SATURDAY, JUNE 18, 1881.

Waikato Times, Volume XVI, Issue 1398, 18 June 1881, Page 2

SATURDAY, JUNE 18, 1881.

The report of the Inspector of Prisons — like the gorilla — is a fearful and a wonderful thing. No one has seen anything like it in New Zealand before. The writer belongs to a variety of the human species, of which only the Old Country, among our race, can provide an illustration. The genus is happily nearly defunct. In the days of our youth our mother used to tell us of naval martinets who flogged men as a pastime for themselves or their wives, and she used to ' relate to our infantile, wondering ears the whole disgraceful and painful history of the mutiny at the Nore. Some such a man the Inspector of Prisons seems to be as the now happily departed Naval Captain. He appears to have been recommended by Admiral Hope, Lord Kinnaiud, or some such person to the New Zealand Government — the gentlemen uho stood character godfathers for Wjiitelaw, of Wellington Asylum iniquity. Had A. Hume, " Captain, Inspector of Prisons," been only appointed Inspector of Asylums, and obtained the beatitude of having a man like Wiiitelaw for his aide-dc camp, the places of refuge or punishment placed under their joint control would have become veritable pandemoniums. The " Captain, Inspector" has one leading idea in his mmd — a kind of panacea for all evils — Punishment, Punishment, and again Punishment. He evidently has never heard of hereditary transmission, or the habit of kleptomania. He embraces the idea that the sins of the fathers shall be visited on the backs of the children of the third and the fourth generation, and would alternate the mild torture of the birch, with the indelible brand of "the cat." Strong in the sense of his Godless rectitude he has no sympathy for the weak who fall. Un tempted by want he has jio compassion for the hungry who steal, and cast in the Spartan mould of good resolution, lie can condone no offence in a ?>on, or daughter of Eve. It is a happy thing, however, that .such an importation has arrived in Now Zealand, as we now can stand and wonder at our own ' ignorance and weakness, when we contrast them with his knowledge j and strength. An old writer in an old book whose teachings ai'e now all but neglected said to a stern and a cruel people " a merciful man is merciful to his beast." A MAN of the same race said to a transgressor " neither do I condemn thee ! Go and sin no more." HE could see the divine linainonts beneath the blurred outlines of the sin-seamed countenance. A. Hume, f> Captain, Inspector of Prisons," thinks the best way to reform the degraded is to still more degrade them. Then the loss of liberty .should preclude any alleviation of the wearisomeness of prison life to the prisoner. That he should be weighed regularly to see the lowest ration on which he could exist. That he may be taught a trade, but not how to read or to write. The humanity of A. Hume, " Captain, Inspector of Prisons" stands out in bold relief when the statement is made that only those who conduct themselves well should be taught some handicraft. The men in our gaols have too much to eat. And we aro culpable in the highest degree in allowing them to smoke. Our gaolers and warders are old and infirm, and he would fain replace them with men of his own callibre and stamp. He would have the men punished fh'st and their offences investigated afterwards. He presumes that it is necessary to have a new Prisons Act placed on the Statue Book before his recommendations can be carried into operation. Most men will think so. Meanwhile, before the new Prisons Act conies into operation, perhaps some member of the House will ask to have all the pnpers laid on the table connected with his appointment, so that the public can see who recommended him to the office he holds ; and perhaps some bolder and wiser head may devise some means of seeing how soon A. Hume, " Captain, Inspector of Prisons," can be induced to migrate to some other portion of the globe, where his peculiar talents and opinions can find full scope and development. When he entered into a crusade against the newspapers of New Zealand by his ill-bred and impertinent circular on taking office, his unfitness for the post he holds was made plain to all men ; but the most rancorous of us never thought for a moment that A. Hume, " Captain, Inspector of Prisons," was sucli an one as his report has shown him to be.

The cause ceiel»?, t 'E&g&r v. Montrosa (wages claim) was finally heatd yiestevday by Air Northcroft, R.M., at Cambridge i judgment 'beiag, practically dnurtkiiiki foi' defendant.' '" , ' ' „

Mr J. B. Whyto, M.H.R., (Waikato), hiw written to the Ch.iirman of the Town Board, Tauranga, in roply to a communication from that bodj', asking 1 him to interest himsolf in getting Tnuranga again declared a, port of entry, intimating that he '• will gladly do what he can to havethe Port re-opened."

We are glad to see that at the regular meeting of the Waipa Couuty Council held on Tuesday a resolution was passed pledging the Council to forward the freeing the Hamilton Bridge from tolls. This coiirpe was opposed by Cra. Steele and Ilutificld.

There is at present one known case of scarlatina in Hamilton East and in the event of tho disease spreading the School Committee will take measures to have the school closed.

We learn by telegraph that Mr T. S. Western lias been returned to the House of Representatives for Grey Valley, the scat formerly occupied by Mr Masters By the return of Messrs Levestam and Weston, for Nelson and Grey Valley respectively, the Government lose two supporters. Mr Weston was sometime District Judge at Napier, and afterwards in the Grey district.

The building trade still continues busk 111 and around Cambridge if one may judge from the quantity of timber coming forward from the local mills. Messrs Coulthard have two teams regularly on the road from their Ohaupo mills, and Messrs Berry, Gardner and Neill a like number from Ohaupo ; this, with what is brought up by the W.S.N. Company, must mean a conspmption of something over 20,000 ft. per week.

A correspondent from Cambridge writes:— "The woman named Dillon, whose family resides at Cambridge West, and who had been niissingf rom her home for a few days lately, h.is turned up all light. She left home having had a few words with her husband, but the atmosphere being somewhat disagreeable and cold, and consequently appetising, the good lady was induced to retreat homeward, thoroughly convinced that there was "no place like home."

Mr. Bates, Saddler, of Cambridge, whose present business is so extensive as to warrant additional uccomodation has determined to extend the frontage of his business premises in Duke-street. A new building will be erected in the front and used as a show room and the one already .standing will be moved back and utilised as a workshop. The new building according to the plans which are in the hands of Mr. Madigan promises to be conspicuous amongst it neighbours presenting a business like appearance and will no doubt receive the full benefit of the excellent workmanship of the contractor.

Not having been successful in arranging: for <i Waikato Cavalry team to visit the Thames, Lieut. Johnson, determined that the contest should come off, got together six members of the Hamilton Troop, and reached Grahamstown on Thursday. The team consisted of Lieut. Johnson, Corpl. McNicol, Troopers Alexander, Hinton, Cochrane, and Buck. In our telegraphic columns will be found an account of ths match which waa fired yesterday.

The usual weekly meeting of the Hamilton Debating Club was held last night, when there were a number of members present, the President (Mr Laishloy) being in the chair. A short debate took place on the Chinese question, but owing to the shortness of notice metnbeis were unprepared. On Friday next the fiist order of the day will be the Key. Mr Griffin's motion, " That it is not advisable to throw open the learned piofessions to women. " Order No. 2 will be moved by the Chiurman (Mr Hill) as follows: — " That the admission of Chinese into the colony is undesirable." It is anticipated that there will be a large attendance at next meeting.

It is not at all unlikely that before long the Colonial B.mk will establish itself permanently in Cambridge. Mr Warren, the inspector of that bank, and Mr Burton the Auckland manager, paid a visit to Cambridge during the fore part of the week on a reconnoitring expedition, and are, it appears, favorably impressed with the place. They have determined to open business for the present in the offices now occupied by Mr Dyer, solicitor, and if their expectations are confirmed, they will proceed with the erection of a permanent building on their site adjoining the premise? of M. Doran & Co. The petition which was carried round for signature, praying for the existence of another banking institution was only signed by six persons.

Our Cambridge reporter writes : — " The membeia of the Cambridge Town Board have altered the date of the meeting of ratepayers for the consideration of matters of vital importance to the district, viz The Water Supply, The Town Districts BilJ, The Cambridge Railway, &c, which waa to come off on Thursday evening last. The meeting ia now announced to come off on Wednesday, the 22nd inst., in tha public Hall, when it ia expected an unusually large number will be present, and a petition got up to influence Parliament m the passing of the Districts' Bill which will invest the Board with the powers enjoyed by Municipal Corpor-

ations. The first weekly meeting of the Cambridge Chess Club took place on Wednesday night last, in the Public Reading Room, Cambridge. There was a good attendance of playera, over a dozen being present. The players paired off as they entered the room, and seated themselves round tables. Although the chess may not be considered as of a very high standard, nevertheless some of the games were exceedingly interesting and instructive, and there is every probability of several good players coming to the front. On Wednesday, however, the members present were being unevenly matched, for of the six boards at work only No. 2 board divided the games, W. Keesing winning 3 and his opponent 1. Messrs Morton, Brennan, and Hoskings each won 3 games to their opponents nil, and Mr Wells won a game to his apponenl's nil. Mr Worthington played three games, winning two, the last being drawn in favor of his apponent. Mr Hosking also played three games, but succeeded in defeating his apponent each time, having given him "Queen's Knight " in each game.

An accident happened on the Hamilton Branch line on Thursday, which considerably impeded the goods traffic on that day. The engine attached to the goods train, which runs tri- weekly between Auckland and Hamilton, was on this day the "Snake," one of Fairlie's patents, and the largest and heaviest on the Auckland Section, and at about a quarter to two she was employed shunting some trucks near the Station; Af£er passing the first points, from some cause which it seems is very hard to discover, the four hind wheels got off the metals, and, despite the efforts of the driver, and stoker, the guard, and a gang of the permanent way men, it was nearly 8 o'clock at night before ,the engine was replaced on ' the rails! Unfortunately, , owing to the softness of the formation, ( the jacks could not be got to workj and the whole had to be done, with the aid of levers. The train left for Auckland af about 5.,20. The 'fact 'that lieither'the engine nor tho peijmanent ,way^ we^rexlamag^d readers it - more £0 /issigii a caiise fo/Jhe acsde.u,t;, (Vu^ob;, jto«b^pi;opat',e,i»q i uMes wiU'Ve made by WDepScttu^ 1 p :

Professor and Madame Haselmnyer gave the second nnd last of their entertainments at Hamilton on Thursday night, to a full house. The programme with one or two exceptions, was entirely different from that of the proceeding night, but the illusions were equally good. The feature of the programme was of course " P*yoho " the automaton whi<.t pliiyer. Three -well-known Hamilton jrentlfmen sat down to play, Psycho and his partner winning the odd trick, notwithstanding that tli6y held very indifferent hands. According to the judgment of the three players Psycho played a aplepdid game, following suit a.hd , trumping with the skill or the oldest fiabititrs of the Dlubs. The automaton was afterwards > examined by the same gentlemen who could discover no means of communication between the figure and any confederate the space between the figiue, and the stage being occupied by a hollow glass pedestal, which was freely handed round for examination. The Professor opened at Cambridge last night and will perform at the same placo tonight, the chief attraction being "Psycho." Our Cambridge readers should not lose the opportunity of witnessing this excellent entertainment.

Elder Sorensen, the Mormon missionary, left New rlymouth. on Thursday last for Parihaka, with the view of converting the natives there t.o his faith.

The Government steamer Stella landed 37 released prisoners from Holritika at New Plymouth on Wednesday, and they are now on their way to Parikaka. Those landed from the Hinemoa, who have been staying at Opua for about a fortnight, have now all gone to Parihaka. Te Whiti will have the whole of his prisoners at Parihaka to-morrow, and an important meeting is expected. The Hon. Wt P.irata is there.

The Canterbury Agricultural Association huve decided to oft'or a valuable prize at the next Exhibition for the best Siimple of New Zealand twine for reapers and binders.

Although there are only 13 Roman Catholic sees in England and Wales, and six in Scotland, there nre no lesu than 2S bishops in Great Britain, those unaccounted for being mostly coadjutor and auxiliary bishops. The number of places in Great Britain which have churches or mission chapels, and are served by resident clergy, are about 1000 in all ; and the clergy, secular and regular, amount to nearly 2300 ; thus showing that the ministry of the Roman Catholic t*hurch has doubled itself in a little more than a quarter of a century.

The Gazette notices will be found on our fourth page. Tenders are invited for clearing 100 acres of tKtrce, by Messrs Bell Bros. W. J. Hunter and Co.'s next Cambridge Cattle Sale will bo held on Ihursday next, at 1 p.m. The Pukekura Highway Board invite tenders foi six months' maintenance ot the road on the East side of Mjstcry Creek Bridge. Messrs Halley Bros, make an important notice in our advertising columns relative to theii wholesale prices current. Mr Tyndall, surgeon dentist, will visit Cambridge for a few days next week, and may be consulted at Dr Waddington's. The Cambridge Musical Union will open with a soiree on Monday next, in the Town Board Rooms, .it 7 o'clock. Tenders will be received for additions and alterations to the Hamilton Flour Mills up to the 25th in^t., by Messrs Knot and Ridler. A special meeting of the Sons of Ulster, L, 0.L., No. 9, will be held in the Victoria Hall, on Monday next. Tenders will be received by Robert Fergusson, E>-q., Gorton Estate, up to Saturday, 25th inst., for ploughing and harrowing icoo acres. Mr G-. S. O'Halloran notifies that he has enlaigcd, refurnished, and fitted with e\ery comfort the Hot Springs Hotel, Ie Aroha. The Mangapiko Highway Board make important announcements in our Gaziitc columns. The Rev. Henry Bull, who returned to the Waikato on rhursda3 - , will deliver a lectute in the Wesleyan Church, Cambridge, on Monday evening next, on his last tour to Australia. A public meeting of the residents of Cambridge will be held in the Town Hall, Cambridge next Thursday evening, to consider the ad\ isability or otherwise, of petitioning Parliament re i'own Districts Hill, and railway communication to Cambridge. The new pure cash system now being initiated by G. and C. will certainly prove a benefit to the public. It has been a great success in Sydney and Melbourne, and when strictly carried out the customer who buys at ,tn establishment where the goods are maiked low to ensure a rapid sale must be a great gainer. G, and C. sell their drapery millinary, and clothing at such prices tor cash as gives the buyer the advantages of a shareholder of a co-operative society, without the risk of being called upon to bear a portion of the loss should the year's business prove unsatisfactory. Garlick and Cranwel! will aim to retain the confidence which the public have hitherto shown them, and are determined to gi\ c the pure cash system a fait trial ; whether they gain or lose the first year. Country buyers on remitting cash with order will be supplied with goods at co-operative prices ; just the same as though they made a personal selection. Furnishing goods, such as carpets, floor cloths, bedsteads, bedding, and gencrai house furniture, the largest portion of which is turned out it our own factory, will be marked at the lowest remunerative prices, and a discount of five per cent, will bo allowed to thosc < who pay at the time of purchase. G, &C. having realised the entire value of their stock during their late cash sale, the present stock is nbw a\d chk\ply hough r. An inspection is invited. — Garlici< and Cravwkll, City Hall Furnishing Arcade Queenstreet, Auckland ' p