ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

Waikato Times, Volume XVII, Issue 1477, 20 December 1881, Page 3

ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

The elections are over, and the voters in the Auckland provincial district hare proved tto, truth of Mr J". ! M. Claries' assertion that Greyism is dying, if not already dead. ' Sir George Grey was oertainly elsoted for Auoldand City East, but only by a. majority of thirty-four. Three years ago no one could have hoped to Come so near beating him, and, had the Witseholders* qualification not been taken away, the, result of the election would, in all probability j have, been the defeat of ' Ihe " champion of the downtrodden serfs." Tea ! Sir George Grey has been, elected, but what has become of the united phalanx of supporters elected to support him, whether right or wrong. At' the last general election " lirey" was a sort of Shibboleth. Those who used the word were elected, except in the electorates of Waikato and Waipa, while those who would not, or t could not, pronounce the word were rejected. Now this is, to a large extent, altered. Rees, Speight, Lawry, Alderton, Kelly, Lundon, Wallis, Allison, Fleming and Luke, all Greyites, have been rejected, while Harris has been returned by a bare majority of two. Travellers, in Africa describe the manner in which monkeys cross a river. One of them catches hold of , a limb of a tree growing near the river bank. Another catches hold of his tail, a third catches hold of the tail of the second. The process is repeated until there are sufficient to stretch across the river. Then the living bridge is set in motion and continues oscillating until the monkey at the bottom of the the string is able to catch hold of a tree oh the opposite side of the river. Along the bridge made of the bodies of their comrades the rest of the colony>of monkeys pass easily over to the other side. Sir George Grey is like one of the;*onkeys which has had most of its fa^l cut off. He can no longer form part of the living bridge, but becomes a mere unit in a party of which ho was formerly a leader. For this, as well as for all other mercies, let us be thankful. On the whole the result of the elections has been very satisfactory. A considerable alteration has been made in the periomwl of Parliament, and, though some good men have been relegated to obscurity, most of the changes have been for the better. According to the way in which the Auckland daily newspapers have " pricked the card, 1 ' the Government seem to be in a minority, but I venture to say that, when the new Parliament meets, it will fee found that the present ministry has a good working majority. If my opinion proves correct and a good sound opposition is formed, who will keep the ministry in check without obstructing business, the rolonists of New Zealand will have every reason to be thankful for the result of the elections which took place on Friday 9th December 1881. Fred Plummer is engrossing a large share of public attention just now. Judging by the evidence given in the case in which he is charged with sending a threatening letter to Dr. Philson, it seems extremely probable that Plummer will spend a considerable portion, if not the whole, of the remainder of his life in one of Her Majesty's gaols. His conduct in the dock gives evidence of a considerable amount of ability, and an unlimited amount of effrontery. He gave a sample of the latter when a book of his put in in evidence, and he remarked that it would probably be interesting to the Court to know that the book was formerly the property of Cyrus Haley. The book bears evkleuce of the education of both men, and no one can help regretting that they did not turn their talents to better account. One of the great attractions in Auckland during the Christmas and New Year holidays will be the Montagu-Turner Opera Troupe, who, after successful seasons in Sydney and Melbourne and the Southern towns of New Zealand, are to open this week in the Theatie "Royal. Turner himself is believed to be the best tenor who has ever visited the colonies, one gentlemen who is well qualified to pass an opinion, being himself a musician of no mean ability, told me that he heaid him night after night in Melbourne, and that lie. is the best tenor he has ever heard, with the exception of Squires. Ido not like, however, to recommend any of the Waikato folks to come to town to hear the Montagu-Turner Opera Company, as there is a Russian man-o-war in harbor, aud, in the event of any unforseen complication's aiising between Great Britain and llu&sia, Auckland may be bombarded, and I cannot guarantee the Waikato visitors immunity from the effects of Russian shells and cannon balls. However, the Russians at present show a disposition to make themselves agreeable. The Admiral, a handsome man of about sixty, has been the guest of our mayor, and has been giving the citizens of Auckland a musical treat by allowing the band of his ship, the Africa, to play on the lawn in front of Government House. A very curious state of affairs was discovered when the scrutiny, demanded by Mr William Frank Buckland, of the votes given at the North Franklin election, was made. It was found that eight hundred and eighteen votes had been polled, but that only eight hundred and thirteen had been nicked off the rolls by the Returning Officer and his deputies. The question arises : why were the remaining five votes not nicked off ? Someone is worthy' of blame for negligence. Who was it, and what effect will it have on, the election ? In the interest of the puhSJjLthe matter demands a most searcftmgr enquiry, the only objection being ' that 'the law has made no provisiufrfor; such an enquiry, except at the risk or 6ne of the defeated candidates, and I doubt whether Mr Buckland, who is most directly interested, would feel justified in risking a loss of two or three hundred pounds in testing the matter pro hono publico. An extraordinary telegram was received from Wellington, to the effect that an information had 'been laid against the Hon. C. J. Pharazyn for plural voting at the Thomdon election. Of course, no one here can tell what grounds there are for the charge, and it would be manifestly unfair jbo say much about the matter at present, but, if the charge is proved, Mr Pliarazyn had better send in his resignation to the Speaker of the Legislative Council, aa a law-breaker is decidedly unfit to be a law-maker. i We are suffering in Auckland just now from the firebell nuisance. As soon as one firebell gives out its note of warning, all the others, take up the and, in the course of a few minutes, almost everyone in the city is in a state of alarm. Very often it is discovered that the cause of the ringing of the hells is a foul chimney which has caught fire, or some rubbish which' one' of the citizens has been so rash as ,to burn in his back yard. The firebells . ought to be abolished as a relic of the barbarous ages. / The; City Council are erecting telegraph posts,, preparatory to inaugurating a system of telegraphic fire annunciators, which will all be connected with the Fire Brigade station. As soon as a fire occurs the alarm will be given, at the n,earegt annunciator. It' will be immediately known at the,. Fire Brigade station that there is a fire, and the block in which the, fire is will be recorded at,thejstation, so that there will be no delay through the brigade going ~to the wrong, place, and, as the fitebelle can th'en be abolished, the citizens will not be needlessly which will be" a great improvement on the present system. ' St. T&vxqq,