ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

Waikato Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 1518, 28 March 1882, Page 3

ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

We h»ve a real live African " lion" in Auckland just now— Mr Gow Jukififar, a native missioriary from the " dark continent." Despite the colour of his skin, he is an extremely intelligent-looking man, has evidently been well educated, and speaks English fluently and with much force. I went to hear him lecture on " Slavery and the Slave Trade in Africa." The lecture was well written, and the delivery of it gave evidence of powers of .oratory of no mean order. Mr Jukififar told most pathetically the story of the wrongs of his countrymen, explained how the slave trade had originated through Portuguese traders taking tome "with them one or two African boys iurourfosities, and how it had gradually developed until it became a huge national wrong, crying to Heaven for vengeance. He went on to tell how a few philanthropic men had banded themselves together to accomplish the suppression of the slave - trade and emancipation of the slaves, and how, in spite of the opposition of those whose interests would be affected, they had gradually succeeded in effecting their objects, at least to a large extent. The lecturer displayed a considerable amount of humour, and, occasionally stirred the risible faculties of his audience by an erroneous use of a word. He " fetched" me when, speaking of the terrible loss of life among the Africans consequent on the slave-trade, he told how the slaves, after being taken to the West Indies and America, died from hard " woik and other diseases." I have often suffered from excess of hard Work especially night work, but Mr Gow i Jukififar is the first man I have heard refer to hard work as a disease. A friend of mine who read the account of the " sticking up" case in last week's " Echoes," told me of another case, which occured in Victoria, the "principal actor in which he knew. It was in the days of the " gold fever," when bushranging and " sticking up" cases were of frequent occurence. A man who was in the habit of driving alone from on« digging township to another, frequently carrying large amounts of gold with him, was about to start on one of his journeys towards nightfall. He was warned of the danger of doing so by a number of people, out scouted all idea of clanger, saying that he had never been " stuck up." He started and went along safely until after nightfall. Suddenly he was stopped by a man who presented a loaded revolver at him and demanded his money. He quietly said to his assailant, "I would shoot you dead were it not for those people coming up behind you." The "knight of the road" turned round to look for the people coming up, and was immediately shot by the man in the buggy. He was severely, but not fatally wounded, and recovered, only to find himself in the hands of the mounted troopers. He was subsequently tried, found guilty of attempted robbery under anns, and sentenced to a long term of penal servitude. For some time past a good deal lias been said and written about the desirability or otherwise of the principal suburbs becoming a portion of the City of Auckland. The city now has an area of 650 acres, and a population of nearly 17,000, whereas, if the suburbs immediately adjoining became a part of it, the area would be about 6000 acres, and the population about 32,000. The great objection that many people living, or owning property in the suburbs have had to the proposed union, is that they do not clearly understand what advantages they would obtain, and what liabilities they would incur. This objection should be removed by the City Council this (Thursday) evening, if they pass the resolution of which the Mayor has given notice, which is, briefly, that the boundaries of the city shotild be enlarged by taking in Parnell, Graf ton Road, Karancahape, Newton, Arch Hill, and Ponsonby, and possibly a portion of Newmarket and Eden Terrace ; that the new portions should be divided into three wards, as the present city is, each ward to elect three councillors, that the enlarged council should borrow a sum of money for the purpose of extending the water mains and the drainage system to the new wards, and to bucli portions of the present wards as may be deferable ; and that all parts of the city should pay the same rates, subject, of course, to the provision of the act of 1878, which provides that no property which is not within 100 yards of a water main shall be liable for the water rate. If the suburbs decide to join the city, they will thus be provided with a good water supply and a proper drainage system, and will participate in the rants derived from the city's large and valuable endowments, and will contribute towards making this the most populous, if not the largest city in the colony. This is a matter of considerable importance, as people coming to the colony naturally ascertain which is the most populous city, and, other things being equal, or having nothing but statistics to guide them, give it the preference. The Auckland Evening Stay is, as a rule a very respectable newspaper, the proprietor and editor being generally considered honorable members of an honorable profession. Much surprise was, therefore, felt at the publication in the supplement to the Star, on Satui'day last, of a full, true and particular account of a prize fight. No advantage could possibly result from such a publication. On the contrary, a great deal of harm is almost sure to be the result, and, in the interests of journalism and of the public morals, I must express a hope that the editor will not allow anything of the sort to happen again. Perhaps the report was inserted aa a delicate compliment to a distinguished (?) visitor to Auckland — Mace, the ex-prize-fighter. Whether that be so or not, it seems to me that such a report cannot fail to have a demoralising effect on the youthful portion of the community and should be carefully excluded from the columns of a respectable journal. Verb. sap. One of the best " bulls " I have heard for some time was perpetrated by a lady, who came, of course, from the land whose flag is green with a golden harp on it. The subject was that never-fail-ing topic of conversation, the weather. We had been suffering for some time from close, muggy, north-easterly winds, and I made a remark about the weather being unpleasant. " Yes, it is," said the lady. "I wish this east wind would go round to the south." On Monday evening at the Theatre Royal a complimentary benefit was tendered by the company to Mr R. J. De Lias. The public showed their appreciation of Mr De Lias's management of the Theatre Royal, by not attending on the occasion of his benefit. lam not in a position to state that it is a fact, but it has been frequently as3er ted that Mr De Jst§ has, time after time, prevented good companies from coming to Auckland by insisting on receiving either the lion's share of the receipts or an exorbitant rent. Of course, it may be alleged that, as the theatre belongs to him, he has a perfect right to manage it in the way that j seems to him to be the best. No doubt he has, but there is such a thing as being too grasping, and that the Auckland theatre-goers consider Mr De Lias has been so, is proved by their non-attend-ance at the performance ,on Monday evening. Fortunately, the new Opera House will soon be completed, so we will not be, as at present, dependent

on one theatre, and the consequence will be that we shall have better companies than we have had of late. So let it be. St. Mungo.