ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1843, 29 April 1884, Page 3

ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

It is very evident that the time lias not yet come when it is advisable to give up the Snn Francisco mail sen ice and got our letters by the direct ste.\iueis. Tlio Tongariro left England the day before the last San Fiancnco mail, winch arrived here on Sunday foitmght, Apiil 6th, those Auckland people who have private boxes at the Post Office lccening their letters that same night, the geneial public here and all countiy bettleis within oue day's mail delheiyof Auckland receiving their-? on Monday, Apul 7th, Wellington and Christclmreh people receiving theirs on Tuesday, Apul Bth, Dunedin on Wednesday, Apul !)th, .and Invercargill on Thursday, April 10th. So much for the San Fiancisco mail, which, as you will see, was dNtributed throughout New Zealand by the last mentioned date, as there is no Post Office which would not be reached as soon as, it not befoie, Inveicargill. Now for the mails hi ought by the Tongaiiro, which, bear in mind, is one of the newest and fastest of the direct steameis. She ai rived at Poit Chalmers on Thuisday, April 17th, on which day her mails would b" dcli\cred in Dunedin They would reach Invercargill and Chnstchuich on Friday, April 18th, Wellington on Saturday, Apt il 19th, and they ariived here on Tuesday, April 22nd. It will be seen that Dunedin received its mails by the Tonaatiro eight days later than the 'Frisco mails, which left London a ray later. Invercargill did the same, while Christchurch icceived its mails ten clays later, Wellington eleven, and Auckland sixteen da\s later. No, the direct steams may do very well for supplying us with a supplementary mail, but they cannot yet take the place of the San Fiancisco mail, which costs the colony only a veiy small sum per annum By the way, it s< ems, rather a misno ncr to call the Tongai n o a diiect steamer, seeing that she lost four days by detention at the \arious poits at which she called, u The "Herald" has been calling attention to the wretchedly lnefhcicnt com munication between Auckland and S\dney provided by the Union Steamship Co. They despatch a boat from heic e\ery fortnight, but she almost nivaiiably leaves before the incoming vessel has arrived from Sydney, so that business people here have no oppoituuity of ie plying to letters from their Sydney coirespondents, fora fottmght, except once a month when an additional mul is taken by the 'Frisco mail boats, arid they leave only a day or two before the Union Co's boats, so that we have piactically only monthly e< mnmnication w ith Sydney. It is very certain that we will not lest contented with that, and unless the Union Co. mat e bettei ai langonujiits we must get someone eLo to do so. If all the Auckland mcichaits and importers combiue to ofler some other company tin 1 whole of their business, piuxied they run a steamer regulaily between Am Island and Sydney, the inducement will be quit s ifbcient to get one or two fiist class steameis placed on thebeith. I believe it would lie bottoi for us to pio\ide our own steamer, and so be independent of foicign companies. An Auckland citizen owns the " Tiiumph," which will soon be leady for sea again If she weiu placed on the Sydney tiadc and Aucklind people combined to suppoit her, she would pay splendidly, and our con veuienee would be consulted, as it is not now. Our Resident Magistrate does not seem to have a proper idea of the hcinousnoss of an offence which seems to be becoming too common heic —the assaulting of constables while in th'j execution of their duty. A diunken lowcty named Cain (rather an appiopnatj name), was going along Qneen-stieet on Monday night, and amusing himself by joitling the pa^ieia by. A constable attempted to auest him when the fellow showed tight, and a rough iiinl tumble ensued, in which the constable got veiy much knocked about, and it wa» only with the assistance of a civilian that the arrest was affected The man was brought up at the Police Coiut befoie the Resident Magistiate, chaiged with (1) being diunk and disordeily; (2) assaulting the constable; and (3) damaging his unitoun. He pleaded guilty, and was fined 20a for the lirst offence, 10-> for the second, and to pay the damaf.es for the thud, or in default 14 days' nnpiisonmcnt. It teem-) to me that such a sentence is an incentive to crime. Suiely the magistrate does not know how few constables and how many drunken rowdies there are. lie must go about with his eyes shut, or he would know that our police force is sadly inadequate to preserve law and oidcr, and that it requires all the support the bench cm give. I hope that the next time there is a rough-and-tumble going on, the Resident Magistrate will be there to lend a hand. If he is he will be bettei able to sympathise with the constables in the future. v •+ I have just lecened the thirty-fifth annual repoit of the Austiaban Mutual Provident Society, which is ceitainly the best assuiance association in the colonies, and, I belie\e, in the woild. I will not bore you with a lot of iiguies, as I am not aciv fond of them myself, and know \eiy few people who are, but I cannot help drawing attention to the tact that the Society's Accumulated Fund amounts to, within atiifie, fi\e millions stei ling, and that the inteiest lecened dining the yeai was more than sufheient to pay all the claims under policies, &c. , which occurred. How the handful of Sydney gentlemen who started the institution only thiitysix years ago would ha\e laughed had anyone told them then what a giant their baby would become in a few years. The success of the A M.P. Society just show-, what can be done by well directed co opeiation. Who knows but that the dnectors of the newl t v formed co-operative society, in which so many of your Waikato fanners are interested, may have as flatteiing a report to present to the shareholders at their thirty-fifth annual meeting. Theie is quite as good a prospect before >onr in stitution now as theie was betoie the -other society thiity-six years ago. All you want is genuine, not nominal, cooperation and good management. There must be no loal jealousies, but all must work together for the greatest good to the greatest number, and you need not have the sbghteitfear about the result. A few years ago an association was formed here, which the promotes hoped would one day nval, if it did not eclipse, the A.M. P. Society. It was called the Prudential something or other, but it was mismanaged from the start. When it was tottering on the verge of an early grave I was asked, with a number of others, to help to resuscitate it. I was offered a seat on the boaid of managemeufc and the prospect of one day becoming a director of a grand institution was held before me As I have already said, I am not fond of figures, but I set myself to ascertain the position of the society. I found that it was deeply in debt, with no prospect of getting rid of its debt, as the more business done the worse for the society. BjTho possibility could anyone make any money out of it, except the secretaiy and the paid canvassers. It is needless to say that I declined to allow myself to be elected as one of the board of management. In the innocence of my heart I called on a gentleman, holding a good position here, (who had allowed himself to be elected, and told him the result of my investigation. All the thanks I received consisted of a not very polite invitation to mind my own businoss. * * Mr Samuel Vaile deserves the thanks of the community for the persistency with which he attacks the mismanagement of our railways. In a letter which arfpeareel in the Herald on Wednesday, : hi showed that the new tariff rates press /most unfairly on the North Island,' that, * VhereM tlie rates havo be§n rai9e(i 60

por cent, in the South Ibland, they have been laised over eighty -si* and a half per cent, in the North Island. Seeing timt the whole colony is taxed to pay the interest on the cost of the railways, this is manifestly unfair, and our membcis must either unite to compel the Government to fiame a umfonn tauff for the whole colony, or they must make 1 oom for others \\ ho will do s ). We ai c on tlie eve of «i general elec-tiou, so the electors will veiy soon have an oppoitunity of showing that they will not allow a continuance of such an injustice. We AuckLmdeis aie proverbial tor our long sniffling, but theie is a limit to even our enduiauce of wrong. St. Mungo.