ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

Waikato Times, Volume XVI, Issue 1341, 3 February 1881, Page 2

ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

When are we going to have tramways through our streets ? is the question the burgesses are asking the City Council. Things must de getting desperate, for the Herald has hud a lending article on the subject, and it takes a long time to gefc the Herald's enthusiasm worked up. It is full time that some step was tuksn in the mutter, aa all the other principal towns in the colony, and some of the smaller, have tramways, and Auckland is the only laggard. Some people say that Auckland streets are too steep for tramways, but this is simply absurd, for Dunedin has far steeper strec ta than any we have here, and yet the tram-cars go up and down them. I wonder if the fact that Mr Crowther, tha principal omnibus and cab proprietor in the city, is a member of the City Counoil, has anything to do with the delay in th« introduction of tramways. Oh no! it cannot be, for Mr Crowther i« a Greyite, and a member of the Central Committee, and we know that all Greyites are patriotic, and forego their own interest for the public weal. I must seek for some other renion for the delay, .'erhaps the Toirn lerk thinka that tramways are as unnecessary in the city, as the Encyclopaedia Britanmca in the Public Library. How« ever, Councillor Montigue ha" given notice to move that a poll of the burgesses be taken, to ascertain whether they want tramways, or prefer to keep to Crowthers cabs and ommbunea for the rest of this century. However, whether anything is done iv the matter or not, the Editor of the Herald and Councillor Montague hare the consolation of knowing that they have done something to wake the Mayor and Council from their state of lethargy and inaction. I found that I made a mistake in reference to the Champion Yacht Race in the Hobsou's Bay Regatta, in which the "Taniwha" took part. I eaid that the length of the course was fifteen miles, so it is but as the yachts went round the course three times, the distance run by them was forty-five miles. Tha^ being the case, the "Taniwha," did not receive a very ignominious beating, being only a very few minutes after the " Janet, " after going ao great a distance. Those who know the " Taniwha's " capabilities are very sanguine that if she has another trial of speed with the "Janet," in a good stiff breeze, the position of the yachts at the finish will be reversed. These people who want to alter holidays, go the wrong way to work. Instead of proposing the alteration a month before the holiday, they defer doing so until within a fews days of the holiday they wish to alter, and cithe< do nothing but talk and write aboutthe posponement, or, if they succeed in doing anything make a muddle of two days. In matters of this kind people are naturally selfish and inconsiderable for others. The shopkeeper who does not wish to f lose his Saturday night's trade, wishes to have the holiday postponed till Monday, without consideration for the man who goes " out in the sun " on Saturday, and has all day Sunday io "suffer a recovery," whereas, if he goes " out in the sun " on Monday, he has to spend a day in "suffering a recovery." Thus, in order to save one man's Saturday night, another man loses all day on Tuesday. , By some anxious blunder in the the interpretation clause of the Bank Holidays Act, Saturday was not bank holiday. This is turning the tables on the bankers, for as .a rule they have the same holidays as other people, and a number of extra holidays of their own. At. a meeting of the Board of Governor a of the Auckland College and Grammar School, held on Tuesday, Judge' Fenton moved, «• That this Board concur* in the opinion expressed by the Royal Commis* sion on Education, that the head master of the Grammar School should be a graduate of the University." The motion simply means that Judgo Fenton mores that Mr Farquar Macrae who is the head master, and who is not a graduate of any university, should be diami-sed, and I think it would have been more straightforward if he had moved to- that effect in plain words. Mr. Maorae seems to be Judge Fenton's bete noir, as great an eyesore to him as Mordecai, the Jew waa to Haman, Agagite. Fdr some time ptst, Judge i 'enton hns embraced every opportunity ta give Mr Mjiqrae, a rap over the knuckles without seeming to do so. Now >c has, or think* he has, 1 a majority of tha Board with him and opposed to Mr Mao* rae, and so he in, determined to get rid of 1 his Mordecaj. "So doubt,! it? is desirable that the head master of the principal school in this district, should be a gj^duate of a university, but it is much more desirable that he should be a firrt-clasa t^ashet. If Judge Fenton, CQ&s^ew Mj

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