ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2085, 17 November 1885, Page 4

ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

Pfnpite the adveibe ciilicusni which has appealed in almost all the leading news p.pcis of the colony, from Tho Waikato Tunis downward, it seems that Hn .hilins Voifel has deteiminid to persist i i raising the Million Loan for the Noitli Island Trunk Railw.it before the next session of Parliament. He hi«, however, somewhat modified hisr.iopos.il as to the me that is to be made of the money when it is borrowed. His present in ten lion seems to be to rcimbuise the onlinary Public Works Fund to the i \ti nt that it has been drawn on for the prosecution of the Noith Island Trunk Rulway, which is a fair enough proeulwie of which no one would compl lin, and then have the balance of the loan sciambled for on the floor of the House The icasoii of this is too palpable t) iidn.it of any doubt. It is to enable the Cuiti ibuiy, Nelson and West Coast memoirs to coerco the North Island members to consent to the East and West Coast Railway. For the sake of then own honour it is to be hoped thit the majority of the members will refuse to be cajoled by the wily Treastiicr and will insist that the balance of the million loan shall be expended on the work for which it was raist-d. Surely we residents of the North Island are entitled to this as a matter of scant justice. Though it had been" proved most conclusively that, m litther in proportion to area, to popnla tiou or to contributions to the consolidated revenue, the Middle Island had re ceived far more than its equitable share of Public Works expenditure, the million loan for the North Island Trunk Railway was bracketed with a three million loan, almost all of which was to be expended, as it has been, in the Middle Island. Theie is, therefore, not the slightest particle of fairness or justice in the proposal to divert any portion of the million loan from its original destination, and I have sulhcicnt faith in the honour and integrity of the majority of the members of the House of Ropiesenta tives to believe that they will adhere to the agreement made three veais ago, and will not sanction Sir Julius Vngcl's attempted spoliation of the Noith Island. • *

* The Cattle Show wa», on the w hole, very successful, though the rain which began to fall about one o'clock had a very damping effect on the attendance. It was a pity, too, that thn sham fight should have been held on the Prince of Wules' Birthday, which has for many years been the day set apart for the Show, while the Queen's Birthday has been as regularly devoted to the manoeuvres of the volunteers, whatever foim they might take, just as Anniver hftry Day (2!) th Jan.) has been from time immemorial Regatta Day. lam not one of those who insist that a thing should always be maintained because it has been the custom, but I do think that in these matters we should aot on the principle of ••Live and let live." The Cuttle Show, the Keijatta, and the Volunteer CVlebra tion are all very desirable, and all worthy of maintenance, and it seems a great pity that any two of them should be allowed to clash. Tho more visitors to the Cattle Show the inoie money will the society have to expend in pn/"s, and, as a conse qnence, the more exhibits and the greater competition, which must lead to improvement in tlic quality of stock. Anything which militates against the attendance is, therefore, to he deprecated, and a very emphatic protest should have been entered against the proposal to have the sham fight on Mon day. Had this been done at the proper time it would probably have been successful in preventing such a formidible counter attraction to the show. Jtwas not done, but it is to be hoped that sf,ep-> will bo taken to prevent such an occurrence next year. I think some, of oui country members might fairly bring the matter up in Parliament. If the Govern nvnt chose to make it a party question whit would it m.ittci ? Was not the How ick wharf made a party question, and did not the fate of a Ministry depend on v\l.ether a jetty should be constructed nt that ileepy. dead.aud-alive Pensionei si tth ment ?

* P>oth nt the church paiade on Sunday ifttinuon and at the sham tight on Monday our citizen soldieis made a very respectable show, and thegeneial opinion is that in the event of (mat Biitain being engaged in a war with any other nation our volunteers would he able to protect ns fiom any hostile foieo that could be landul on our shoiesif the ships of the enemy were not blown up by torpedoes befoiii they could get near enough to disend ark a lauding party. Is goes w ithout say ing that the Waikato cavalry presented a uiy good and soldier-like appearance, as did the Waiuku corps, but it was re-< rvu! for one of the companies from the eouutiy to present the "sickest" appearance in the whole force assembled here. This was the Pukekohe Mounted Infantry. They killed their chance of looking well when they " first put that uniform on," as it was about the ugliest imaginable, being dark blue with yellow facings. Of coi.f-e. no exception could betaken to thr dark blue, but the yellow facings neie simply hideous I was sorry for the poor men who had been beguiled into adopting such n hideous, bilous looking uniform, but I was more lorry for the poor hoises which seemed utterly ashamed of their riders for wearing those yellow facings. It would be far better if each arm of the service were compelled to wear a ci rtain uniform instead of each company acting on its own sweet will Then we should be saved from the harrowing spectacle of the yellow facings of the Pukekehe Mounted Infantry and the dismal black of the Gordon Rifles, w ho looked as cheerful as the mutes at a fuueiiil. # •

* Tho report presented at the annual mttting of shareholders of the New Zealand Frozen Meat and Storage Company was, unfortunately not a roseate one, but it is to be hoped that things will •oon take a turn for the better and that those who havu invested their money in this enterprise will ere long get an adequate return. The company has certainly been most unfortunate in commencing operations when its products are at such low prices, and it says a good deal for the patriotism of some of the shareholders that they were able to console themselves for their individual losses by the knowledge that they had contributed to the prosperity of others, or, at any rate, prevented them from losinc so heavily at they would have done had it not been for tho existence of this company. Let us hope that there will soon be a substantial advance in the prices of frozen and tinned meats, tallow, trc, and tint, as a consequence, the farnuis will g«t more remunerative prices for their cattle, and the Frozen Meat Company will he able to make a profit by their business. ♦

Mr Stead, the editor of the Pall Mall Oa/ftte, has suffered severely for the part he took in the Armstrong abduction case. Whither he deserved so severe a punishment as three years' imprisonment wo cannot tell, as we have not the evidence before uh. Tf he wns actuated by pure motives in what he did, and his ■oh- object was to diaw in the most foi able manner possible the attention of the inhabitants of England to a nefarious trnlb" in the bodies and souls of innocent children, the sentence passed on him BcmiH iinn<»cevanly, even brutally, ccvi to ; but if, has as been a3scrtcd, ho was nc tv a red by no moro worthy dcaiic than to add to the circulation of hi 3 new 3 papi r, he has got no more than bin dopci ts. If any credence is to be placed on the Pres3 Association's cablegram, to the effect that tho entire press endorse the verdict, it would seem that the latter theory is #- uerally accepted. However, by the mail which is due on Saturday we shnll probably ham nuoh further jni timlai'. of tl.e pu liminaiy examination as will give us a butter idea of tho

cm. Lnt 1 tin s>e uoiiil to liai.d «c can not fui in a fair opinion .18 to the justice of the s ntenje.

# ♦ At the R.M. Court at Otalmhu the other day there was one of the rue incidents of a com iction under the Licensing Act of a pnblitnu for supplying lii|Ui)t to i piohihited person. Tin* pul) In,in, w hnti' name is Thorpe, k(ep-i the Harp of Ei in Hottl, and is a, tiaiuer <>f ije ■ hoises, while tin- piolubited indiu(lual is, oi oiiflit to be, a gentleman named Lii«hiui;ton, who is an owner of lace-hoiscs There could be no doubt I ut that Thorpe knew Lushington perf'ji tly well, noi was there anj attempt to <1< ny knowledge that he w i^a prohibited peiM)ii but tlie di fence was that the lupior wns neithci gisen noi sold to him, but that he took it without Thoipe's pei nns^i in, and pud foi it nftiiwaids Tins \v,is too flimsy ,i defence to satisfj the bench, who fouml the accused guilty, ,uul tinul him £') and co<<ts. * *

A fi hn 1 of mine is di-tpoied to lejoicc in Thoipe's punishincnt, as he has a long standing grudge ngiinst him. Some yi.irsatrolu win riding to Otihuhu nt night, and had just pushed the Hirp of Erin, wnen his hone shied ami \ery nearly unseated him. Recovering himself, he determined to ascertain what had frightmed his horse, and discovered a man lying in the middle of the road. He iode back to the hotel, and asktd Thorpe to go with him to ace what was the mat terwith thr man This he refused to do, saying that it was no business of his, and that he might get into trouble. My friend told him he certainly should get into trouble if he did not go, as he would report the matter to Inspector Thomson the next day. After some grumbling Thoipe eilled one of his men, and they went to the place where the man was Ijing and found that he was nn unfortunate toper, w ho bad been turned out of the hotel half an hour before in .i state of intoxication. He was taken back tbeie, and grcuimi.sl} permitted to Hleep m one of tin out houses. Tnis is why my fiiund rcjoieis in Thorpe's punishment Sr Mi n(.o.