FIFTY YEARS AGO.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXXII, Issue 15511, 11 January 1911, Page 10

FIFTY YEARS AGO.

(From the “ Lyttelton Times ” of Saturday, January 12, 1561.) Akaroa, stb January. Monsieur Laurent Labaste, commander of the French whaling ship Caulaincourt, visited Akaroa. on Friday last, seeking letters. His report of the past season in the north is very sombre; the quantity' of oil taken appears to have been still smaller than during the two years previous. Beautiful weather and no whales on one side of Behring’s Strait, .with lots of whales and villainous weather on the other ; bright warm days versus thick fogB; an unusually protracted summer and constantly recurring gales to the northward have still further curtailed prospers already gloomy. Our old friend reports that a blight, similar to mat which has proved so destructive in various parts of Europe, Madeira and the Azores, has made its appearance in the Sandwich Islands, and that it is pitiable to observe its devastating effects in the newly-formed and so lately thriving coffee plantations. Captain Labaste was on shore on East Cape, North Island, on Tuesday, where he remarked that the Maoris all. carried unloaded fowling pieces in their hands, but were very quiet and civil, not, as usual, craving to buy gunpowder and shot.