ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

Waikato Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1578, 15 August 1882, Page 3

ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

Las;t Friday morning Winiata suffered tKfe jWs't' penalty 6f his crime within' 'the flregjtyQtß of $punt Eden, Gaol, ( in. the pr«Sfelic« ofatfowt a 1 spore" of spectators; including the Rev. J. Wallis (who has been assiduous in his 'administrations to the spiritual- wants of the prisoner • since his condemnation, as has the Yen. Archdeacon Maunsell), and a number of representatives of the press, as well as the ineriff and other officials. Tke executioner is believed to be a man who inadvertently signed some cheques with oihty people's names. 1 believe he is to receive £12 for his services, and to be transferred to one of the other gaols in the colony. It is reported that he offered to perform the objectionable task for £2 and the commutation of the remainder of his' sentence (about three years), or £12 and' a transfer to another gaol, so that, according to this man's reckoning £10 is the equivalent of three years penal servitude. lam not particularly wealthy, but I would not put in three years penal servitude if I were offered as many tenpound notes «is I could count in a week Since the execution a great controversy has been going on as to whether the .three - years • penal • servitude • for - a • ten-pound-note young man did his work properly. The two daily newspapers take opposite sides in the controversy, the Herald asserting that he made a horrid bungle, and the Star that he did the work most satisfactorily. I was not one of the spectators of the execution, I am glad to say, but, from what I can learn, from independent witnesses, I believe that the execution was not properly performed. One member of the press, connected with neither Stai nor Herald, told me that VViniata's was the twentyseventh execution at which he had beun present, but that never before had he seen capital punishment inflicted in such a barbarous manner. On Friday we had the execution of Winiata, and on Saturday we had another sensation in the shape of an attempt to commit suicide, made by Mr Richard Moore, an elderly gentleman lately living at the North Shore. Some years ago he was in business as a wine and spirit merchant in Queen-street, but about ten years ago he disposed of his j business and returned to England. He came back to Auckland about the end of last year, and a few weeks ago he began business again in his old line, taking his son into partnership. On Friday last he handed over h's business to his son and a Mr Townshend, and on Saturday he attempted to blow his brains out. Failing in the attempt, he re- loaded his pistol and shot himself in the stomach. Whether he will attain his object of self-destruction, or whether he will manage to live with one bullet in his head and another in his stomach, remains to be seen. Of course the man must have been mad, as no sane man would attempt to take his own life. I have no sympathy with the verdict of fclo dtisc, which indicates that a man has deliberately and wilfully committed selfmurder, while of sound mind. I believ,e that self-preservation is the first law of nature, and that, before a man can act in violation of that, law, he must be insane. If further proof of insanity were required in this case, it is to be had in the fact that Mr Moore states his belief that there is no God, and a man must be very mad indeed who can believe that. Last Friday a rather unusual case was heard in the Police Court. A man charged his wife with assaulting him and asked the protection of the court. I do not think much of a man who allows his wife, or any other woman, to assault him. I know that my wife would be as little likely to thrash me as I would be to thrash her, but if she tried it she would come off second best. (Sainted mother ! I hope my wife will not see what I have written, or I will get a "curtain lecture," in comparison with which those to which Mrs Caudle treated hersuffering Job would sink into the most insignificant insignificance. ) Well ! to return to the man who appeared at the Police Court last Friday. He went into the witness-box and swore that his wife had assaulted him, and ''put the fear of death in him." Judge McDonald, who was on the bench, asked the woman what she had to say for herself. She cast a contemptuous glance at her husband and said, "If your Worship will only let me go, I will tear the beggar's liver out." The judge did not let her go, but ordered her to find sureties that she would keep the peace for six months. As no one would be so rash as to become surety for her good behaviour, after she had made use of such a threat, she will probably spend the next six months in a semi-rural retrtiat at Mount Eden, and I have no doubt that when she returns to the " populous haunts of men" she will find that her lord and master (?) has " cleared out for Guam." Our New Zealand Parliament used to be looked on as a model Parliament, where public matters were fully and freely discussed in a gentlemanly manner, and where the utmost decorum prevailed. Since payment of members was introduced, since millions of money were borrowed to be scrambled for on the floor of the House, since a system of free immigration brought out a class of colonists very much inferior to the old pioneers of civilisation, since the electors allowed themselves to be induced by Sir George Grey and others of his stamp to return as their representatives men who prated about "down-trodden serfs," instead of men of worth and integrity, our Pai'liament has deteriorated sadly. How members fritter away the time of the country in useless struggles between the " ins" and the " outs." How the language they use is often intemperate and disgraceful, descending even into that which is supposed to belong to Billingsgate. The questionable honor of bringing the lanJjuage used in Parliament down to its owest ebb belongs to Captain MacKenzie (of what he is or was captain I know not, but should imagine of a coal barge, if anything) one of the honorable members of the present House of Representatives. In his place in the House he narrated a conversation he had with the Engineer-in-Chief, and stated that he asked Mm the question, ''Do you think I am a b y fool ?" Ido not know whether he is a fool, whether sanguinary or otherwise, but I do know, that by using such language, he has proved himself a disgrace to the House of which he is a member, and that, if he were a candidate to represent a constituency of which I was an elector, and he were opposed by an escaped lunatic, I should feel very much inclined to record my vote in favor of the lunatic. So the Government are going ' to stake their existence on the carrying of their Loan Bills. They deserve, the thanks of every patriotic man in the colony for their determination to do $p. Of course, the real bone of is the proposal to borrow one million for the purpose of constructing the railway f r*m ' the Waikato to Taraliaki;- Had 1 they proposed to raise a loan of four millions and put one million for the Waikato* j Taranaki railway in the^chedule, : 'the' proposal would- have;' b^n!" carried'by aj targe' majority,' the 'Southern; members < well knowing that, liavingthepreponder- , W®& of the money towards their.ivwji portion^of ; the , colony. <- Little ,-theyi reek 4that*thecontraction of this railwSyf jyjraMyplile] for evjer^ the Natire , Questi6njabesides| OMoipg'tip •'larWiirea. oi VMuAs>m&;!

The matter is of paramount importance to us in the Provincial District of Auckland, and it is to be hoped that our raembers will for ! once sink all questions of party feeling and rally round the Ministry, which, well knowing that by so doing it would estrange a number of its jSouthern supporters, has brpught down *a bill to borrow the money with which to construct this railway, and in such a manner that it can be uaed for no other purpose. If our members fail in their duty on this occasion the probability is that the nineteenth century will come to an end long before the Auckland and Taranaki railway is completed. The Harbour Board has decided to accede to the request of the Sugar Refining Company to lease that portion of the foreshore which they require on reasonable terms, so that there is now no doubt but that we shall soon have this important industry fairly started. It is to be hoped that the farmers of Waikato will do their share in promoting their own prosperity, and that of their district by growing beets and sorghum, so that money for the raw article need not be sent out of the colony. St. Mungo.

The official returns of persons .apprehended by the police in England and Wales during the official year as confirmed drunkards give the unmber at 37,940. Of these 27,878 were males, at 10.062 feamales. The total earings of the people of Great Britain in creased from £961,000,000 in 1870 to £1,156,009,000, in 1880, an increase of nearly £200,000,000, which equals nearly £6 per head of the entire population. ________