ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

Waikato Times, Volume XVII, Issue 1480, 29 December 1881, Page 3

ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

Last week an unfortunate man named Markham met with a sudden death at Ellerslie. He was harnessing a pony to ar cart when the winkers fell off, which caused the animal to plunge and start. Mr Markham was violently thrown down and received such injuries as resulted in almost instantaneous death. My reason for inferring to this accident is to urge on the horse-breeders' of Waikato the adoption of ■ the American system of using bridles without winkers. If these are used when horses are broken in it is quite unneccessary to use winkers afterwards, the animals can see better where they are going and there is no liability to accident through the winkers falling off. 1 believe there is nothing to be said in * /favor of the use of winkers except that our ancestors used them, and if we were to do everything which our forefathers used to do, wha would be the benefiti derived from our boasted civilisation ? Instead of wearing clothing as at present we might wear fig-leaf aprons as did Adam and Eve, or go about with our bodies stained with woad, as did the Ancient Britons. Last Saturday some of the Custom officials went out on the warpath, their object being to seize boxes of cigars and barrels of beer which did not bear the neccessary stamps, signifying that the duty had been paid on them. They made a" splendid hawl, and returned laden with spoil. Of course, no one wished to evade payment of the duty. In fact, ho one had done so, but the officials could find no traces of the stamps, and, consequently, they carried away ijhe cigars and the beer. The various hotelkeepers, and merchants, on whose premises the unstamped articles were found, will probably appear at the Police Court, to-morrow (Friday,) to answer to the charges of evading payment of duty. Of course, they are all innocent. The duty was paid, and the stamps were affixed, but were removed by some person or persons unknown, probably the notorious Fred Plummer. There are so many charges brought against him that a few more cannot make much difference. The above mentioned innocent was, on Saturday last, committed to take his trial at the next criminal sessions of the Supreme Court on two charges of sending threatening letters, and on three charges of house-breaking, so certain " good men and true," of Plummer's fellow-country-men will have the opportunity of deciding whether he shall be clothed and fed at the expense of the tax-payers of the colony for some years to come. I am very glad that I shall not be among those "good men and true," for I fear that I have formed a very decided opinion with regard to his guilt. The Dunedin Herald, in gloating over the victories of the Opposition in Otago says : — The Government should now be able to read on the wall — " Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin." This would be quite correct if the opinion of Mr Macandrew were correct— that Otago is New Zealand, but, fortunately for the welfare of tiie colony the opinion is the very reverse of correct. At the present time the most prosperous portion of New Zealand is the formerly despised provincial district of Auckland, where the minority of the Government has been turned into a majority, as I believe that if Mr Macandrew, relying on his Otagan followers, should move a want of confidence, Messrs Whyte, Whitaker, Hobbs, Mitchelson, Hurst, Peacock, Hamlin, Sheehan, Morris and, possibly, Dargaville, would be found supporting the Ministry. I know that Messrs Sheehan aud Hamlin are put down as members of the Opposition, but they showed leanings towards the Government during last session, and the fact that the remnants of the Central Committee supported the candidature of Messrs Speight and Lawry would certainly not have a tendency to counteract these leanings. I think that it will be shown that the writing on the wall is prophetic of the downfall of the Otagan party, and not of the Ministry. However, we shall see "in the sweet bye-and-bye." It is curious to notice the various ways ' in which crimes aie discovered. A few weeks ago a carter in the employment of Mr Arthur Nathan, one of our merchants, left his employer's horse an I cart standing in the street and went into an hotel to get a drink, not only did he get a drink, but he got several drinks, and finally got drunk. A man named Ormstein, a storemau in Mr Nathan's employ, took the horse and cart to his employer's stable, and, the next morning reported the carter for having got drunk. Mr Nathan at once dismissed him, while he, to revenge himself, told Mi" Nathan that Ormstein had been robbing him. Mr Nathan, who had great confidence in Ormstein's integrity, thought that the statement was made merely from motives of revenge, but, acting on information given by the discharged carter, he made further enquiries, and found that Onnstein had robbed him of brandy, whiskey, wine, cigars, tea, sugar, &c, to the value of upwards of £40. Onnstein, on being charged with his crime and finding that Mr Nathan could prove the charges he made, confessed his guilt and informed his employer of the names of the receivers of the &tolen property, the consequence being that he appaared at the Police Court yesteiday, charged with stealing the goods, and two men named Best and Martin appeared charged with receiving the stolen property. Orm&tein confessed his guilt, while Best and Martin were remanded till Fiiday (tomorrow) and Saturday respectively. There is no knowing how much longer the robberies would have continued had not the carter got drunk, *St. Muxgo.