ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

Waikato Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 1514, 18 March 1882, Page 3

ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

After a storm comes a calm, at least so the proverb says, and this is one of the proverbs which I will not attempt to gainsay. After the storms raised by the election of the various licensing committees, after the controversy about the St. Thomas' row, after the disputes about the justness of the decision of the judges *t the band contest, we are now experiencing a lull, and there is not much of public interest going on. If, however, there is a calm in public matters, there has not been much calmness in the atmosphere proper. On the contrary, there has been a gale blowing, and the prayers for ' c those in peril on the sea" have been particularly appropriate. Fortunately, there have been no marine disasters of importairtpV and, as the gale came on gradually, and gradually increased in force, there is good reason to believe that those who have the "care of travellers of the .briny deep" received due warning and adopted means to protect life and property. The 'Revd. Mr Green and his two Swiss guides have been successful in their attempt to ascend Mount Cook, but, beyond proving that the ascent is practicable, though difficult, and the feeling of satisfaction which men always feel when they have successfully accomplished that which they determined to do, I fail to see what object has been gained. Although the party took with them a camera, for the purpose of taking photographs on the summit of the mountain, the weather was so thick that they could not use it, and there has been no practical result of the ascent of Mount Cook. All that remains, as the result of the expedition, is that Mr Green and his Swiss guides travelled from the old world to the new, landed in New Zealand, went to Mount Cook, ascended it, and then came down again, after having had anything but a gay time of it. Mr Green will probably be immortalised in a parody on the old nursery rhyme about "the famous Duke of York," which will run thus : " The Reverend Mister Green Bought out two mountain men They climbed up to the top ot Mount Cook, And then came down again. Ihcy nearly broke their necks, As they climbed amid ice and rain, And were just as wise when fhey started As when they got down again." The Illmtnittd London News of Dec. 31st contains a picture of " sticking up" as it used to be done " in the good old time when George the Third was king." A knight of the road, mounted on a horse and holding a pistol in his hand, has stopped a coach out of which a lady is in the act of stepping, to ransom her self by dancing a minuet with the highwayman. Not long ago a man told me of a " sticking up" case of which he was the intended victim, but which ended rather unfortunately for the " stand and deliver" gentleman. My friend was riding on a dark night along a lonely road in the Wellington Provincial District, and he had to pay some men who were working for his employer. After riding rather fast for some time he reined in his horse and allowed it to walk. Hardly had lie done so when a man sprang out from among some furze growing on the side of the road, and seized the reins, standing on the near side of the horse. He asked my friend whence he had come and whither he was going. The latter answered his queries truthfully, and, while doing so, stooped down and took off the off stirrup-leather. He then told the man that he did not need to hold the reins as the horse was quite quiet. " I don't want your horse," said the man. " I want your money, and if you don't give it to me I will blow your brains out. Hardly had he spoken the words when my fiieml swung round the stirrup-leather, which he held in his right hand and struck him a violent blow on the back of the neck which felled him to the ground. My friend did not stay to see the effect of his blow, but put put spurs to his> horse and did not draw reinuntil he had readied his destination. He saw his man a few days after he had returned home, and recognised^ him by an ugly gash on the back of his neck, caused by the blow with the stirrup-iron. He did not hand him over to the police as lie thought he had lcceived sufficient punishment for his attempt at " sticking up." At a public meeting held in the Beres-ford-strect Congregational Church, on Monday evening, one of the speakers was the Rev. W. J. Habeas, InspectorGeneral of schools, who is in Auckland just now for the purpose of attending the meetings of the Senate of the University, of which he is a member. In the course of his lemarks Mr Habens referred to the temptation of worldliness. This is a subject about which he is well qualified to exprc&s an opinion. He was for some yeais minister of a Congregational Church at Christchurch, but when he was offered a Government appointment at a much larger salary than he received from his congregation, he accepted it. Yes ! Mr Habens is just the man to warn people against the temptation of worldliness. What does it all mean? On the 9th inst. Reuters agent telegraphed from London that the House of Commons had accepted the cloture as proposed by Mr Gladstone, and on the following day he requested that the telegram should be cancelled. It would appear that it was the motion condemning the House of Lords for having appointed a committee to inquire into the working of the Irish Land Act, which was passed. What I want to know is, how it happened that Reuters agent mixed those motions up. Had he been " mixing his liquors," or what was the matter with him ? It is easy enough to understand how a telegram from London, which passes along a number of different lines, and through the hands of a number of different operators, some of whom cannot speak English, may become altered in transmission, but how a man, accustomed to the work, could make such a blunder as that of Reuters agent is beyond my comprehension. As I mentioned some time ago, the front part of our cafe is to be re-built. To-day I saw the plans of the new building, which will be both handsome and commodious. At present there is a plentiful lack of accommodation for the ladies. The new building will supply the want, and it is to be hoped that there will be better attendance than at present in the ladies' rooms. As a rule ladies are not so much hurried over their mid-day meals as men are, but even they object to be kept waiting until the gravy on their plates has cougealed. There is a perfect furore just now for buying Queen-street properties, and several have changed hands at splendid prices, notably the premises occupied by Mr S. Coombes, which was sold for £8300. The pessimists say that the price is absurdly high, the optimists that the property is worth far more than it 1 brought, and shrewd business men that it was disposed of for its fair market value. I am*U^lined to agree with the lastmentioned, the more so because the place was sold by public auction, ancl the bidding was very spirited throughout the sale, most of those bidding being business men who would not give more than the value of the property. Probably properties in Queen-street may be sold for more than they are worthy but that has not been the case as yet, thinks Si. Mungo.

In the south-western portions of Queensland large numbers of stock are perishing for want of water.