ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

Waikato Times, Volume XV, Issue 1238, 5 June 1880, Page 2

ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

The churchwardens of an Anglican Church in one of our suburbs have been in t!ie habit of putting to one srle all the bad <-oin Jonml in the Sunday overtones. At tor collecting these for three months tl.cy fomul th.it the amount would have bceu, had the coin-* been good, llsOd. The question aiose, what was to be don 1 ; wjthit, Miid they drcided to give them to the poor. 'I hey wore accordingly given to a widow who had beeu left destitute by the de ith of her husband, and the hearts of the -moll s»h- pkeepers in the subutbs in qucshon were gladdened in receiving small payments m reduction of accounts owinir to them by tho widow. "It is an ill wind that blows £ood to no body," but the Christianity ot tho people atteding that Church must b"at i very low el)b when they e< n-ider that the sei vices are not worth paying for in good coin. The v. isdom of the Colony is more onoe collect' dm Wellington. Immediately after the House of RepTes^ntatives "was opcufd Dr "Wall is gave notice to ask why the Hiuemoa was required to make two tups fiom the Manuka u with the Auckland membeis. If he had asked me or any other man with coram >n sense he would have been told that the Hinenioa left on Wednesday in order to take down tho Speaker oi the House of Representatives, without whose piescncc the Honse could not meet, and that it was arranged that .-he should leave again on Monday with those members whose piesence was not absolutely neoess iy at the opening 01' the fusion, and who luul business to attend to in the meantime, Dr W dlis, having alienated the member-, of his congiogation, has retired from the " Gospel business," but the majority of the members have to attend to busiucss, and, as tho time between the la&b se-sion and the pie&ent one has beeu very short, the Govu'nmi nt are to be commended, not blamed, for .showing every possible consideration to those membeis. Mr Richard A Proctor, in a scientific article in the Aie>tvalasHi/>, refers to the " fifteen pu/zL>," which I mentioned as "the mge" in Auckland. He say-- that thore are six possible combinations of the last three numbers, vix :—l3,: — 13, li, 15; 11, \o, 13, 15, 13, 14; 13, 15, 11 ; H, 13, 1-3; 15, 11, 13, and that it is possible to work out the pii/zle with either of the combm itions in the upper line, but impossible to do '•o with cither tho combinations in the lower line. I should not have thought the gem puzzle would have beeu admitted Avifchin the sacred precincts of a scimtific ait cle, but I suppose Mr Proct'ji is a better judge than I of what is, and whit is not, infra dig. It mu-t, have been a matter of congratulation to the volunteers taking- part m the review on the Queen's Bi'thday as well as to the spectator.-, that the Auckland CavaLy Voluutceis have been di-bancled, as t oy used to make a very so;iy api'caviiK o (about ;i dozen men were piv-ont nt the lasti«'\ie\v I saw) and the Infantiy Voluntocis .md the pub ie ran a fiiirhtful lisk of being k-ll< d in consequence of the civahy — not hiving learned to ride, or to rfianaue th< iv hoi-e-. A O.ivahy coips is practicable in a country dtsti it t, as is pioveu by the existence of the -I'lendid troop in Waikafo, but it is impiar-ticablo in 1 city whoie few people koep hor-e>, and so are left to tin- tendei mcrces of the livery stablekxper> for their mounts. Dming the AVaikato war, when every on" w is compelled to be a volunteer or a militia man, wo had a veiyfair Cavalry troop. Tho captain ot tho tioop was a good officer, but not. a very coori scholar. About oucc a yo ir he used to senel in his resign, ttion, but the troop alwayi re-eli-otcl him, and por&utided him to withdraw his resignation. Oa tho-e occasions ho always read a spopch, which hid been piop.n ed foi him by hi- deik Tlis gieit diffieu tv in reidinjr })is spoo< h was tli^ pronunchtion of the \v<»id "co-p- 1 ' His rink's paitinu" injunction always was, "II - member th it woid i-eoips, not corpse " but the cipt.iiu invaiiibly icf on -d to tho pleaMiif it ir«"ve him to comm md "such a splendid eorp-o." Mr Joseph May lias resigned hispo-i-tion as one of tho Li 'on^iuy Commissioner--, and Mr John Cw-irraw ha- been appointed in his .stoid. I nm-t congiarulate the Government on thoir c'n>2C'\ <is thore are few gvnth mon m Auckl md who Invo had so much practk- 1 experience of tho Auckland hotels and tho liquor they supply a^ I\lr Co^g a\f N• ! lam wrong ! Mr Cosgrave inu>t yiold flic palm to Mr Richard Ifcltus. Bv-the-bye, Richard has b'onwritin? to the Auckland panels, compl lininy that he was refused a i^as'-age to "Wellington in tho Hi'iomoa This would not have happened if Sir Gooipro Grey weie -till Pieinior, becaut-c the Hinemoa would not have boon here. Sir Gtorge would have b. on u.siusr her to take him about the colony on his stumping tour. The JFcrahVs special eoi respondent at Wellington ga\e the Gioat Pio-Consul a veiy hard ra]> in Ins " Pirliameutaiy Gossii), '' which iippcnrcd 011 Monday last. RefciTing to the probable leadership of the Opposition, he siys, " Sir Goorgo ( 'icy would proliabiy be popular <"s an Opposition loader as /on / as !h •,<• if as hi) rl'imn i>f Jus ohtainin / of/t,/ I .'' This, 1 i a great oiiange from the wiy in Inch the 11' ) /A'use'd to fawn on Sir Geoige Giey when he was Premier. But it i& the ILiral'l all over. It gave me a greit deal of pleasure to read tho icport, m t\i<n>'>, of the Hon. John Hall's addie&s to hi& coiistituentb at Leeston. It is a elo\er, and at the tune a Nery practical, .speech; just the soit of speech to be expected fiom an experienced statesman — the leader of a great party. "What a contrast it is to thf vapid utterances of tiiu gentleman who has been selected by the ll<r«'((\ special as leader of the Opposition, because he has no chance of obtaining office ! Last Monday Mr Gallagher, proprietor of the Cosmopolitan Hotel, was fined £10 and costs for allowing gambling in his house. While fully concuriing in the justice of the punishment, I cannot help regretting that those a\ ho gambled w ere not punished, especially as two of the tlnco .11 c such noted blacklegs that they ha\ c been under police Mineillance. Last Tuesday the Licensing Commissioners held their annual meeting, at which a large Amount 01 business as transacted. There were a number of applications for licenses for new houses, all of which were objected to. The solicitor who appeared for the objectors in one case is a mos>t enthusiastic knight of the cue, so the solicitor for the applicant suggested to the Commissioners that his legal friend's real objection to the proposed house was that there was no billiaicl-ioom shown on the plan. On the same day elections of auditors for the City of Auckland and the Borough of Parnell took place. In the latter the remuneration is only two guineas per annum, whereas the election cost the i Borough upwards of three pounds. The j gentleman Avhose candidature rendered an election necessary polled only four votes, so that those four votet> cost the Borough i fifteen .shillings each. A pretty high puce for votes in these days of manhood suffrage ! Talking about the price of votes, one of the "free and independent" electors of Kden offered his vote at the last election to cither side for the modest sam of 10s, and that was in the turmoil of a general election. At that rate a -Co-note would Have secured James McCosk Clark

a" our r % ] rcr ut itl\c for City I'a-il. E* cry vote that Mv Stark polled in the City West election cost him £1. As one of his fueiulo remarked, it was a good job for him that he did not get more \ otcs. The Piopcrty Tax must be repealed. The people of Newmarket have decided this among themselves, and they are going to hold a meeting on Tuesday evening, to state their views in public. I hope Sir George Grey will have sufficient good sense not. to refrain from attacking the Property Tax until he has had the benefit of tho wisdom of Newmarket. A full repot t of the speeches will be sent to each M.LO. and M.H.R., provided it can bo done at Government expense. Captain Dearborn of the City of Sydney, wiote to the Harbour Board, exonerating the pilot from blame in the matter of the collision between his vessel and the wharf. He says that, in consequence ot tho .siltnm-up ot the Harbour, the stem ot the vessel grounded, which caused her to become unmanageable. Of course, the explanation is absurd, as Mr Stewart, and other eminent engineers say the Harbour has not silted up. St. Muxr.o.