ECHOES FROM TEE CAFE.

Waikato Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 1526, 15 April 1882, Page 3

ECHOES FROM TEE CAFE.

Of course the principal topic of conversation this week has been the resignation of the Hall Ministry and the action of His Excellency Sir Arthur Gordon in sending for Sir George Grey. Almost all those whom I have heard express an opinion on the subject condemn the action of the Governor. Certainly, Sir George Grey could not command a followiug in the last Parliament which had the slightest chance of ousting the Hall Administration, and most people here think that the General Elections did not add to his following. It is a matter of history that the Grey Government went into power amid great cries of Economy, Retrenchment and Reform. History tells us that they signally failed to carry out any portion of their programme, in addition to which Sir George Grey quarrelled with his colleagues and with any of his followers who had the temerity to disagree with him. During the last session of Parliament the head of the remnant of the Grey party certainly was not the recognised leader of the Opposition. In sober fact there was no recognised leader of the Opposition, or, indeed, any welldefined Opposition party. Those who opposed the Hall Ministiy consisted of a number of small companies of guerillas, each acting under its own loader and conducting its attack in its own way, but not of a compact body under a recognised leader, able to consolidate his forces and lead them to the onslaught with a reasonable hope ot victory. This being the case, why has Sir Arthur Gordon sent for Sir George Grey ? No one seems to be able to answer the question satisfactorily at present, but everybody seems inclined to await further developments. The Easter holidays passed off very quietly, the ardour of pleasure-seekers being considerably damped by the frequent showers. Ye Okie English Fayre at the North Shore attracted a large number of Sightseers, most of whom, however, were grievously disappointed. They went expecting to see a fair, such as they had seen, heard of, or read descriptions of as being held in England, but they found that what they saw was as different from what they expected as the Southern Alps arc from the Canterbury Plains, and, as a natural consequence, they were grievously disappointed. It did not tend to improve matters that, in the afternoon, the heavens were opened, and the rain descended and fell upon those people and wet them to the skin. Some even aver that they were wet through the skin, but I am inclined to think that the internal wetting was due to the spirituous and fermented liquors which they imbibed, Despite the showery weather and the counter-attractions, a considerable number of people wont out to Ellerslie to see the races, which were, on the whole, very good. There were large fields in almost every lace, and the handicappers had done their duty so well that most of the races were very open. The starter did not gain much /. itdos by the Avay in which he performed his duties, and I have no hesitation in saying that there was not a man on the course who could not have started the horses better, in his own opinion, at any rate. Warned by past experience, a considerable number of the race-goers did not trust to the railway authorities for the means of locomotion to and from the course, the consequence being that theie lias been much le&s giowling than usual about the inadequacy of the railway accommodation. Whether that would have been the case had there been as many travellers by rail as usual, it is, of com se, impossible to say. The Ponsonby regatta attracted a goodly proportion of the holiday-makers, but the weather was* very unsuitable for rowing races, and a number of the sailing boats came to gri*f in one way or another, so that the regatta was neither so successful nor so enjoyable as its predecessors. "To impio\e matters worse," the heavy showers did not add to the comfort of the spectators, so that the Ponsonby regatta of 18S2 can hardly be looked on as having beon a brilliant success. As showing the depths of degradation to which a love of drink may bring a man one of the most pitiable incidents of which I have heard was described to me by an eye witness. An elderly man, evidently the worse for liquor, was walking along one of the principal streets ot this fair city of Auckland. He stopped, took off his coat, and laid it down on the ground, took off his waistcoat and hat and laid them on top of his coat, and then took off his shirt and laid it beside the coat. He then put on his waistcoat, coat and hat, picked up his shirt, and, with it in his hand, totterred to the nearest pawn-shop, into which he went. In a few minutes he came out again, without his shirt, and bent his feeble steps towards an hotel, where he doubtless spent the few pence, he had obtained in exchange for his shirt, in procuring fresh fuel for the fire which burned in his miserably attenuated body. If poor Tom Hood were still alive he might, from this text, preach another lay sermon, which would equal his famous " Song of the Shirt." The other evening I was talking to a Wellington man, who was making a comparison between Auckland and the Empire City, very unfavourable to the latter. He was very much impressed with the beauty of our harbour, our city and our suburbs. What pleased him most, however, was his visit to Waiwera, where he spent a few days, and where he got rid of lumbago, from which he had suffered much and suffered long. He is very fond of music, and, as' a consequence, envies Auckland's splendid Choral Society, He gave me a rather amusing account of a number of futile attempts to form a choral society in Wellington, all of which have ended in failure in consequence of quarrels among the performers. He told me that, on one occasion, a society was formed with a fair prospect' of success. They had an excellent conductor, and a large number of good performing and honorary members. Before long, however, two of the principal performers Quarrelled: They disputed and they wrangled, the conductor trying in rain to restorfe harmony. At last he lost all patience with them and recommended them to go out into the back yard and settle their differences with the weapons provided by nature. They did not do so, but continued their wrangling. Some of the other members espoused the cause of one, others that of the other. The consequence was a general quarrel and the collapse of the society. Talking about the weapons provided by nature reminds me ,that, on Tuesday evening Mace, the ex-prize fighter, gave a , |C Grand Glore Contest " in the LornestreetHall. I did not go, as I am n6t

an admirer of that sort of exhibition, so those who wish an account of it must look to someone else for it, and not to St. Mitngo.