ECHOES FROM THE CAFE

Waikato Times, Volume XXI, Issue 1757, 9 October 1883, Page 3

ECHOES FROM THE CAFE

Tumi has been weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth over the fiuluie nf the Mataur.iV cargo of fio/cn meat to le.ieli London in saleable condition, find v.uioiis have luujn tlie coniectmes as to tlie cause of the faibuo. Sonic a^uit tb.it the me.it Mas too w <u in when it was f hi/ami, otheis tli.it the kidney*- weie not iemo\ed, othcis tli.it the ail in winch the meat was hu/en was tainted, uoiit.unin.itud and con upti'd l)y a c.ugo of blood nianuio on a \essel hmg to windwaid of tlie Mataura, while other-. expie->s the opinion that the meat was m excellent condition when the ship left heie, and that the failuie was due to the piotracted length of the \oyago— l2o days. Unfoitunately, we can do nothing but conjcctuienud try to manage bettei in the future. Whate\er the cilice, it is most unfoitunate that om initial attempt to supply the London niaiket with meat should ha\c lcsiilted m bignal faihue, and that the local shippeis, instead of making a handsome proht, should leain that their meat had been .-.old at a, half-penny pei pound to the soap-boilers The loss of the Mataura's cargo is anothei pi oof, if other pi oof weuneeded, of the advantage that will acciue to Auckland and surrounding districts fioin the Fieezmg Comjmny. When it is in operation theie will be no possibility of the freezing not being properly done, and as the meat will be sent Homo by fast Hteamers theie will be no chance of it being to'i long en route. A.s the old proverb .say*, " There's no use in crying ovoi spilt milk." "We must endeavour to profit by the seven; less in we h.ive learned, and hope for bettei huccess in the futnie, at the same time adopting all possible means to ensuie success. ■A v The ciiniinal sessions of the Supremo Couit began on Monday with a tolerably light ealendei. Theio were the usual number of chaigos of forging and uttering cheques, show ing the usual laxity in the disposal of bl ink cheques and c.uelesstie^s on the pait of business people in accepting cheques fioin people of whom they knew nb-iolutelv nothing. T bclie\e that if the telephone weie hi ought into moio geneial Use, by a leduetion in the eh.ugi's, it would tend to a diminution of these cases of obtaining goods and money by mean, of valueless cheques, as any one connected with the telephone could \eiy easily euquhe at tins bank whether the puiMin who was supposed to have signed the cheque had an account. In one case which came befoio the coiut, the cheque puipoitod to be signed by "Scott Bell," who turns out to be as much a myth as Sairey (lamp's friend, "Mrs An is" I noticed that a Hamilton tiadesman was deseivedly commended by the judge for adopting the precaution of noting the name of the person, to whom he sold a cheque, on the butt. This is a plan which eveiyone ought to adopt, as, if it does not tend to pi event foigery, it certainly must assist in the detection of the foigei. The man who gives blank cheques to stiaugers to take away and foige othei people's names on them is nioi ally, though not legally, an accessory to ciime. ■ ■* * During the last two or three days there have been a numbei of cablegiam.s in the newspapeis about the Paris lan ikins (I do not suppose that that is what they call them in Paris, but T cannot give the French name for them, and if I could I would have to translate it, ah it would not appeal in a French dictionary any moie than "larrikins " does in an ' English one) hooting His Most Catholic Majesty, Alphonso, King of Spain, becau.se, while he was on a visit to Berlin, he accepted from the Empeior of Germany the honorary colonelcy of an Uhlan regiment. Of course, the ring-leaders of the hooters, at any rate, would belong to the canaille (that is pretty nearly an equivilcut for larrikins,) but their behaviour, despite the proper condemnation of the Jjjlihch Press, may be taken as some proof /Jrtlui very bitter feeling towaids the Germans which prevails in France. There can be but little doubt that the French still feel very sore about their defeat and humiliation by the Germans, and the Fienchman who could restore Alsace and Lorraine to France might h&\ c the Emperor's crown as his reward. However, theie is very little probability of such an event occurring, the more especially as France is hampered by a number of "little wars," to say nothing of the possibility of a serious war with China. # A howl of indignation has been raised by the Auckland shipbuilders and shipowners on account of a report made by Captain Russell, Marine Surveyor, to the Otago Marine Underwriters' Association, in which }ie condemns kauri and pohutakawa (that's a nice word to ask a new chum to pronounce) as timbers for shipbuilding. Many people think that the days of wooden ships are fast drawing to a close, but, so long as vesssls aie built of timber, their due meed of excellence should be given to our timbers, and this is what is not done by Captain Russell. In contradiction of his report, a number of yesselfi were mentioned which were built of kauri on pohutakaw.i fraineayandr after twenty, twenty-five and thirty years' service, are still sound as a bell, 'and quite fit for battling with the winds and the waves. This was at a meeting of flhipbuilderß and shipowners held, on

Wednesday, when it was decided to draw up a report, giv ing the facts of the case, and send it to Lloyd's. V We have had quite an epedemic of fires lately, and, despite the excellence of our water supply and tho efficiency of our fire brigade, great loss of property and danger to life have ensued. It is a remarkable fact that, whenever business is quiet, fires become frequent. It would, perhaps, be going too far to say that it is always a case of cause and effect, but it really looks unpleasantly like it. In one of the fires which have taken place within the last fow days, there are strong grounds for suspecting incendiarism, but there is no proof foithcoming, so, in the eye of the law, the suspected individual must be deemed innocent. Probably no crime is more difficult to prove than that of aison, as the cihninal .seldom has an accomplice. One of the strongest cases of suspicion was when a block of buildings near the foot of Wakc-field-htreet was burned down .some year* ago. The fire broke out in a .shop occupied by a man named Kemsley as a crockeryshop, but it had obtained such a fiim hold of the building before it was discoveied, that it was impossible to ascertain the cause of it. Kemsley, who had had his house near Riverhead burned down some time previously under .suspicions circumstances, was the last to leave tho piemiscs, but tli.it was some tlnee hoiu.s before the fire broke out, and he was out at the Whau when th.it occtmence took place. Of coui.se, had a lighted candle been put in a cr.ite of straw, which was the theory of those who suspected Kemsley of aison, it would ha\e burned for two or thieo hours bofoie the stiaw caught lire. However, there was not an atom of proof that Koniley had put a candle in a ciato of straw, so the insurance companies had to pay him the amount of his policies, and he left the colony. Though business is quiet in Auckland, them sceems to bu no Lick of money foi investment in sweepstakes. In last night's Htar tlieie woio advertisements of "sweeps" to the amount of upvvaids of £100,000 (a bundled thousand pounds.) Ido not Mippose that the whole of this sum will bu subsenbed in Auckland, but there cannot be any doubt but that many people, who aie quite unable to pay their just debts, can manage to indulge in tins foini of gambling, despite the fact that it is against the law. It is most jibsmd that, though "sweeps" are foi bidden bylaw, they aie daily advertised in almost eveiy neuspapei in the colony. Hither the law should be cnfoiced, or it should be wiped off the statute-book, as an absurd faice. St. Mu.vko.

We call tho attention of our readers to Mr F. J. Sliortt's Att Union. 'Ihe prizes aie .ill fin.trl.iss oil p.nntinirs and thp public manner in which the drawing will t.ike pl.icc must give satisfaction to the subscribers Settlers c.in obt.un tickets by return post till the end of the current month. Sec ■ulvorti'se.inent.