ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

Waikato Times, Volume XIV, Issue 1214, 10 April 1880, Page 3

ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

Until this week there has been nothing in the Auckland papers of general interest, ■with the exception of the telegrams and clipping from the H.C. Among the latter I noticed the paragraph announcing that Mr A. Bruce Sutter had purchased 2000 acres of the Eureka Station. I most heartily congratulate the "Wai- | kato Settlers on this addition to their ranks, j as Mr Sutter has both the capital tnd the j practical knowledge necessary to make j his purchase a benefit to himself and the district. I trust he will be followed by others of the same class as himself. Last Sunday afternoon I went to town by the train leaving Onehunga at 530r m. The guard was a " green hand " and, when the train reached Penrose, he began running along the station, calling out, "Pumpkin Flat* " amidst the laughter of the passengers. "Pumpkin Flat" is what tb.e residents oall Te Papapa, a flag station between Onehunga and Penrose. Itmustbeacaseof " Incut c non luccndo" as I could see no pumpkins there. Mr Hurst is still an object of interest, and seems not a bit daunted by the hostile meetfcg of electors and non-electors of City "West. A gentleman told me of a good instance of Mr Hurst's highly stisfactory opinion of himself. At the time of the general election, three or four years ago, the Goromaudel Mail, which wa^s edited by "Snyder" (Mr James Browne*, contained a leading article beginning thing like this : "The Thames Advertiser believes that Mr W. J. Hurst would not be unwilling to become a candidate for the representation of the Thames in the new Parliament. We have no doubt that Mr Hurst would not be unwilling to become a , candidate, but that, on the contrary, he would be both willing and anxious. But we should first consider Ids qualifications for the position. We have seen him in the City Council, where lie found the lamp-post question too much for him; and we have seen him in the Provincial Council, where he attempted to grapple with the education question, a subject with which he is singularly un- ! fitted to deal, &c , &c." My friend thought this was too good for Hurst to miss, so he showed him the newspaper. Hurst read it without a blush, and then said in his usual self -satisfied style, "Ah ! the fact is that Browne and I are not very good friends !" The Criminal Sessions of the Supreme Conrt began on Monday last, the calender being unusually heavy. Sydney Beetham acted wisely in pleading guilty, and received what is generally considered a very lenient sentence. -*- A hundred and eighty jurymen to try one man!. This is the position in which Mr J. C. Young finds himself, in consequence Of his application for special juries in the cases against him. There are five cases, and thirty-six jurors have been summoned to try each case. No donbt Mr Young is quite right to apply for special juries, but the hundred and eighty do not like it. Fortunately I am out of that racket, being to humble an individual to be on the special jury list. "Who in the world would cash a cheque signed like that—' Henery '? was the question asked by Judge Richmond in a forgery case. He needed not to ask the question, for if he had looked over the depositions he would have found that the principal witness for the prosecution had done so. In my opinion there ought to be some punishment inflicted on those who, practically offer a premium to forgers, by cashing cheques of people whom they do not know. I have always been under the impression that the " >t» Zi aland Punch 11 was a Greyite production, but one of the pictures in the last issue seems to contradict my impression, as it is a gross caricature of Sir George Grey. If the "Punch" is really a Greyite paper, Sir George is one more to echo the cry, '* Save me from my friends!" I would send Punch a good cartoon if it were not such a miserable production, but as it is I will give the readers of the Waikato Times the benefit of it—without the cartoon, however, as the Times is not illustrated. Scene— A country house. DramulU persona — Mary, atat 19, the eldest daughter, and Johnny, (dat 3, the youngest son of the proprietor; and a young gentleman from the city. The latter has been tossing Johnny xip to the ceiling anil catching him, but is tired of the amusement, so sets him down on his feet saying, "That will do for you, Johnny." Johnny looks up in his face, and innocently says, " Mary next." A gentleman who is well-known m Auckland, and whom I will call Mr A., went to one of the country districts to spend a fortnight's holiday. In the township to which he went lie met a gentleman whom he knew sbglitly, and whom I will call Mr B. Mr B. has a nice place about six or seven miles out of the township, so he invited Mr A. to go out with him and see it, and the invitation was accepted. B. got a buggy and drove A. out to bis place, and as a new servant had just arrived for him from Auckland he took her and her luggage out in the buggy. B. showed A. over his farm, which is a very good one, and then they drove back to .the township. When he took the luggage back to the livery stable from which be had hired it, he told the ostler to charge it to Mr A. Will that do for ! ineanness, or have you anyone m Wailif tp, who will beat it ? ' l^Waitemata County Council are in high" dndgeon at finding that 320 and odd pounds had been deducted for maintenance of the hospital and the destitute. Mr John Lamb said he did not know of a single pauper in the county. It strikes me°very forcibly that if Mr John Lamb persists in attempting to build his retaining wall as he has begun it there will be at feast one pauper in the county. A clerk in one of the insurance offices was going to Parnell in the 'bus the other evening. He was carrying some glass di-jlua or buVer-ooolera or something oi Mut »wi Wither in cw«w«iuettve v t

his carelessness or the jolting of the 'bus I know not, but they sot broken, so he threw them ont of the bus window. A gentleman who was in the 'bus told him that he had done a very foolish thing, and was told to mind his own business. He said that it was his business, and that if the 'bus would stop he would take the clerk by the ear ana make him pick up the glass. It did not stop, so he could not carry out his threat, but the next morning'the clerk received a summons to appear at the Police Court, to be charged with -wilfully throwing dangerous matter on a public road. Great regret has been expressed in Auckland at the news of the outbreak of pleuro-pnemonia in the Waikato, as, unless its ravages are promptly checked, meat will be at famine prices here during the winter months. The only certain cure seems to be inoculation, which it is to be hoped will be vigorously carried on. Look to it, farmers of Waikato ! for, unless it is checked, .pleuro-pneumonia will ruin you all. The other evening I was talking to a farmer who was here during the outbreak some years ago. He had a Government contract ; he killed his bullocks before the disease shewed itself, and so saved himself from ruin. There are no Government contracts now, so pay heed to the warning of By the way, why is the Herald so quiot about pleuro ? All it says about it is reprinted out of the Waiiuto Times. Waikato settlers are lucky in having their own local paper, for their requirements would otherwise be unknown. * St. Munoo.