the iast her end was sudden and unexpected. She wan in her seventieth year. The fiiner d takes place to-morrow afternoon.

A JIKKTING of the Sericultural Committee was held yesterday afternoon at the Borough Council offices. There were pie sent Messrs Gnnvjod (iv the chair;, Nalder, Westcnra, Dalglish, and S. Watkina. Applications for the mulberry trees expected were received and dealt witb. There wore forty applications, and the eommltkv: resolved to grant them ali. A , -: the. >vM,,Lar of trees expected is f!SO, this enable;; e.,,.eh aj plicnnL to receive hl.c tree;;, leaving; a rjiuail margin for eoiitingoiieunj. I'y ad vyrtisfMiient els'jwLc-i-c- ,i|>jjlii:aiK3 will tre when they ii...vu lo Liki away iho U-ws allotted them.

The death is announced of the Ttev John Gumming, D.D., minister of the Scotch Church, Crown Courl, Covent G irden, and author of several devotional and controversial works. Ho was 69 years of age. The member for the district, writing tc Mr Garwood on the subject of the Bill for establishing a High School at Akaroa, says that he has every confidence that the Bill will pass. He further estimates the precenteent annual value of the .Reserves to be allotted to the Akaroa School at about £170.

Under date- " London July 10" we learn that the police have succeeded in arresting the supposed perpetrators of the horrible murder recently committed in a railway carriage on the Brighton line. The murderer, who was arrested at Stepney, has acknowledged his identity with that of the man wanted by the police, but denies that he is guilty of the crime. The poisoned wheat introduced by the Spairow Club appears to be most effectual in its death dealing qualities. The first man who called to take his portion away dropped a handful in front of Messrs Garwood & Co.'s store, and in a very few

minutes seven sparrows were picked up dead. In a garden not far oil' fifty feathered pilferers were found one morning whose careers had been cut short. A noticeable feature regarding the poison is that cats feast upon the slain birds with perfect immunity from any ill effects to themselves.

The panegyrics of Lord Beaconfield which the British press have uttered since his death are not universal. One paper {National Reformer) concludes an article on the deceased Earl as follows:—And now Great Pan is dead ; and wo, who declined to bow the knee to him while living, ure asked to place laurels over his grave—to build to him, at the dictation of the Court, a national memorial. Shall we erect in our midst this brazen serpent ? Or shall we say, with Ophelia " There's rue for you" ? Alas I We can weep upon Benjamin Disraeli's grave—but not because an Earl has died. The sadness which steals o vermis at the contemplation of his life's clof-e is the child of the thought of his inherited capabilities, his lifelong strivings, and all for what? To strut awhile before " monarchs and statesmen,' , and then pass away without having contributed one iota to the alleviation of the suffering or the ennoblement of the lot of the people among whom his lot was cast. Of the Middle Island Native Land Commission the Timaru Herald remwks: —■" It was Governor Normanby who issued the Commission ; Governor Rubinson and Administrator Prendergast came and went during its currency. It was Governor Gordon who received the Report, or, as the Commissioners rightly call it, the quasi Report. If there had been no liiwit of time or money, w« verily believe the Ngaitahu Commission would have sat on and on—and drawn pay and expenses •regularly—through Sir Arthur Gordon's Government, through the remainder of Her present Majesty's icign, through the balance of the 19tli century, and far away into the dim vista of the untold years. Ages after the last whitey-brown relict of the Ngaitahu tribes had been laid to rest; ages after native affairs had ceased to form part in the politics of Now Zealand, any more than Ancient British affairs form part in English politics to-day; two hoary men attired in the garb of a long bygone period, would have been seen seated solemnly in an office at Christchurch, awaiting evidence of Middle Island claims, or tottering to the Bank of New Zealand to cash cheques for Commissioners' pay and expenses They would never have died or reported as long as the money was forthcoming."

A contemporary, the Bruce Standard has been coming under that terror of newspaper men—all the more terrible because so utterly undefined—the law of libel. The facts of the case appear to be briefly those. A certain Itev. Fred. Seaborn was on a lecturing tour, and calleu in the aid of the printer to make his performances known. Strange to say. he quitted the town — accidentally of course — without paying his small account. Our friend of the Standard had apparently been " had '> by showmen before, and when ten days had elapsed, and no remittance came from the rev. lecturer, he announced the fact of the unpaid bill in his columns as a warning to his brethren oC the Press. Strange to say, when the paragraph was painted out to the rev. gentleman lie immediately returned and paid the "little bill." He then went for the unlucky newspaper man in orthodox manner. First came a Lawyer's loiter, then a writ, by which he claimed .€SOO damages as a solatium for his wounded feelings. The juiy awarded him £25, and of conrso the lawyers will come in for their share of .spoil. It appeared that what weighed most against defendant was that he stated that plaintiff " eloped " without paying his account. Plaintiff defined " elope " to bo synonomous with " si one " and "skedaddle." To these we might j add " vamoose," " olii!;./' (i cvi. -, n'W\ ' iuuiiy nioro tonus of similar The (Jiiiuf Justice held that if it weiv; !6V.Ci of a man that he " io/t " or - k ipiiti-jil ' a ph-c-e wiiliuri paying his dobi.s, it woi<;d iiiipuriineni, uut ii, would uuf. i<o lilolioti.s. I Lot od-lou; k>»!: out theii, and eiisninatc | t/jo uord ,( clone 1, from vocabularies. '

The Dunedin Exhibition was closed on Tuesday last. Mr Stout gave the closingaddress in which he congratulated the committee on the success of the enterprise. The Mayor st ited that that the numbor of visitors amounted to 45,000. It is proposed to hold an International Exhibition in Dunedin in 1883.

We are pleased to find that Mr A. J. White, of Christchtirch, received a first award for the magnificent collection of furniture exhibited by him at the Dunedin exhitition. In artistic merit, beauty of dooign, and excellency of workmanship the articles shown would not have disgraced any collection, even the great cities of the old world.

A certain Wesleyan minister of Ballarat (gossips the Star), whilst recently addressing a Sunday school, was rather unexpectedly helped during the courses of an illustration. lie was describing the occurrence of the plagues in Egypt, and had just got to the frog incident, when, to bring the matter more thoroughly home to the children's minds he referred to a sheet of water near the school. Ho then put the question, !i what do you find in that water?' but received no answer. A second time he put the question, and a characteristic answer was niabe by a liltlo child—"Crawfish, Sir,"

The passengers from Lyttelton by the Titan had a rare time of it on Friday morning. From some casse or other there was an overwhelming crush of arrivals at Pigeon Bny, and the influx seemed to take every j.one by surprise. The coach was absent, and the wagonette which was the only substitute could accommodate but few of those who wished to come on to Akaroa. We noticed several gentlemen very enger to reach the jetty and anticipate their fellows in securing seats. As it was, the lucky ones drove off and left the remainder lamenting. Pigeon Bay is a delightful place indeed to be consigned to. Is there no possibility of some good Samaritan having mercy on the weary stranger and '' taking him in " ? The Titan did not seem to have any sympathy with the growls of tho unfortunate left-behinds, as she stuck fast to the shore, and it. was only after considerable expenditure of steam, and possibly of profanity, that she condescended to back out. In due time the coach was sent over for the passengers left behind.

A writer in a Timaru paper is responsible for the following : —I often hear people speculating as to the oiigin of the mystic initials that denote a certain wellknown whiskey. Their derivation is not far to peek, and does not do much credit to the imaginative faculity of the proprietors of the fluid. Some years ago MrToole, in one of his many amnsing characters, made frequent use of the words '■ orl krect," which waa his tempoiary way of pronouncing and spelling "all correct." This soon spread over London as a common saying and very soon it got shortened to " 0.X.". Everything was "0.X." It meant "right," or "wrong, , or "go on," or "stop," "yes," "no." •'How are you this morning?" "0.X." " "Wili you dine with me this evening? ,, "0.X." Jus-t at this time, and while the streets resounded with the slangy abbreviation, appeared the advertisements of the v O.K. whiskey." It may possibly have some other derivation, and I hope it has, but it is singular that its appearance coincided with the popular exclamation. If any one in a hundred or two hundred years time, pace Proctor's comet, writes a second " Curiosities of Literature, ,, the derivation of the strange title will somewhat puzzle him.