ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1935, 29 November 1884, Page 3

ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

The other day the Herald, in its leading article, advocated the remission of all harbour dues on shipping, and expatiated on the advantage that would acciue to Auckland if it were a free port, at the •same time showing that this would juivolve but a very small loss of revenue to the Harbour Board. If effect can bo given to this proposal, and theie seon.s to be no adequate reason why it should not be, Auckland will take a gi.int stride towards attaining the position of one of the leading seaports south of the line. The harbour dues of all sorts form a very insignificant portion of the revenue of the .Harbour Boaid, the largest pait of which is derived from the endowments and le claimed land, and the. income deiivable from the latter bonier is rapidly inucasing and will be largely augmented by the leasing of the land proposed to be leclaimed in Fiebinan's Bay. Undei thi'so circumstances the board can easily foiego the small amount of income now received from port and pilotage dues. The result would be that, other things being equal, all vessels would prefer coming to Auckland, rather than to any other port in the colony. It would also tend to enable Auckland to compete successfully with Sydney for the large and growing trade of the Pacific Islands, our immunity ftom port dues being n set off against the freedom fioin Customs duties at Sydney. Within three years horn now we will have the largest graving dock in Southern Hemisphere, and if, in addition to this we have a free port, we will cer»tainly have an immense influx of shipping, to the manifest advantage of the city and surrounding districts. * * * What shall we do with our boys ? is a question that h«is been frequently asked for years past, aud for which it seein3 to be most difficult to find a satisfactory answer. My idea has always been that the best plan is to give a boy a good practical education, teach him a trade, and then let him look out for himself, but this does not seem to answer alwa\ s A gentlemen living in Auckland tried it with his son, but his experience is quite tbo reverse of oncouraging, He gave his boy a good education and paid a premium to have him taught a good business* The lad seemed to bo conducting himself properly until the beginning 01 this month, but it now appeals that he had got into bad company and taken to gambling. In order to obtain the fund* necessary for that extremely objectionable form of amusement he lobbed liis own father of £20, out of £60 gi\en to him with which to pay a< counts, and forged his employer's name to cheques to the amount of upwards of £30. In order to save the young scoundiel from gaol, the father had to pay the amount of the forged cheques as well as bear the loss of the £20. Now, what is to he done in n, case like this? No one will caie to p employ a lad who lias pioved himself so utterly devoid of honesty and piinciple, and it certainly would never do to alloSv bin to lead a life of idleness, and be a burden on^the father whom he has robbed. A case of this soit makes one inclined to sympathise with those people in England who send out their " black sheep ' to the colonies, knowing that, it they do not ie form, they are so far away that they will not disgidce their friends. Peihaps we had better return the compliment and send our " bad eggs " to England, * # One of our interesting latiiKins "caught a taitar" the other day. He was a full-grow n man, apparently about one or two and twenty years of age, and w.is amusing himself as he walked down Queeu-stieet by knocking oft the hats ol the panels by. When he was near the South Biiti&h Office ho piactised Iris little joko on a young man about his own age and t>ize. Befoie he had gone many steps fuitlrr, the last \ietim of his pranks had ovei taken him, seized him by the shoulder, wheeled him round and given him a blow between the eyes that made him ".see stars," although the sun was shining brightly at the time. Befoi c he had recoveied fiom his suipiise ho had received two or t lit ec more blows, and being, like most bullies, a uowaid he did not attempc to retaliate. Through some nnforsecn circumstance, which ln.s f not yet been explained, a policeman w.i- * speedily on the spot. He seemed inclined to anest " the stiiker" but when the bysranders explained the circnm stances, he found that that w.is not tin correct couise to pursue, but told the that he had got what he merited and advised him to behave himself better in future. As a rule, it is a bad plan foi people to take the law into their own hands, but I could not help thinking that if the larrikins were more often treated in the same way as that specimen of then class, it would be well for the peaceable portion of the community. Unfoitnn ately, however, the larrikins geueiiilly choose as their victims, eldeily men, women and children, and do not often meddle with those who are able to re taliateNow that there ib no Puiliunentaiy new 3, then* is tho usual oiy ol " Lothim* in tho papeia." Foituiuttly for om dailies, they have "struck a patch," in connection with th n celcbiated Tichborno case. Theie has been a great deal of information, more or less inliable, given with legard to vessels which were heio many ycais ago called "Osprey," the name of the schooner by which tho Claimant aiscrted that he had been rescued and taken to Melbourne. Ib would be an extraordinary thing, if, after the long and costly trial which resulted in the conviction of the Claimant, find after he has endured a long teim of imprisonment, it should be pioved that he is the veritable Sir Ro^er Tichborne, and it is quite within tho range of possibility that this may be dun?. I must admit that I am not so thoroughly convinced that he ib an impo&ter as I was at the time of the trial One thing 1 could i.ot thin believe was that he would have eompl'tely fo» gotten all that lie had learned at school, and that he should have degeneiated into an illiterate boor. 811100 then I have met v\ith a parallel case, a .son of an English gentleman, who received a splendid education, after which he ran away to sea. Now he has not onl> forgotten all that he was taught, but cannot speak the Queen's English, and takes most unwarrantable liberties with the letter " h." At the close of itsT sitting on Monday evening, the Auckland Parliamentary Union adjourned till February. The cession just concluded has been productive of a considerable amount of good, and there seems to be good grounds for belief that the union will act as a training school for the Colonial Parliament, will induce many who have not hitherto done so to study the questions of the day, and will accustom many of tho&e who will be our future legislators to speak in public and know the forms of Parliamentry procedure. There has been a good deal of fun, too, at the meetings of the union, caused sometimes by the wit, sometimes by the stupidity, of members. An instance of the latter occurred on Monday evening. The Parliamentary Union Constitution Amendment Act (a name long enough for an act of the real Parliament) was being considered in committee, when one sapient member rose and proposed the insertion of a clause providing that those members who were not elected members of the House of Representatives should form the Legislative 'Council. There was a roar of laughter, but the proposer could not see the point / of the joke until his attention was ] i drawn to the fact that his " Upper House " would consist of those whom •the electors did not think good enough to be members of the " Lower House." * * ~" " Xasfc Sunday evening Mr Fred Crook, ■whoever he may be, delivered a lecture ft, ih~ Opera House on the "Shadows of London/ Evidently not knowing the gtrong partiality ot Auckland Sunday {veuiiig' audiences for "free entertain*

ments," he made a small charge foi 1 admission, and consequently h.ul a very small audience. Had he made no charge for admission, he would have had a full house, and I do not suppose the receipts would have been much less than they were. However, he made the charge, and so had the pleasure (?) of lecturing to empty benches. Whether he will have the addition.il pleasure of beiug prosecuted for breaking the law by charging for admission I do not know, bub if the law is to bo enforced in this case, I think there is another direction to which the attention of the police ought to be dnected. I refer to the strawberry gardens at the North Shore. They do a loaiing trade on Sundays, and if :> stranger is to be piosecuted for chaining ior admission to his lectures, surely people who sell stiawbeuies and cream on Sundays should not be allowed to go "scot tiee." At least, so thinks St Mumjo.