ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

Waikato Times, Volume XX, Issue 1711, 23 June 1883, Page 3

ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

Tin; question of whether the plans for the big dock at Calliope Point should bo referred to a consulting engineer bofoie being sent to Wellington foi submission to the Oovernor-in-Couneil has been again brought befoic the public, and this time s in a~ somewhat peculiar manner. Mr' C. B. Stone, eliairrnan of the Harbour Btwd, haswiitten a long letter to the deprecating the delay consequent a consulting engineer, and the plans to him. While adhis right to di&cuss such a matter Vi the coin inns of a newspaper, and Pkhile expressing my firm conviction that • nothing is better for pi eventing jobbery than a fiee ventilation of the subject in the public pi ess, I must say that I think Mr Stone has been guilty of a piece of bad taste in wiiting to the Jlciald as he has done. His remarks would have come with very good grace from the chair at a meeting of the Harbour Board, and would have received the public attention that they deserve, but I am afraid that he has partially defeated his ohjecfc by writing to a newspaper on the subject before stating his views to the board of which he is chairman. There can be no two opinions about the desirability of hastening the construction of the big dock as much as possible, but we have a very good sample in our present dock of what the Harbour Board can do in the way of producing an abortion, and as the chairman naively admits that none of the members of the board are engineers, it behoves them to get the opinion of some duly qualified engineer on the plans for the dock at Calliope Point before expending an immense sum of the public money on what may prove a greater abortion than the present dock. Without impugning the ability of the board's engineer, it is sufficient to remark that he has never been connected with any

work approaching the magnitude of the pieposed clock, and being but mortal he is liable to error, so it is the bounden duty ot tlie Harbour Board to take every possible precaution, so that they may construct a dock which will be a permanent benefit to the port, and not an object of ridicule to e\ery well-informed stranger who comes here. # * A man named Piuccll seems to have victimised a number of the Auckland publicans, and to ha\o escaped the penalty ot his clinic. His uwrht-. apunixtt was to go to the publican, olFeiing to '-ell him easUs of spit its, obtain p-ijinent of a part or the whole of the piuch.ise money, ,md tlien deliver casks ot water, or else decamp without delivering anything. There is no doubt but that the thing was done, but thiough blunders in laying the informations, .uid insufficiency ot e\Mcnco the cases broke down, and Pm cell ebc.ipud the penalties of the l.iw. There is very little sympathy for the publicans, as fiom the pnu.s at which the .sjiints wcie offered to them they inusL have believed them to be smuggled. The eases, though they bioke down, ought to put the police and the customs oifieets on the aleit, as it is extreme nnpiobable that the publicans would have parted with their money so readily unless they were in the habit of buying smuggled spirits occasionally. With the extended seaboard which we have smuggling can be earned on, and it is pretty genei ally believed that it is can led on, so it becomes the v.uious olheials to be on the aleit, both on account ot the 10->a to the lovenuo, and for the piotcetion of the honest tuuler who gives the mai ked value ot the goods lie bujs, and pays the customs duties. There was a very good instance of how the customs duties m.i v be cv aded despite the vigilance of the oiheeis, in Auckland a few yi ,11 sago It may he lcmembcicd thatthcie was a distillery in Stanleyt.hect, vvlieic some voiy bad whi-k} was made. The Lei'islatuie decided that the uiainteuance ot that branch of local industiy entailed too heavy a lots on the Excheijtiei, so an act was passed by which the distilleiy was compelled to btop woik, ,md the piopnetois vveie compensated foi then 10->s. Son.c time aflciwm ds the cii-totus olhceis dioeoveied that not all tlie Auckland made whisky had been distilled at the Auckland Distilleiv, but that foi >oais an llliut still had been in use light undei their own noses - in Custom House stieet. Mi \V. (!. (Janaid, the people:-, ehaihpion, has i -lulled a wut against Mr Thomas Cotta, the letuunnsi olhcer, foi U.">oo damages for false inipiisonineut, &c. How lie would like to get that little sum, or even one lithe of it. lie would, I believe, lie (jinte content to sullei nn.e houis' lneaieeiaLioii (for th.it was the extent of it), as ol^en a-> anyone " woith powdu and shot ' like d to give it him .it the pine. It it happened once a month, allowing l'"> 0 toi each ti iin of niipiisonmenf, that would Ljive Mi (J.inaid CoOO ;i \eai, one and .1 hall times Lhe .uuoiiut he would h.iv e leceivud ,is honoiaiiuin had he .ittuned Ins d.uling w i^h and been elected aM II U. Yes CH)() a yeai, and that without i mining any lisk ot having Ins high code of nioials deteiioi.ited by contact with those wicked politicians who meet annually .it Wellington. I hope Mr Gat i aid will liave all the success with Ins action th.it he deseivcs, but, without pie.suming to pre-judgc the ease, [ think I may saiely say that that is not much. So Mi Fish lias given notice of his intention to ask the Government if they piopose this session to mtiodiiee a, lull to amend the Licensing Act by abolishing elected committees, ami lev citing to the sj stem of noiniii,! ted benches [ think he might as well have saved him»clt the tiouble, as, sofai, the new system has been pioduetne ot much good to the public, though not to the publican, in leresl. 'lhe people who object to it aie the hi cvv cis, tlio wine and spnit meieh.mts, and the publicans. Tliey lind that Licensing (Jommissioneu elected by Liv people eiidcav om to piovidefoi 1 1 i c iieeomodation of their constituents, and whcntheieis a conlhct ot inleievt be tw een the public and the publican, the latter goes to the wall Taking one eon- ' sideiation with another a LieuiMiit; Commissioners life is nob a happy one. The " twwle'' giowl at him and abii'-e him, because he insists onpiopei accoinodation lieinu (iiov ulcil toi the public, while 111" teetotiilleib pitch into him and bully-rag him because he does not tefnse to lenew a nuinbei of licenses. However, I believe that the elective .sv.&tem has been pioductive of much good, and that the public will not be willing to be deprived of Lhe pow er they now hay c. Ai the meeting of the .Ait Society on Monday evenim.', Di l'nrehas m.wlu ,i sa»H< ion, which is one of the most nbsuid tn.it lias been ollered to the public. If W.iiiilm, tlie witlcs-,, weic hcie I am sine he would take oil his caj) and bells and hand them to Di Puichas, with the iem.uk that he descivcd toweai them, ashevva 1 - the gi cater fool ot the two. His sugue^tion w.is that the land between S\irioiuts sheet and Welleslcy - stieet East, I'aik Place and U'Roi ke stieet, should be taken as the site for tlie Flee I'ulibc Libi.uy, Ait Galleiy and Uni\eisity. The land in cjuestion has been leased to about a do/en dilTcrent holdeis, w !io have built houses thereon. In oidei toe.uiy out the pioposal it would be necessary to buy those houses which, at a model ate estimate, would cost i! 10,000, though it would piob.ibly cost much moi e than that sum. The city council would have to pay that ClO.OOO, and would, in addition, lose the considei able lentil they now receive fiom their tenants. They will ceitiiinly do nothing of the soi t, but will build the Fiec Public Libr.uy, and possibly the Ait (Jalleiy, on a poition of their own unoccupied laud, and leave the (Jeneial CTOvemment the task of finding a site for a Univeisity. The gieat Pro-consul, who was very rpuet dtuiiig the last session of Pailiament, seems to have " bioken out in a fiesh place," and to be determined to make himself as great a nui«anco as possible to the Government and the country. What a nice mess he would made if he succeeded in carrying out all his pioposals. By the way, he very nearly placed himself in the position of being unable to make such .in eaily start ns he did with Ins wonderful pioposals. Whon Captain Fairchild was in town, when he came up the first time to take down the Speaker and the first batch of mcinbeis, he met Sir George, and asked him if he was croing down the liist trip. " No," said he, "I will A\ait till Sunday." " Well," said the captain, "if you go Tuesday I can give you a good cabin, but if you wait till Sunday there are a number of ladies going down." " Ah," said the gallant knight, •' I think I had better go on Tuesday." St. Munuo.

AmjiULLA. — 'Yes, I think tins sweet pug is perfection. Don't you ?' ' No, not exactly ; but I do. think he is a veiy near perfection.' ' Poktbe,' said a passenger from Albany on the ISew York Central railroad, as he stepped into his sleeping-berth, ' call me at Lyons, suie.' ' All right, sab.' Lato next motniug he called him. ' Only twenty minutes from Buffalo, sah.' ' Why didn't you call me at Lyons !' ' Lyons "p ' Fore goodness, dats it ! You did say Lyonf., for suah, boss, an' I done tought ober the wholo circus, an' I hope to dip if I could kotch ento animilo higher dun Buffalo. I'll icmember the cage next time, boss.' Dti, J. Tukj:. in a lecture under the auspices ot tlie Edinburgh Health Society, referred to oatmeal poi ridge and milk as containing "all the necessary constituents of food in the most perfect proportions. " He added th&t it is " quite open to argument whether the teapot or the whisky bottle exercise the more bauefuji effects on the public constitution."