ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

Waikato Times, Volume XX, Issue 1657, 17 February 1883, Page 3

ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

It is very satisfactory to know that the vittempt to smelt the iron sand, of which are millions of tons on the West f^E)ast of this Island, which has, been T^ade at Onehunga has resulted in an unqualified success. I hope and' believe, that Messrs Chambers and Gardiner will make, colossal fortunes as the due reward of their enterprise, for fortunes to them ' must i necessarily mean "a, good time " , for all of us. They certainly deserve ;to succeed as, knowing full well that many thousands of pounds had been spent in abortive attempts to smelt the iron sand, they had the pluck to go' to large expense to make another trial. <■ Of course they felt confident that tnty ' 'would" sue-,, ceed,' but s6' did everyone, , who ,' ma|de similar attempts, and the pessimists prog-, ; nostieated that'; they would "simply 1 aidd one more to : tile list of failures. ..^at they nave hot done 'so ia matter " of mfrs^ > , hearty congratulation to> everyone in Ijhe .; polony, as they have added, one imore ;to - the; important industries ot> Newi Zealand, n and thafciaW industry Whose benfefit cafanot M'ellbeover estimated. /('Kot^onlywill' it provide profitable to the , ,raenr isactiifcllyj/ )!• required,* •m'ityti the, work, but it will-.E^'i4rit(.bldu?3' T'locah'-iroaeMmitßrB 1 ••mTWSm^ironfi s i<.vporker«*;<to' i "*roauce < WtWifr'^iMXob , * mpotm'iLJMM But^lli«^l|»pl|en^blßf

will thus receiver a^ouble benefit. lie will have a larger number of customers for his produce and, at the same tim[e, will have less money 'to pay for his implements./ Tliii 'jhrill, ft*<a]nmtter of course, re-act orf Jill classes or the com•mnnifcy, iso thati alliarp interested' dn/ the matter and should most heartily wish Messrs Chambers? 1 and Gardiner the greatest possibles sjnccess,'. and hope that Onehunga may become the Birminghaim The elections for 'the several licensing committee* for the city are to take place on Monday netft,' there being plenty jof candidates for moat of the committees. Those nominated by the advocates of temperance (by-the-bye there is not much temperance 'about, them,, as they are generally very extreme, not to say rabid, in their views) are pledged to vo,te , for 10, o'clock licenses. I .do not think ,they are likely, to carry this, point, and' I must admit that I do not .think it would i |be well for, them to, do so. It is all very j well to, say that there is no absolute requirement for public-houses to be open! after 10 o'clock. There may be, no absolute requirement, but, inasmuch as people have been accus- ' tomed > to the hqtcls being open until midnight, they will strongly object to have them closed ten o'clock, and, should the Licensing Committee decide that they must be cloperl at that hour, the consequence will be that the law wi'l be broken, the police will have to insti- 1 tute proceedings against the publicans, .there will be any amount of hard swearing, and few, if any, convictions. My \ own opinion is that the teetotallers are • attempting to 010 too much, and will fail to do anything. If they would attempt to cot the hotels closed at eleven o'clock they would be supported by the bust, if not the majority of the hotel-keepers. A ' considerable number of our Auckland < licensed victu«illeis are les^ectable hieu, who would much prefer to close their, houses at eleven o'clock, but will resent the attempt to compel them to close at ten o'clock, and I feel sure that the teetotallers will over-reach themselves. They ate essaying too big a jump and will probably land themselves in the mire.

It is a curious thing that many people who are very fond of playing piactical jokes on others object strongly to having practical jokes played on themselves. Some time ago there was a commercial traveller here, who was very fond of indulging in that sort of amusement. One form of joke for which he had a decided penchant was pretending to be deaf and dumb. One day he went into an hotel with a friend, who told the barmaid that he was a deaf mute. She expressed much surprise, saying that he did not look like it. " I will prove it to you," said his friend. He picked up a heavy weight which happened to be ou the counter, remarking, " I am going to drop this weight on his toe. Of course, if he can hear what lam saying, he will move his foot, but, as he cannot hear me, he will Hot do so." The deaf mute made not the slightest sign of having heard the remark, until the weight was dropped on his toe. Then he called out, "confound it, you did not need to hit me so hard." His friend quietly remarked to the barmaid, "That is the most miraculous cure of dumbness that I have ever known." V ' The Government have acted with commendable wisdom in proclaiming an amnesty to political offenders among the Maotis, such as Te Kooti. It will prove to the natives that we are willing to "let the dead past bury its dead," and will hasten the complete opening up of those poitions of the colony which, since the Waikato "war, have been s>o strictly closed against Europeans. There can be no doubt that, had the positions been reversed, we would have done what the Maories did — have taken up arms in defence of our wives and families, our homes and property. The action of the Maoris was not nearly so reprehensible as that of the Ameiicans who, a little more than a century ago, declared their independence of England, and fouaht for their freedom. The Maoiis fought against an alien race, whereas the Americans fought against their own flesh and blood. The main dillbrenee was that the Americans were successful, while the Maoris were not. Theie is a great deal of force in the couplet — •' lYeason doth nc\er prosper, what's the reason 5 Why if it prosper none dare call it tieason," The treason of the Maot is did not prosper. They fought bravely, but had to succumb to superior numbers. Seeing that we need no longer fear anything that oui* dusky brothers can do we can afford to be magnanimous, and I believe that every right-minded man in the colony will bo glad that the Amnesty has been proclaimed. Some of the Grammar School governors have been indulging in gentlemanly pleasanti ies among themselves, It seems that soino time ago it wag decided that all meetings of the board, whether ordinal y or special, should be held at four o'clock in the afternoon, that being the time most convenient for the majority of the Governors. In spite of that decision, a special meeting was convened for noon of one day last week, to consider the report of asuL-comniittee, re ball-courts at the school. Tluee members attended the meeting, and they decided that the ballcourts should be erected at a cost of more than £100. Anothei special meeting was convened for noon on Tuesday, to receive the report of thp committee appointed to select a site for ,a boarding-school. Mr Tyler said that noon was an exceedingly inconvenient hour for him to attend a meeting, and moved that the consideration of the business set down on the notice-paper be deferred till the ordinary meeting of the board at 4 o'clock on the last Tuesday in February. Mr Peacock supported the motion, and said that the action of the three members who attended the last special meeting was unseemly. Mr Dargaville characterised Mr Peacock's remark as impertinent, for which he was called to order by the chairman, and .was compelled to withdraw the objectionable epithet. Ultimately, a motion was carried that the consideration of the business be postponed till <a special meeting to be held at 4 o'clock on Thursday, and Mr Tyler gave notice of a motion to rescind the resolution re ball-courts. Heading the reports of the meetings of the Board of Governors is certainly calculated to have a very benefical effect on the boys attending the Grammar School. I think the Melbourne Argiis has taken up a very position with regard to Mr Redmond, M.P. for New Ross, Ireland, who has come out to the colonies for the purpose of organising branches of the Irish Land League** The Argus warns Irishmen not to support the movement' and strongly deprecates the transference , of old world feuds, to the colonies* We* have plenty to do here <to build up our own institutions on a satisfactory basis without tmeddling with what does not conoeru:uB, and I hope that Mr Redmond will receive! no encouragement in . New Zealandi, , ,' „ , ; >)\Vi> -m> ; ' 'St. MrJNGO.

'' Tkk who got' the last ' tvo^d in disjntyin'g'with a- 1 woban lias advertised 'to'Wh'istle'fbr a toriger'agaib&t a ldcomotive. Wtfere shall' l tyty'm'y furniture '"and" carpets ? Ybu l f canfi6t» do better than purchks? from Garlick and Carnwell, who hay« no\V a XX e ry ! a rep r^? ortl WP n t of k?" fcedsteds, (^varying in pnce from 10s 6d to to'ten pounds, and keep) in stock bedding ol all sizes and kinds.' ■'Their large factory is completed, and machinery in full •Bf!Wifim*PjVjffy WWVIt? J",™ puj^ furniture ■tjuiclier and cheaper than hitherto. Gf. & iC. always, havo!ready^a.llargo;t'ariety of drawin and dining--room / suites, Spcpial attention is,'pjiid< to bedroom furniture', 'suitable to all clasies; Groat ' variety of ,j; carpets, Kidderminster,' ILinoulem and oil cloth for gballs of Maricnester' flannels, blankets,^ ctirtains, cretonnes, "dainkskj