ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1840, 22 April 1884, Page 4

ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

The Raster holidays which have just passed were remarkable chiefly for the splendid weather winch prevailed, .and which made all outdoor excursions and sports so thoroughly enjoyable. Good Friday was observed as a holy day, tlu> more devout people going to chinch, and the less devout spending tin- day quietly at the North Shore, in the Domain, or in family gatherings. On Easter Monday there was no lack of amusements, including the i aces at Ellui she, steamboat and railway excursion- 1 , bicycle laces in the Donain, and the laving of the foundation stone of the Baptist Tabernacle. Well, I suppose the last named haully comes in the list of amusement", bung a religious, ceremonial, but tiiosc who took pait in it probably enjoyed it, especially the collectors who counted out the ClOO laid on the foundation stoiv. That was a spleu did collection, especially consideiing that there are very few wealthy peopl' 1 among the Auckland Baptists. It sliow sv> hat a grand result can be obtained by thr co operation of the many. Tins was proved in Scotland when theSustontution Scheme was inaugurated in connection with the Free Church. All the mcmbcis and adherents were canvassed to asceitain how much per week each would give to the fund, and collectors were appointed to call weekly, monthly, 01 qunrteily, at the option of the snbscnbors, for tin- contubutions. These ranged from a halfpenny per week upwards, and though the amount given by each was geneially small the total aggiegate was a magnificent income. r * * In speaking of Good Fiidny I omitted to mention that on that day the Salvation Army Bariacks weie opened with a seuea of services, so that w c may consider that the Aimy has fail ly established itself here, having now a local habitation as well as a name. Of course, there au 1 many hore who have veiy grave doubts as to whether the oiganisation is doing real and permanent gold, which doubts have been stiengthened by the fact that it was at a Salvation Aimy meeting that the principal actois in the outugo in the Domain, which recently occupied the attention of the Supi erne Com t, Hist met That, however, pi o\ os nothing, as theie are black sheep m e\ciy Hock. Theie was a Judas among the twelve apostles, and I fear that thcie are none of our Chiistian church^, even the best and purest of them, which do not contain one or more membeis w hose piaotise is \eiy different from the punciples they piofess. One tiling is, I believe, quite ti ue, and that is that a number of men who u ,cd to dissipate all their earnings in public houses, have given up their diunki'iniuss pines they joined the Salvation Aimj, and now take their wages to their wives instead of to the publican'!. Those be longing to what aie commonly called the " working-class*. s" aie, ielativel>, the most independent and well-to-do section ot the community, piouded they aie iu(lustrioiia and sober, but, iMifoitunately, many ot the best vvoikmen aie .ilso the best diinkeis, so that good pa # \ is a cui^e instead of a blessing to them ; so the man or the organisation which lnducco them to give up drinking conteis a benefit on the whole community. It the Salvation Army does t'n\ ill ii»ht thinking people will wish it God speed The excellence 01 our rulway management is stdl one ot the favountc topics of conveisation. The othei d.iy I heaid of another instance of it. Papakuia was unt-.il very lcccntly a station without a stationmaster, which was a soiucc of much inconvenience to the scttlets in the neighhouihood, so they sent <i icquisition to the Minister tor Public Woiks asking him to appoint a stationm istei . Wondci fill to relate, the lequcst was complied with, and the defiled ollicial was appointed about tlnee months ago, though he did not begin his duties until tlnee weeks since. For some icason known only in the depaitmcnt, instiuction-> weie issued that the fiuight on all goods sent to 01 from I'apakuia must be paid thcic. A settler living some miles fioin the station expected a small paieel fro-n Auckland, so he sent a in.m on hon.el\ick to got it The man found that tlio p.neel had •irnvcd, but that thcio wa-> nincpencc to pay, the freight not hay mg been r>ic-paid on account of the legulation already mentioned. He had no money with him, so he had to return without the paicel. The next day his employer give him money to pay the freight, and sent him again to the station. When he got theie he found that the stationmastei had been suddenly removed, and had locked up the 2)aicel bpfoie leaving. The consequence is that that man will have to make a third journey and lo«c a thud hali day, to pa)' that nincpencc and get that parcel. And this i-> our lailway management ! Some enterpiiainji Aucklandeis aie going to make anew depaituiein journalism Most people ate fannliai with the " Home News " 01 the " Euiopean Mail ' Or both. The new papei is to bo somewhat simiLu to them, nnd to be i.illcd the " Anirlo-N'tw Zealandei," Two editions will be published foittnghtly, one containing Home news foi transmission to the colony, and the other containing New Zealand news for cii dilation in Gieat Biitun. The latter, in addition to news and ai tides on colonial topics, will give a great deal of valuable infoinution to intending colonists and will be supplied gratuitously to all the leading Public Libraries and Athenaeum* m the United Kingdom and a numbei of copies will be placed on board all vessels leaving for New Zealand and Austialn. Mr G. M. Reed, one of the oiigmal piopnetors of the Auckland Evening Stai, and who has been for some, lately on the editoiial stafi of the New Zealand Heiald, leaves for London by the next San Fiancisco mail steamer, to act as editor of the Anglo-New Zealander, so we may rest assured that the editoiial dcpaitment will be in able hands. Business people beie have taken up the pioject splendidly, adveitisements having been promised to a veiy laige amount, an amount far exceeding the anticipations of the promoteis. They expected that the principal adveitiscis would have been British firms, but I believe that the adveitisements icceived in the colony amount to nearly half as much as the total amount expected in the United Kingdom. This proves that New Zealandeis themselves have every faith in the future of the colony and the good that will be done to it by the publication of the Anglo-New Z'- 1 lander. The Eangitikei has arrived here after a passage of a hundred and twenty-three days, just about the time occupied by theTongaiiro in the lound voyage fiom London to New Zealand and back. This is rather too slow travelling for the \ear of Grace, ISS4, and will be a potent argument in favour of sending all emigrants to the colony in steameis instead of sailing vessels. The cost to us is just about the same. I think it is exactly the same, but am not quite sure. At any rate, if it is not there is no great difference. Now, if the immigrants who ar rived in the Rangitikei had come out by the steamer, they would have been here about two months ago, and most of them ■would have been earning money, and all of them would have been consuiriing dutiable goods, so that we have lost two months of their labour and the duty on the articles which they would have used in those two months. That extra duty would have done something towards reducing the deficiency in the levenue. However, they came by sailing vessel instead of by steamer, so there is no use in crying over spilt milk, but we must Bee that it does not happen again. * * * The Japanese waiship, Tsububa, has left for Chile, after a stay here of about a month. We will mias the little Japs, who swarmed about our streets, and were remarkable for their good behaviour and their love of flowers. Nothing seemed to give them so much pleasure »q receiving

a bouquet. They seemed very intelligent, and bonie of them managed to learn u little English during their short stay lieie. One of them showed me some of their paper money, one note being ot the value of five and another of the value of tt'iipence, or, to use their own coinage, ten son and twpnty son. Hi 1 seemed surpiiscl when I showed him <v £1 and told him it w.is worth 4SO sen. I regretted that 1 had not a five po.iud or a trn pound note, so that I might have told him its value in sen, until I recollected that lie piobibly did not know how many units theie weie in a thousand. St Mongo.