ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

Waikato Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 1499, 11 February 1882, Page 3

ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

That was a tremendous fire at Gisborne . on Sunday evening. It broke out in a large concrete store, which was^considered the best risk in the town, and, as there was no' available water supply, the whole block was burned down, the loss being estimated at £30,000. There was any quantity of water on both sides of the burned block, but it could not be utilised for want of a fire engine. Had a fire broken out in similar circumstances in Auckland, it would probably have been extinguished so speedily that a few hundred pounds would have covered the damage. Some months ago a large fire . occurred at Tauranga, resulting in the destruction of property to the value of £3(U&00. The Tauranga people profited by^ the lesson, and sent home for a fire engine, which should arrive very shortly. Let me repeat the advice I then gave to the residents of the principal towns in Waikato. Be warned by the experience of ', other people, and make provision for extinguishing fires, without waiting until you have" ft large conflagration in Hamilton or .Cambridge to punish you for your neglect. The proverb says, "Experience is the mistress of fools. " Show that you are wise by profiting by the experience of others. Guiteau, the murderer of President Garfield, has been sentenced to death, the date fixed for the execution being the 30th of June. Why, in the name of all that is strange and curious, a day nearly five months hence should be fixed for his execution, is a question that exercises us very much at the Cafe". In all proba1 bility the intervening period will be utilised by his friends and solicitors by endeavours to obtain a commutation of his sentence, on the ground of insanity. I believe that the man was insane when he committed the murder, but I believe that every man who commits murder is I insane, driven mad by passion of some description, but it is the sort of insanity j which should be put down. If a man is { subject to lits of insanity which induce him to murder anyone who may have done him a real or fancied wrong, he ought to be subjected to such treatment '• as will put it out of his power to repeat the offence. It must be a pleasant thing to be a Cabinet Minister, to be waited on by deputations composed of all sorts and conditions of men, some wanting things done, while others want things left undone. The Hon. John Hall has been having a gay time of it with deputations lately,- who have been preferring all sorts ►of requests. The best thing in this way was, undoubtedly, the deputation consisting of Sir George Grey and the fag end of the once powerful Grey party, who calmly asked the Premier to act in direct opposition to an act of Parliament (carried through the two Houses by Sir George Grey's administration, and approved by the Governor acting on the advice of the Grey Ministry) by postponing the sale of the Otago runs. _ Not content with this, Sir George Grey kindly gave the Premier the benefit of his advice as to when Parliament should be summoned to meet for the despatch of bu&iness. I am quite sure that Sir George Grey would not have so gently handled a deputation had one waited on him to tell him what he should do and how he should do it, a& the Hon. John Hall and the Hon. F. Whitaker did Sir George and his friends. However, if no other good results from it, this deputation has done some good — it has shown the strength of the Grey party. It seems that it consists of Sir George Giey and Messrs Sheehan, Harris, Tole, Cadman, McDonald, and de Lautour. How have the mighty fallen ? What a change from the Grey party of three years ago ! They may write up " Ichabod " in \ery large letters indeed. It seems to many people that this hubbub about the Otago runs is uncommonly like a " stoim in a tpa-pot." If the intention were to dispose of the fee simple of the land, the action of the " saviour of the country " might be excusable, might even be commendable, but what is to be sold is not the land itself, but merely the leases of it for from one to ten years. If people are willing to buy these leases, having the State for a landloid, by all means let them do so, and then the " unearned increment" will bolong to the State. I quite believe that it is better for the colony to retain possession of as much land as possible, provided people are willing to lease the land, and can do so on equitable terms. The value of land has incraibecl so much in New Zealand of late years, and will increase so much more in years to come that I would not part with any freeholds if I possessed any, and what is good for the individual will probably be good for the State. Some people are very lucky. Mr J. C. Firth says that there is no such thing as 'luck, but I beg leave to differ from him. My friend Jones is a lucky man. He was coming from San Francisco to Auckland by the Zcalandia. When he reached Honolulu a friend of his pursuaded him to stop there for a month. He did so, and while his former fellow-passengers were cooped up on the island of Motuihi, he was enjoying what the Yankees would call "a raal good time" at Honolulu. He came thence by the Zealandia on Monday, and as that ship had no disease on board, lie had no bother with quarantine regulations and no detention at Motuihi. I heard a very good story the other day. I will not vouch for its truth, but will simply give it as I heard it. One of the officials in the Public Works Office was paying a visit of inspection in one of the country districts. He went to examine one of the Government oflices, and asked the officer in charge if any repairs were necessary. The latter took him round the premises and showed him Avhat required to be done. The inspecting officer made a note of what needed doing, and then asked the resident officer if there was anything else he would like to have done. The latter hesitated for some time, but at length he admitted that there was something else, but expressed his fear that it was something the visiting officer could not do. The latter said there was nothing that he could not do, and asked the resident officer what it was that he wanted. "Well," he said, "there is a large and ever-increasing colony of fleas here, and I would feel extremely grateful to you if you would have them removed." What the reply was I know not, as my informant came away then. The Harbour Board have decided to construct a dock worthy of our splendid harbour. We have one of the best harbours south of the line, and we will have the largest dock— one large enough to receive any ship that has ever been, or is ever likely to be, in these waters. We have got one abortion in the way of a dock — a thing that is unnecessarily long and wide for small vessels, but not deep enough for large ships — so the members of the Harbour Board have wisely decider} Hhat the new dock shall be long enough and wide enough, and deep enougn'" l to receive any vessel that is likely to come south of the line for the next half-century. It would be a splendid thing if one of the large steamers re- ' quired to be docked, and found she could not get into the dock at either Sydney or Melbourne, and had to come on to Auck- . laud. Yes, it would be a grand^ thing for our city, and harbour, and it will come to that if the Harbour Board carry out their present intentions. , S.T. MVSQQ,