ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1825, 18 March 1884, Page 4

ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

Last week we were growling at the absence of European news through the break-down of the telegraph line. The cause ttmieil out to he the cutting of the line by a poor lonely wanderer, who, having neither food nor water and his horse having died, had cut itiu the hope that the men would hasten to discover the cause of the interruption mid save him from death. Alas ! poor man, the relief came, butt), late, as Ik> li.nl oueeumbed, dying fio n thirst. ILvd he been a telegraph opeiator he could ha\e communicated his diro distress to thobc ■who would have sent him timely help. Mark Twain, in his " Innocents at Home," tells a capital story about a man who had been a telegraph opciatoi. One day a man drove up to a wayside telegraph office in a wagon drawn by a team of jaded hoises. Ho picketed his horses, went into the office, and began talking to the telegraphist. The latter had very little work to to do and so was very glad to have someone to talk to. For several days the waggoner f.teu ed there, spending his time talkiig to th ; te'cgrai h operatorThen he sent a telegram to a fiiend in San Francisco, "Am tired of waiting. Will syll the team and return home," That simple message announced the result of an impoitant mining lawsuit, which the seeming wagoner had heard ticking along tne telegiaph line, and by means of the early infoimation so acquired, the friend in San Fiaucisco was enabled to buy a great number of shares in the mine and lie and his confederate made a large fortune by the transaction.

The lens and annoyance caused by the interruption of telegraphic communication with Euiope is an additional prooi of the necessity of an alternative line, and the incident w ill inatei lally help Sir Julius Vogel in successfully floating his company to pro\u\e a s«com\ lme. It is to be hoped that the projected company will provide a complete altemati\c line and will in no case use the existing lines, even though that should have the effect of delaying for some years the la) ing of the submarine cable between here and America. Talking about subinanne cables reminds me that there is a good deal of dissatisfaction expressed at the neglect of the department to make piovision for the use of the Tiiitiri cable at night. This could be veiy easilj obviated. At piesent messages me telephoned fiom Tniliti to Waiwera and telegraphed thence to Auckland, and, as AVanveia sUtion closes at ."> o'clock, no message can bo sent aftei that lioui e\cept by special ai lamjement. The picsont telegiaphist at Waiweia lives in the telegraph otticc and is a inanitd man, f-o he should be msti noted to teach his wife to use the telephone, and she should be allowed £20 or £.30 per annum for hei services, with the stipulation that one 01 other of them should be always picpaied to receive and transmit messages. It a telephone weie attached to the Auckland line, it would be a \eiy simple matter, with pithor the tdugiaphht or his wife in the office at Waiweia, to tiansmit a message to Auckland within a few seconds of its desp^^-li fiom Tiiitin.

There is moie jubilation among the temperance party, tiiey lia\ing succeeded in procuring the election of all their candidates at Newmarket on Satindaj, though 011I3' by very nairow majoiities. I am glad that they have bten successful, for it would ha\ c been the Height of absurdity had all the hotels in the city been compelled to close at 10 o'clock, ■while those at Newmarket were allowed to remain opou till 11 or 12, and 0110 hotel, at any late, at Newmaiket is notoiious for Sunday hading. The licensee theicof was chaiged with the offence at the Police (Joint the other day, but the case was dismissed as evidence was given to the cflect that the man who, it was alleged, had bought beer on Sunday, was taking the beei to a daughter of the hotelkeepei's wife. Seeing that the man was engaged in such a laudable undei taking, it was veiy wrong of him to thiow a" ay the bee) when a policeman 1 <» after him. There aie some people who ad\ocate the opening of the hotel-, at stated hours on Sundays, but I am quite sine that the community would not tolei ate that, as it would legalise Sunday tiadmg. Today 1 was talking to .u> old lesident, who was a member of the Pi ouncial Council at the line that it pissed the Pel missive Bill, our Provincial Council having been, I belie\e, the Hist legislative body in the woild to pass such an act. The M. PC in question was going to the Council Chambers to attend a cominitto meeting on the Licensing Act, when he uasaecrsted by the late Captain Beekham, who spoke to him 011 the subject, advocat'iig a clause in the Bdl authotising tho open ing of hotels foi cuitain horns on Sundays. The M.P.C. said that he would object to such a clause which would make it an ofFeree against the Act for anjonc, not a lodger nor a member of the landlords' lamily to go into an hotel on a .Sunday. " 1 should object to that also, ' was the leply, "because Mi Macmuly, who keeps an hotel, is a fuend of mine, and being a very heavy man he cannot come to my house, so I go to his house to talk to him on Sundays. Ot coiuse,' said Captain Beekham, "theie aie caseswhere the law would piess inconveniently on the individual, but the individual must be prepaied to suffer for the public good. "Quite so," said the JvI.P.C "Well! the Eail of Pembioke is stay ing at the St.v Hotel. Suppose he wanted to obtain some infoimation fiom Oapt. Beekham and invited him to take dinner with him on Sunday and he accepted the invitation and went, Capt Beekham would be liable to punishment for a bleach of the Licensing Act. Last Sunday one of the Queen's sons went to the Star Hotel to see the Kail of Pern broke. If your clause had been in foi ec j he would have been bi ought up at the "Police Court the next morning chaiged ' •with a breach of the Licensing Act." "Ah ! I had not thought of such cases,' •was the reply. "No," said the M P.C , "the individual must suffer foi the public good when I am the individi'a l , but not when it is Capt. Beekham or the Duke of Edinbuigh." Capt. Beekham went away in disgust without suggesting any more clauses for the Licensing Act. *■ '

Mi' Mitclielson, whose appointment as Minister of Public Woiks was believed to haxo weakened the Ministry, seems to he doing woik which will tend very mateiialy to itnpio\c the position of the Government. In older to please the Canterbury tnomueia and their constituents the railway freight changes on giam and wool weie reduced to such an extent that the mor grain and wool $>ent by rail the greater the loss to the colony. Mr Mitchelhon hasnow raided thoseehaiges to n payable rate, \\ Inch, it is behovcil will add -£1.30,000 per annum to tlie lailway receipts. For that he dcci ws the gr.itude if the whole colony. Ho lias also addressed himself to the task of reducing the expenses in the department under his own control. He has abolished the Coloni'il Architect's Office and effected other reductions to the extent of £,'{o,ooo per annum. It is to be hoped that he ■will continue the work of retrenchment and that the other Mm sters will carry out a simular policy in their departments. If, asisgcneially believed, the cost of Government can be reduced by £100,000, withoutany loss of efficiency, we'may fairly expect a considerable remission of taxation in the near future.

There is one thing which the Ministry should do which would cause almost as much satisfaction in this part of the colony as their retrenchment policy, and that is to withdraw all opposition to the Waikato-Rotorua Railway, and let the directors of the company make their own terms with the Maoris, bo as to hasten its construction. Of course, thfl TflUr&nga people cannot and will not JjelieyojVbut the natural route to RotoIf "ttu-pngh tye WaiUftto, && the.

sooner the railway is cor a ructed the sooner will we hnve crowds of excursionists coming over from Australia to see the "Wonderland of New Zealand," enriching Auckland and all other places o:i t!ie route. Theie are thousands of people in Australia who arc tired to death of going to Tasmania for then summer trip, and who "ill flock ovor here as soon as they know that they can co by rail in one d.iy fioin Auckland to Rotonia. In most instances, money is no object to them, but they will not put up with the discomforts of travelling in a small steamer fioin licio to Tauranga, there to get into a conch and he j< lti j d oscr forty ini'es of villainous road. The present Waikato loute is far preferable to that, but it id not so well advertised as the Tauranga route, and it involves journeying by coach, which is not always pleawuit, to say nothing about the extra tune occupied. " Depend upon it, as soon as the Waikato-Rotorux Kail way is completed, for one who now goes to the Hot Lakes, there will be ten, if not twenty, many of whom will take advantage of the fact of their being theie to make a trip tin ou<rh the Waikato, and some of them will buy property, thus enhancing the value of Waikato land. St. Muxgo.