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Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 88, 22 May 1877, Page 2

Messrs Matson and Co. held an extensive sale of land at Pigeon Bay, at their rooms, Christchurch, on Thursday last, on behalf of Mr. Marshall. The first lot put up was 258 acres, known as the Blue Gums, which was knocked down to Mr. Lyall at £13 per acre. The next lot of 41 acres was also credited to the same purchaser, at £19 per acre. Lot 3, comprising 70 acres, nearly all bush, Avas purchased by Mr. Budua at £25 per acre. Lot 4, of 193 acres, fell to the same purchaser at £11 per acre. Lot 5, of 129 acres, was passed in at £9 10s. Lot 6, of 179 acres, was also passed in at £7 10s, but was subsequently bought by Mr. Gillespie at £8 per acre. The bidders were confined to the settlers of Pigeon Bay. The conditions of sale were 20 per cent, down, the balance in five, seven, or ten years, bearing interest at eight per cent. Messrs Hays' property was bought in at £3 10s per acre.

A vacancy has taken place in the Akaroa and Waiuni Road Board, through the resignation of Mr. Frank Houghton.

Mr. F, W. Barker announces that he will run a coach every Thursday between Head of the Bay and Akaroa, le-aving the former place at 10 a.m., and returning from Akaroa at 3 p.m. the same day.

At a meeting of the Le Bon's School Committee, held on Saturday evening last, Mr. D. Thompson tendered his resignation as master, in consequence of his having been appointed to the charge of the Normanby school, in the Patea district, North Island. The resignation was accepted, and the Chairman was instructed to apply to the Board of Education for permission to advertise for applications for the services of a schoolmaster and schoolmistress.

The first of the weeklymeetings in connection with the Akaroa Mutual Improvement Association is advertised to take place this evening, at the schoolhouse, at' 8 o'clock. Readings and recitations, with criticisms from members of the Association, will form the programme for this evening. The meeting will be open to the public free of charge.

Messrs Bridge and Bushell disposed of the privileges in connection with the forthcoming Steeplechase Meeting by public auction on Saturday last. The publican's and refreshment booths were. knocked down'to Mr. Beecher, the former at £6 ss, and the latter at £1 10s. Mr. Bristow became the purchaser of the right to the cards, at 7s 6d.

The first meeting of the Trust Board will take place this morning, at the Resident Magistrate's Court at noon. We trust to see the Board well represented, and the business for which its members are elected, begun in earnest. Mr. Frank Houghton, cattle dealer, of Akaroa, has filed, a declaration of his insolvency. The first meeting of creditors is appointed to be held at the Supreme Court House, Christchurch, on Friday next, at 11 o'clock. We are at a loss to understand why creditors should be submitted to the inconvenience and expense of being compelled to go to Christchurch to prove their claims in insolvent estates arising in Akaroa, and it is high time that business people protested against this injustice. Why not allow the first meeting at least to be held here ?

A meeting of the Akaroa Steeplechase Committee was held on Saturday afternoon last, Mr. G. Scarbrough in the chair. The canvassers appointed to solicit subscriptions presented favourable reports. The Chairman intimated that Mr. J. J.Kisselhad liberally offered to supplement the prize in the hack race by the addition of a whip and a pair of spurs. The gift was accepted with thanks, and ordered to be added to the prize. It was resolved that a fee of Is to include a copy of the race card, be charged for admission to the ground.

At a committee meeting of the Pastorla Association, held yesterday, at the Head of the Bay, the report and balance-sheet for the past year were read and adopted. The latter will appear in our next issue.

The time foi receiving entries for the Akaroa Steeplechase meeting has been extended till Wednesday, at 4 p.m.

In a speech at the luncheon given to His Excellency the Governor at Invercargill, Commodore Hoskins replying to the toast of the " Army and Navy," thus referred to the possibility of the colonies being exposed to an attack by a foreign power:— regards the danger of this colony from a hostile attack, he considered it small. The work at the outbreak of a war between two great. nations was so concentrated that no large detachment could be spared to attack the colonies. The danger was rather from a small expeditionary force, or from privateers. In case of war being declared, our commerce could be carried on almost entirely by fast steamers. As for fighting on land, the danger was a remote one, though he agreed that the young men of the colony should be prepared for that. A little military training was an admirable thing for them as it taught them something of discipline and also how to carry themselves.well."

The Wairarapa Standard says the members of the New Zealand Press and Parliament are nobodies and noodles.

The Sydney Evening News states that in consequence, possibly, of the important news received from Europe during the past week, "active steps have been taken by the military authorities to have the forts sufficiently manned. The Permanent Artillery have conveyed to each of the principal forts a large quantity of materiel, and the magazines may now be said to be provided with shell and powder sufficient to maintain a formidable and protracted defence. Afrangements have been made with the two batteries of artillery so as to allow of the immediate manning of both the outer and inner lines of defence."

On the West Coast there is a f smale blacksmith ; inNapier a female auctioneer ; Dunedin possesses a female chimney sweep ; Wellington was not very long ago blessed with a female " nightman ;" but it has been reserved for Auckland to have a female bootmaker. An advertisement appears in the Auckland Star notifying that «' Mrs. M'Grath is now carrying on her husband's business as bootand shoemaker ; orders punctually attended to." Mrs. M'Grath's husband was recently sent to gaol for 12 months for brutally ill-using lier, and as she had a knowledge of the shoemaking trade, and could get no othe r means of support, she determined to carry on her husband's business. We want a few more women of this stamp in the colony. Recently a quaker's wedding took place within a hundred miles of Malvern, and on the conclusion of the ceremony the following telegram was sent by the mother of the bride to the father of the bridegroom:— The knot is tied, The deed is done ; Thou hast a daughter, And I a son.

A furrier, lamenting in an advertisement the tricks played on the public by unprincipled men in his own trade, " ear n estly requests ladies to bring him their own skins and have them made into muffs."

Ten years ago a young man was sent to the penitentiary from Marshell county, lowa. He was engaged to a worthy young woman, and when he went to prison, she made the journey with him. He was intoxicated when the crime was committed, and otherwise would not have committed it. The woman has kept her faith through all these years. She has regularly visited him, and for the past few years has made constant efforts to procure his release: but the Executive has turned a deaf ear to her entreaties, until a short time ago, she appealed to Guy. Kirkwood with such devoted zeal that he granted her request, and, with the pardon in her possession, she hastened to the penitentiary and presented her papers. The prison doors swung open, and, leaning on the arm. of him she had lost and won, she made her exit, a happy smile of victory wreathing her face, Chaplain Williams courteously tendered his services to complete the fruition of their hopes.; but the patient maiden replied that after ten years' waiting a few hours' delay could be endured, so that her friends might share with her the joys of love's labor won. —' Chicago Tribune.'

Preaching on a recent Sunday evening at the Scotch Church, Piccadilly, London, on " Our National Safety, or England the Tarshish of Prophecy," Dr. Cumming said that from whatever quarter they looked in Europe there were the elements to be seen of an earthquake that would shake nations to their very depths. Whilst other countries would be smitten England would be spared. She was the chosen nation of God, and had grand and prosperous future before her. In any forthcoming conflict this nation might be chastened, but it would be for her purification. She would keenly feel the rude blast of the tempests, but so long as she remained a God-fearing nation she had nothing to fear. England was the Tarshish of prophecy mentioned in Ezekiel, said by the prophet to be a land of promise charged with a great mission, viz., the restoration of the Jews. It was destined to be prosperous and powerful unto the end of time. Its future would be unprecedented in the history of nations.

It is related that a man fell asleep as the clock tolled the first stroke of twelve. He awakened ere the echo of the twelfth stroke had died away, having in the interval dreamed that he committed a crime detected after five years, tried and condemned ; the shock of finding the halter about his neck aroused him to consciousness, when he discovered that all these events had happened in an infinitesimal fragment of time. Mohammed, wishing to illustrate the wonders of sleep, told how a certain man, being a sheik, found himself for his pride made a poor fisherman that he lived as one for sixty years, bringing up a family, and working hard ; and how, upon waking up from his long dream, so short a time had he been asleep, that the narrow-necked gourd bottle rilled with water, which he knew he overturned as he fell asleep, had not time in which to empty itself. How fast the soul travels when the body is asleep! Often when we awake we shrink from going back into the dull routine of a sordid existence, regretting the pleasanter life of dreamland. How is it that sometimes, when we go to a strange place, we fancy that we have seen it before ? Is it possible that when one has been asleep the soul has floated away, seen the place, and is that memory of it which so surprises us ? In a word, how far dual is the life of man ? how far not ?

Margaret Gillespie, stewardess of the Hero, has. been fined £17 in Auckland for smuggling. A landing waiter observed a peculiar looking pillow-case amongst some dirty clothes being taken ashore to wash, and on search he found it to contain a cardboard box, in which was a piece of velvet, not duty paid. He seized it, and the stewardess who had sent it ashore was sued for three times the value. This she said she could not pay, and she was about to be sent to gaol for six months, when some gentlemen in Court offered to pay the £17 for her.

The Nelson people are arranging to have their fire-bell rung by water power.

The Evening Post says it is now tolerably certain that Parliament will meet on July 20.

At Invercargill Charles Wells has been committed for trial for attempting to stab his wife.

The following note, picked up in the street at Hokitika recently, is a manly exposition of what narrowly escaped being a grievous wrong : —" Dear Jane, I hope you ain't mad because I didn't laff at you when you lafft at me last evening at the post offis. I ain't prowd, but I have got a bile under my arm, and I can't laff as I used to, as Heaven is my judge.—Yours, truly Henry."

Punch is informed that Mr. Bright felt so strongly on the Eastern Question that he declined to preside at his own dinner table on Christmas Day, as he would not help Turkey under any circumstances.

A movement is on foot among the pressmen of Wellington to hold a dinner in celebration of the 400 th anniversary of Caxton. A baby show has been held at Lower Rangitikei. There were 39 exhibits. The promoter, who. was also a judge, is himself the father of upwards of a score of children.

Snyder, in the Poverty Bay sa y ß : _lt is not very often I venture a prophecy. I will do so this once. A gold fever is raging on the Thames. Moana-. tairi shares, which six weeks ago could not find buyers at a few shillings, are now quoted at £21. My prophecy is, that within the next twelve months -more people will have been ruined by trading in these shares than will have made anything out of them. Information to this effect will be gratefully received and promptly acknowledged. Two men died raving mad, one committed suicide, Haley tried to perpetrate murder, more than one hundred men went " broke," and no endjof misery was caused by the celebrated Caledonian claim. Walter Williamsen, the greatest prospector on the Thames goldfield, died miserable, and was buried by subscription. Bryan, who discovered the rich auriferous cement at Charleston, on the West Coast, is now a cripple, begging for a meal. The Frenchman who opened up Fox's, gambled £500 away in one night, and was found drowned the next day. Jack Doble, who struck a new and immensely rich patch of gold at the Dunstan, died of consumption in a hospital, not leaving a shilling to his wife and six children. Is it true then that gold is the root of all evil ? The two or three half-dozen men who became rich through mine speculations what have become of them ? And to what good account did they turn their money, and how many sleepless nights and feverish days did the unwholesome excitement cause them ?

The Home News says of Sir Julius Vogel:—" Sir Julius has grave defects of manner, but those defects are only superficial. He is a vigorous man, who has the interest of New Zealand at heart."