ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

Waikato Times, Volume XX, Issue 1709, 19 June 1883, Page 3

ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

+ Ox Tuesday the Rinemoa took away the fiist contingent of the Auckland Membeis of Uiu Gcncial Assembly, among them being Sir Maurice O'Koike ami Sir GeoigeGiey. No! lam wumg. Tr-e ltotoiua, which staited just befoie the Hinemoa, took away the liist contingent, which consisted of 1?. H.uiis, Esq., M.H.11. for Fianklin Noith, otlieiwiso known as Major H.viris because he is major of nothing. What is the use of the Government sending the Hinumoa to take om mctnbcis to Wellington if some of them will not bi.i\el by hoi, butprefoi to compel the countiy to pay their passages by the Union Company's boats? Yet I ha\e no doubt but th.it M.i]oi Harris will calmly sit in the House and prate about economy and rettenehnient. Well, his efforts in the direction of retienchmcnt arc just what we might expect f » om one of the thick and thin suppoiteisof the Grey Ministry, as we know well the state of financial muddle to which theii mode of letienchmcnt brought the colony. At any rate, however they have gone, the first batch of our Auckland members has started for windy Wellington, so wo ■will soon hear of the opening of Pailianient, and befoie long w e shall know w hat Mr Montgomery and his iiionds mean to do in the way of turning out the piesent Ministry, if they aie so ra^-h as to make the attenipt^this session. lam veiy doubtful whether they will be so lash, as they must be well aw .ue that the country is \ery well satisfied with the piesent Government, and would eeitainly not wish to see it replaced by such a one as Mr Mont gomery could form, even if he could secmethe s»an ices of that heaven-s j nt financier Mr Dargaville, a Colonial Treasiuer. Our two daily papers have been lashing themselves into fuiy about the site foi the Fiec Public Lib'raiy. The Sfai proposed that it should be built in the Albeit Paik, on the site on which that ugly old stone building, the armoury, stood, -which was bought by the city council, after a \ety hard bmgain had been made by Mr Bryce, who twitted us Aucklandois with the fact that our resthetic tastes were offended by the sight of that ugly building in the centre of our beautilul paik. The meie fact of the Stai advocating that particular site was enough to set the Hi mid up in arms and to make it condemn the site, and to object to the Public Libiary being in the park, as a curtailment of the space, and as interfering with the lights of those who had leased land around the paik, Tne Unohl apparently lost sight of the fact that when those people acquired their leases there was a very ugly building in the centre of the park, and that it is since those leases began that the City Council aequiied the piece of land on which it is proposed to build the Public Libiary. So far as I can learn the leaseholders in question do not object to the proposal. They did most naturally object to the ugly old armoury staling them in the face whenever they looked towaids the park, but I believe that all, or almost all of them would be glad to see a handsome building erected there for a l<Yee Public Library, and for myself I know of no more fitting site for such a building, so I hope that the City Council v ill ignore the HoaUVs objections, and erect the edifice on the site which they bought with the ratepayers' money. I wonder where our Auckland builders went to school, or rather where they learned arithmetic. They are, as a rule, as honest men a3 can be found in this or any other city, and yet look at any list of tenders, and see what a* tremendous difference there is in the amount of tenders sent [in for any building to be contracted for. I was particularly struck by the discrepancy on looking at the list of tenders sent in for the block of buildings to be erected for Mr T. Russell on the site of the illfated Coffee Palace. The lowest tender was £13,721, and the highest £20,689, the difference being nearly £7000, or a little more than 50 per cent. Assuming that the man who sent in the lowest ten-, der named a price which would pay him, which seems probable, iv view of the fact that two or three other tenders were but slightly higher than his, what a tremendous profit the highest tenderer would have made had he been so fortunate as to secure the "Qntract ! £7000 ! I have no doubt but that the highest tenderer merely allowed for a reasonable profit and a fair margin for contingencies, and, as he should be able to get work done as cheaply as anyone else, the only conclusion, I can, e.oin.e tq ia thati hii

arithmetic was at fault. 1 think it would be a good thing if one of the profcssois ot the University would deliver a course of lectures on arithmetic, and I would strongly advise the Auckland builders to take tickets for the course. V It somctiincB happens that a contractor makes a serious mistake in the amount of his tender through inadvertence. I remember, on one occasion, a gentleman calling for tenders for the erection of a large wooden building. A number of tenders were sent in. with even more than the customary difference between highest and lowest. Indeed, the lowest tendei was a great deal below any of the otheis, but as the man who had bent it in was a I most reliable man, his tendei was accep | ted. He signed the usual documents, and then, seeing how much his tender I was below that of anyone else, he looked thiough his estimates again. He soon found the cause of the great difreience. Tic had omitted to allow amjtlnutj jor tin coU of tlw limber. A soi t of " white-washed" Yankee has been heie for sometime past, being agent for a quack medicine, which he has been extensively advmtismg. He is very tond of boasting about his achievements, but he met his match the other evening. He was diniii" in one of our principal hotels, and was telling a number of gentlemen who weie sitting at table with bun about some of his ftats. " I guess that I caught the liist salmon that was taken m Tasmanian Maters," said he. "Excuse mo," said an Auckland citi/cn who was picsent, " I believe that I caught the first salmon that was taken out of T.ismauifin wateis." " W.ial, I guess th.it 1 caught the first," said the sham Yankee. " When was that ?" asked the Aucklander. The stranger mentioned i the y ear, and the local man antedated him' by two yems. " Did you know so and so, and so-and-so, and so-and so ? asked the quack medicine vendor, nannnu several people. " No," said the Aucklander. " Did you know so-and-so, and so-and-so, and so-and-so ?" mentioning seveial other people. "No," replied the "white-washed Yankee. " Then Ido not believe you wete ever in Tasmania, ' sjid the Aucklander, " foi evexyone thcie knows them." The finishing stioke wa<» given to the br.iggatt by a stiangci iiom an adjoining colony, who looked at him very steadily for a few minutes, and then very (jiuctly asked, '■ Weic you ever in Am'eiiua?" The quack-medicine vendoi collapsed. St. MtTXG'o.