The Southland Times. PUBLISHED DAILY SATURDAY, 16th DECEMBER, 1876.

Southland Times, Issue 2627, 16 December 1876, Page 2

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED DAILY SATURDAY, 16th DECEMBER, 1876.

CROWDED Out. — Pressure on our space compels ua to hold over a leading article, already in type. Aquatics. — The ceremony of christening the two new boats of the Invercargill Rowing Club will take place at 2 p.m to-day, after which there will be several pair-oared scratch matches. The Volunteer Band.— ln attending to the details of the Show on Thursday, we inadvertently omitted to mention the Volunteer Band, whose efforts served much to enliven the proceedings. Dissatisfied. — It is rumored thafc dissatisfaction exists amongst the employes iv the locomotive deparfcmentof the Southland railways, and that the men are deliberating as to what steps they should take for the purpose of having their grievances removed. Chamber of Commerce.— The annual meeting of the Invercargill Chamber of Commerce, which should have taken plaoe on Friday afternoon, lapsed on account of poor attendance on the part of the members. The meeting now stands adjourned till 3 o'clock on next Tuesday afternooD. The New Zealand and Australian line of Steamebs. — The steamer Tararua which has been laid up for the last two or three months will take the place ofthe wrecked steamer Otago, and run regularly in her place. She is well known on the coast, and was formerly on the Panama line. Her burden is about 1000 tons. Accident.— A serious accident befell Mr Wilmacott Richardson, brother of Mr G. F. Richardson, of Oaklands, Mataura district, on the Bth inst. While leading a horse across a creek, the animal, after Mr Richardson had crossed, leapt before he could get out of tbe way, and struck him with its hoofs on hia right [ leg, wbieh sustained a compound fracture. I Dr Macaffer was sent for, but after dresi sing the injured limb, he advised that Mr Richardson should be removed to the Southland Hospital, where he is now under the treatment of Dr Yorath. Reteooeade Evolution in Strawberries. — Mr Chris. Basstian.of Dunrobin, informs us of a curious fact in the science of change in the vegetable world. He has at present in his garden and bearing fruit, some strawberries which were planted out as runners from large fruited British strawberries about two years back. They have now both the leaf and the fruit of the Alpine strawberry, which on the Darwinian theory, was the parent stock of all the different species. What is remarkable also is that the soil and climate of these degenerate strawberries are apparently of exactly the same kind as those on which their immediate progenitors flourished. All that Qlitteesis not GoLD.—The truth of this old proverb was literally demonstrated in the Magistrate's Court on Thursday. Fourteen pairs of earrings, said to be gold, and all more or less enriched with brilliant and apparently precious stones, a pencil-case said to be gold also, and 36 shirt studs, were produced as stolen property, and spoken of as being at least worth £5. The Magistrate suggested in a sceptical tone that the jewellery might be brummagem, but at thia Inspector Fox shook his head disgentingly. M- r Qhapman Jacobs, of the

Athensaum Buildings, was then sent for, and after examining all the abovenamed articles, he said that they might be worth j about 30s, but not more. It would there- ! fore seem that young men who, to use a Bhake(ap"arian phrase, are in the habit of ,i loading iheir she's with knacks, are, according to professional valuation, also in the habit of\) : iying as much for one paltr}' gewgaw as a dozen such are in reality worth, for earrings suoh as those exhibited in the' Court on Thursday are. generally sold at £i or 30s a pair. ; 'Tun Late Show.— At the : late show '-Mr John Marshall won thp third prize; for the best mare or filly ih the thoroughbred horses, and not Mr W. Sounesa as at firßt printed. . Bawk Site. — The Bank of' New Zealand has purchased a building site in Manners street, Wellington— 4o feet frontage by 70 feet depth— for L2OOO, or LSO per foot. Very Politk.— "We are coming to something very polite in Wellington (says the Argus) when young girls raise their hats to passing gentlemen. Possibly the respectful feeling in the case under notice sprang from the reverential, the gentleman being a minister. Donation to the Athenaeum.— We are glad to notice that though some of those gentlemen who put their nanies down as life members of the Athenseum some time back, and are threatened with being sued, have not paid their subscription, one gentleman . who did not put hia name down has done his duty manfully and liberally to the institution. We refer to Mr Brydone, of Morton Mains, who has subscribed LlO 10s to the Athenseum, and become a life member. The William Ackers. — Our Bluff correspondent writes onthe loth instant: —The agents of the William Ackers here received a letter this morning from the scene of the wreck, confirming the report that the only persons saved up to 7 p.m. on the 13th were Captain Joss, passenger, Mr Cantley, mate, and Riley A.B. The letter also stated that the vessel was broken up on tbe beach and her cargo strewn about. None of the bodies had washed ashore. A most uncalled for slur upon Captain Underwood of the Arawata, and the Harbor authorities here, appears in a local in the Southland News ot last night, purporting to be founded up m a telegram from Dunedin, which appears in the same issue. On reading the telegram referred to, I must confess that I for one did uot see in it the slightest grounds for making use of such remarks, and I think tbat when the gentleman who gave expression to them reads the following explanation, he will agree with me, that instead of apathy being displayed by the authorities here, or cold heartedness by Captain Underwood, both deserve praise and commendation for the manner ih which they acted throughout. Tbe news of the wreck of the William Ackers reached here at 4.15 p.m. on Tuesday last, and as soon as the local agents received it, they at once communicated the same to Captain Thomson, with a view of taking steps to ascertain whether there was a possibility of saving any of the lives of those who at thao time were only reported as missing or supposed lost. Captain Thomson at once telegraphed the G-oyernment at Danedin, asking them to charter the s.s. Halcyon to run dowu to Waipapa, and explained in his telegram the particulars to hand, and that there was a possibility of the wreck being on the reef, with the remainder of the crew on board, with no means of communicating with the shore. To this telegram the Government havp not yet leplied. In the meantime the Halcyon was telegraphed to come from Riverton to the Bluff, where she arrived at 4 a.m. on Wednesday. The Arawata was ready to sail for Dunedin at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, but at -the request of Captain Thomson, Captain Underwood, at some delay, kindly took on board the pilot boat and crew and steamed close in shore down to Waipapa point. Here Capfcaioe Thomson and TJndei'WOOd scanned the reefs minutely, the Arawata going in shore as far aa possible for her own safety, and no trace of the wreck could be seen on the reef's or beach. The pilot boat was thon lowered and Captain Thomson, having satisfied himself that no assistance could be rendered from seaward, sailed for the Bluff. The mere fact ot Captain Thomson having risked himself and boat's crew in the open boat 25 miles at sea, with no boat harbor to run to along the coast in case of shelter being required, proves, I think, a very earnest desire to have rendered speedy assistance ; which anyone who knows the coast between the Bluff and Waipapa when a strong south easter is blowing will endorse. On arrival at Dunedin Cap'ain Underwood telegraphed Captain Thomson, informing him that the wrecked vessel was on the beach to the eastward of Waipapa, dismantled, and tbat he saw sevoral men, mounted and on foot, going to her along the beach, and not, as has been reported from Uunedin, a group on the wreck. There is very little doubt in the minds of those who know Captain CJndervrood, that if the vessel had been on the reef with anyone on board, he would have lowered his boats and rendered every assistance in his power; but as he stated in his telegram, and as it has since been proved to be the case, the wreck when the Arawata passed was high on the beach and not accessible from seaward, but easily approached from shore. Anyone giving the matter a moment's consideration would come to the conclusion that no sooner did the news reach the settlement at Fortrose, than a large number of the settlers would proceed to the scene fco to reader any assistance requisite, SO that any help from this quarter by shore would have been to late. The Theatre.— Last night at the Theatre Boyal Mr Emmet again appeared as Fritz in " Our Cousin German." Mr Emmet's versatility in acting and singing were as extraordinary as ever, and his variations on " The last Eose of Summer " and "Annie Laurie" upon the toy instrument used were so brilliantly executed as to call forth loud applause. There is no doubt as to Mr Emmet's great powers as an actor, and varied accomplishments, and we believe that the subordinate characters in Fritz were taken with most painstaking conscientiousness, Miss Ashton in particular acting TKTatrina in such a manner as to show correct conception of the part, and real histrionic skill, but Mr Emmet is so exceptionally good that he throws fair actresses and actors into the shade, and the piece itself becomes at parts, in consequence, slightly, but not decidedly

monotonous. However, both the' piece itself, and the acting of it, have been certainly unequalled by anything of the same kind yet placed onthe InvercargiU Btage: "Our Cousin German" will be repeated to night for the last time in Invercargill. Mobe. about the William Ackers.— From Inspector Fox, who despatched a constable to Waipapa to enquire rcgardingthe wreck of the William Ackers, we •learn that^thac unfortunate barque got becalmed on tbe morning of. the 11th instant, and while so situated she struck on p:ara Rocky sustaining much damage. She struck a Becond time, and sustained further damage. Owing to the great quantity of timber on the decks, it was found impossible to get out, the boats. The vessel soon became a total wreck, and .the three men who have been saved remained one whole night in the rigging, and in the morning, seeing no signs of assistance, they swam ashore, a distance of about one mile. Some of the lost crew were last seen floating on planks. The survivors are staying with some miners who reside within two miles of fche scene of the wreck, whioh is 13 miles from Fort--rose.