ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

Waikato Times, Volume XVI, Issue 1404, 2 July 1881, Page 3

ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

How I should like to beanM.H.R., or evon an M.LC, to have the privilege of spending three or four months of each year in Wellington. It is such a pleasant place to reside in. The gentle zephyrs are so very mild that it is very seldom that pedestrians have paving stones blown up in their faces, the usual thing being stones about the size of a pigeon's egg, or even a turkeys, just by way of a pleasant variety. Then again the earthquakes are very pleasant. It must be a very enjoyable sennation to bo shaken out of bed at five o'clock on a cold winter morning. Blankets are not comfortable things to have around one in this weather, so it must bo very pleasant to be jerked out from beneath them. Yes ! I should like to be an M.H.R., or even an M.L.C., even though I had to accept an honorarium of £200 per annum, and I hfive made up my mind to seek election at the next general election at the hands of the "silly fools," as the great Doctor Doubleshuffle called them, composing some constituency, so that I may have the privilege of spending three or four months of each year in the city of wind and earthquakes. In spite of my warnings, of which I am afraid the majority knew notihing, the promoters of the Coffee Palace have decided to build on the site opposite the Waitemata Hotel. The adjourned meeting last Thursday was quite of tho "happy family" style, the most admirable unanimity prevailing. At the previous meeting there has been a great diversity of opinion as to the best site, but by the time tha adjourned meeting took, oil had been poured on the troubled waters, and the resolution that the beforementioned site should be decided on was carried nem con. lam not naturally of a very inquisitive nature, but I would like to know how the oracle was worked. What would we do without kauri gum ? It seems to be comparatively speaking, our only article of export. The barque " Peru," which left here for London on Monday, had a cargo valued a £25.000 and of that amount £15,000 Avas the value of the kauri gum. The island produce, (copra, shell, cotton, &c.,) amounted to nearly £4,000 bo that the other products of tho districts other than kauri gum, aggregated only £5,000. Considering to what a large extent we are indebted to them, the gum-diggers deserve better treatment that they have received up at the Kaipara— to be poisoned with bad liquor, and then drowned. The average gumdigger has a strange idea of happiness -to work bard for two or three months, sell his gum, and then go " on the spree until his hardly earned money is all spent. It, certainly is a strange idea of happiness, but there .is, no accounting for taste, and it would not ,do for every one to be of tho same opinion. That was a very cruel roply made by an old bachelor elder to his minister who said in support of a similar assertion that, if every one had been of his opinion, every one would have wanted to marry his wife. "Aye," said the elder, "and if every one had been of my opinion, no ono would have wanted to marry your wife." Whoever is to blame for it, there seems to have been the grossest mismanagement in connection with the quarantine Rtation at Motuihi. It was well-known that the Auckland passengers from Sydney by the out-goiag mail Bteamer would be 1 placed in quarantine immediately on their arrival, but, in spi*"e of that knowledge, no steps were taken to ascertain that the buildings on Motu Ihi were in a proper state of repair. When the passengers reached the island, to 'be kept prisoners theie for no fault oft theirs but simply because they had the misfortune to come from Sydney, it was fnnnd.tbat the'buiMings were in a diwgraoef til' state of; disrepair. One of the unfortunates was a gentleman dying of chronic idysentry. ''I believe he would havo died even though' he had beea pioperly housed apdteuclerly

cared for. but I, believe alsp, that his deajh, which £oi?k! pfatte on' 'thfe island, was accelerated by the, wretched' state of the 1 building in which! he was 1 housed in cold, wet weather, such, as, we had last ' week. Wow that the injury has been done and the victims life has been sacrificed, workmen have' been sent down to repair the buildings but why was it non done before life was^ sacrificed ? Because 'ourlboal affairs are managed ' in Wellington 1 by' people who know nothing about them. A number of "Frank Leslie's Illustrated •Paper" to hand by th'e'laat mail contains two pictures, which are as appropriate, as if they bad been drawn for the especial benefit of those who object to the Free Public Library on ' Sundays, ,'nne represents crowds of people paying their dollars and going in, on a Sunday evening, to a hall, to, hear Bob In^ersoll lecture against religion and prove that there, is no Ged. The other shows (;he closed door of a museum, closed in 'the interests of public morality. Comment is quite unnecessary. I see by advertisements in the newspapers that Waikato residents are to -have the opportunity' of enjoying a treat, as the , Lilliputioh Pinafore Troupe are to risit Waikato after their return from the Thames. Save your shillings, my friends, and go and take your wives and children, and your sisters', arid your cousins, and your aunts, to see these clever yonngsters. Dick Deadeye is worth all the money, so you get the rest of ( ' the performers for nothing, with the scsnery thrown in. The Theatre Royal is closed this evening (Thursday) and will be re-opened tomorrow evening,' with the Carden Company in ' ' Clancarfcy." Judging,from reports from the South, the company is very good, but we will soon have an opportunity of f jrming our own opinions. There has been another fire, this time at Nelson, through the explosion of a kerosine lamp. No information is given on the subject, but the probability is that the kerosine was of an inferior quality. It ia always a mistake to buy things which are "cheap' and nasty" (the twoiuvariably go together) but in no case is the mistake more clearly shown than in the matter of kerosine. Bad kerosine is not really cheap, as it does not burn so well nor last so long, as that of the best quality, and is much more liable to explode.' But why will people continue to use kerosine ? Gas is much better, much cleaner, and, con-idering the amount of light given, cheaper. Some will reply that they can- j not get gas. There is an immense quantity going to waste every session of Parliament. The Great Pro- consul provides sufficient for tho colony. Either of the city members could supply the whole of Waikato, and Waikato is quite welcome to take one of them, or the whole three, as far as the citizens of Auckland aio concerned. ' The Harbour Board are still worrying 1 that dock question. It seems that , it would be speedily settled by the construction of a large dock at Calliope Point, North Shore, but for Captain D. H. McKenzie, the chairman of tho central committee. As he was known to be opposed to the big dock his former constituents refused to re-elect him. Nothing daunted when he was kicked out of the front door he crept in at the back, being elected by the Parnell Borough Council. Bte has been proving to his former constituents that they were quite right in their estimate of his conduct, as he has opposed the construction of a large dock on every occasion that it has been before the Board. Messrs. Clark and Stanfield wrote a letter to the Board, offering to construct a hydraulic dock. The cost would bo very email in comparison with that of a largo graving 1 dock, but it was found that the hydraulic dock would be very liable to get out of order, and that ifc could not be repaired hero. Captain McKenzie wanted to write letters to all parts of the world so as to ascertain whether these hydraulic docks were really useful. He would probably like to spend the remainder of this century in making enquiries, but the other members of the Board (strange to say) did not agree with him. lam afraid this good man is not properly appreciated. St. Muugo.