ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

Waikato Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 1544, 27 May 1882, Page 4

ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

His Excellence Sir Arthur Gordon. X.C.M.0., again treated the assembled multitudes wljq witnessed the opening of Parliament tcthafc gorgeous spectacle of himselftin the 'robe of the order of St. I -.ifichaeljaiid St., George,: with his little son, dressed as a page, hold'ng up his train: ,Of course, no one can deny Sir Arthur the right to make an imposing exhibition of himself by wearing the robe , „of the. order which Her Majesty has bestowed upon him, but the display is very likely to bring him into contempt, more especially with a people rather dis1 p'dsed to be democratic in their ideas. A 'great' change must have come 'over His Excellency, as those wli6 knew him when he was in the West Indies say that when there he used to avoid everything in the way of ostentation ami display. It is to be hoped that before long he will experience another change — a permanent change in liis place of residence. From the fact ' that wliercver he has been a Governor before it has been in a Crown colony, lie is singularly unfitted to represent Her Majesty in a colony like New Zealand, enjoying representative government. His action at the time of the resignation of the Hall Ministry is one proof of this, while another can be found in that portion of the address to Parliament, which refers to' tin: native policy of the late and present Governments. That the speech required to be so worded that the whole onus of Mr Krycc's action at Parihaka should 1)0 laid on the Ministiy, and that it should be apparent that the Governor did not approve of that action, though it •was applauded by almost everyone in the colony, is a proof that .Sir Arthur Gordon is not a fit and proper person to retain the position of Governor of New Zealand. Mr Peacock, the new member for Auckland North, evidently made a decided hit by his speech in moving the Addrcss-in-lleply. It was to be expected that ho would, as lie is a shrewd, clearheaded man, who, as the Irishman said, •' never speaks but he says something " There is not so much absurdity in this remark as appears at fiiv>t sight. There are plenty oi men of the Rees and freight type who can speak foi hours, and w hen they have finished, any .sensible man who reads tho speech carefully, will admit that they have really .slid nothing. Mr Peacock is not one of that »oit. Thoujh not an orator, h'>. sp2oches aic always carefully prepared, evince a thorough knowledge of his subject, and me delivered in a. pleasant, clear voieo. It U a very good tiling for Auckland and the colony at large that the electois of City North sent Thomas Peacock to Pailinmont as their representative, instead of William Lee Ilees. The event of the week, as far as Auckland is concerned, has been tho opening of the new Opera House. It is a. vei y pretty little building inside and 1 eflocts gi cat credit on all concerned. The outside is not yet finished, so. as 1 do not wisl) to be reminded that there ;uc two classes of people who Miould not sue half-done things, I will not pa«s judg uient on it. There are one or two ininoi defects in the internal arrangements, but in view of the general excellence of the building, I will not rotor more particularly to them. The opening performance took place on Tuesday evening in the presence of a large audience, not so huge however, as might have been expected, many people being detened fioin going by the fear that there would be an immense ciowd. The inaugural addievs was rather a weak pioduction. Tt <1 1 tainly was ihyine, but 1 would not tall it poetry. (I did not w t ite one of the rejected addresses, but, though not a poet, I flatter myself that I could write something nioio like poetry than tho " pri/c poem.") Aftci Mr Williamson had lead t lie poem, the pei foi inance of " Patience" bi'jrui. It i.s, ns almost e\ eiyone Knows, mi .(.'-.thotic opeia. am it-ten 113 \\ . S. Gilbert and composed by Arthur Sullivan. Of couimj, the whole thing is a Inn lesquo, or, to bonow one of its own expressions, super-:esthetiial. Tho music i-~, at least so tho 01 itics toll mo, not a i'iy original, but it i.s sparkling and a number of the nh.s aie u-iy "catching." The libiotto is extiemely amusing ami quite capable of exciting tho n'sible facilities of anyone reading it. The opera was splendidly put on the boards. I must admit th.it I have seen better specimens ot the sccnc-paintcis' ait, though not in Auckland, but the costumes and tho general get-up of the piece weie better than I have ever seen befoie, either Jieie or el&cwhcie. A gentleman who saw " Patience" in London told me thai it was put on the stage heic quite as well as it was thoic, with the exception of the number composing the choi us, and that Howard Vci 11011, who took the pait of "Bnuthorne, the " fleshly poet," was better than the actor who took that part in London. However, it is quite useless my attempting to describe the opera. It must be seen to be appreciated, and it is well woitli seeing, at any rate by everyone who enjoys light music and a hearty laugh. It is strange how determined some people are that New Zealand shall lag behind the rest of the woild. On Tuesday, at a meeting of shareholders in the New Zealand Shipping Company held at Christchurch, it was resolved to increase the capital of the company fiom£2-')0,000 to £1,000,000. The motion was warmly opposed by the lion J. T. Peacock on the ground that the object of the increase of the capital was that the company might be in a position to undertake .a steam service between the colony and Gioat Britain. That we will have a direct steam service, sooner or later, is a foregone conclusion, and I would far rather see it carried out by a local company than by outsiders. Not so Mr Peacock. He says it will not pay. Of course it will not pay at first, but was there ever a steam service inaugurated that was not carried on at a loss at the beginning ? Ido not think there ever was, unless in such exceptional circumstances as the opening of a goldfield. Any company, firm or individual, who begins running steamers direct between Britain and New Zealand, will lose money by the transaction for some time (unless our Parliament votes get an immense subsidy, which is not likely) but there will be ample opportunity to recoup that loss and make a handsome profit before there is any opposition. As Wednesday was the Queen's Birthday, I am bound, asaloyalsubject,to say something about it. Contraiy to the usual custom, the day was not wet. The weather was somewhat threatening, but the rain did not fall. Our "army" turned out to the number of nearly three hundred (this from a population of thirty thousand !) but I cannot say that it improves much with age. Ceitainly, the uniforms of some of our bold defenders look rather the worse for the wear, However, they went through their evolutions tolerably well, they fired a ftiHh-jotc, they gave three hearty cheers for our noble Queen, they seemed quite satisfied with their performances, and so did, a large number of men, women and children, (especially children), so it does not matter very much though some of. their uniforms did look as if they had seen better days. r St. MtTXflo.

An English graml- jury 'recommended that juvenile offenders be flogged publicly ' for such infractions of law as do not seem t o warron t md iofcmon t» •