ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1941, 13 December 1884, Page 3

ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

When a man is anxious to do hie beet to encourage local industry and spend hid money in the place instead ot sending it away, it is a disgraceful thing that he should be thwarted and pievented cairying out his good intention by the \ery people who would have been benefited, 1 and yet a case of this sort has just been brought to light by an action in the District Court. When \Jr Biett decided to buiM his splendid block for tho Evening Star oflices, &c, he determined to encourage local industry and to let them contain a peimancrit advettisement of one of the most beautiful of our local timbers. He decided, instead of using imported cedar for the purpose, to have all hia office fittings made of mottled kauri. Accordingly he agreed to purchase from James and Andrew McLeod, of Helenaville, a quantity ot that timber. He informed them when he was prepared to take deliver}', and they sent him some kauri, but not what he had bought. Some of the best flitches had been sold to someone else, and they substituted utter rubbish in their stead When he saw the timber Mr Brett said that it was not what lie had bought and ioJumml to accept delivery. By this time the building of the new office* was so far advanced that there was> not time to look elsewhere for a supply of mottled kauri, and so, much against his will, Mr Brett was compelled to use imported timber. The McLeods, finding that they had failed to palm off their rubbish as first-class timber, brought an action for breach of agreement, Hying the damages, at £S0 odd. Just fancy the cheek of their asking a man to pay upwards of £80 because he refused to allow himself to be robbed ! Fortunately, they had neither law nor justice (the two do not always together) on their side, and they have got two lawyers' bills to pay. The Wellington " Po^t "' recently had a leading article, comparing Auckland with the Empire City, and drawing attention to the number of flourishing local industries we have here which have not their counterparts at Wellington, the reason being the readiness of our capitalists to invest their money in joint-stock companies formed for the cai lying on of those industries. I was lather amused by a conversation which I ovciheaid the other evening on this same subject of local industries, the industiy under discussion in this case being the manufacturing of boots. One man who seemed to know a great deal about the business (or thought he did) was. imparting information to a friend. Referring to the Noi tiioi n Boot and Shoe Company, of whose sh n eholders the annual meeting took place last week, he siid that the company could not possibly succeed, because the sum 11 fac tories in private hands could undersell it. .Soon afterwards he showed the utter absurdity of his own assertion by telling how the propiietois of those small factories aie diiven into the Bankruptcy Court. A. thoroughly understood his business, and executed his orders most satisfactorily, but was hampered by want of capital He went to B , who is a retailer in a good position, and who always pays cash for his pin chases, and asked him for an order. B said he was not in want of stock, but that he would give A. a large order if he made a concession in pi ice. The concession asked would leave only a margin of five pur cent on cost pi ice, but A. was veiy anxious to get the work, the order was a laige one and the payment wns sure. Aecoidingly the order was taken and dulj executed. As A. required money to pay his wages, he went to B. and asked for a cheque. B. told him that he would not give it to him unless lie allowed ~\ % discount. A& A. absolutely lequired the money to pay wages, he had to allow the discount, so that, as his oiiginal piofit was. only ,"5 %, he made an actual loss of 2 \ per cent by the transaction. As a matter of couise, this mode of doing business was bound to end in bankruptcy. I had the cuiiosity to look up the report of the meeting of the Northern Boot and Shoe Company, to '-cc whether it Wai t anted the gloomy prognostications of the critic. I found that the company had started the year with a debit balance ot £012, that it had wiped oil' £100 of bad debts accumulated in tiie previous year, that it had deducted £100 (about ten per cent) fiom the valuation of its plant for depteci.ition, that everything w.is working well m the factoij, that the goods tinned out weie of a higlily satisfactory character, which was not the case a year or two since, and tli.it there was a Mil ill balance, of £3 to credit. Now, consideiing the very adverse ciicutnstances. I think that was a \ery satisfactory result,one quite unattainable had the business been in the hands of a private mdiv idual, unless he was very wealth}, and, as a rule. \ciy wealthy men do not own boot factonet". A, whom I mentioned in the previous paiu<_!iuph, succumbed to much leas adveise eiicumstances To cany on n annfactures successfully, capital and l.ilnm must go hand in h iinl. '1 hi' one is powiilcss without the other No doubt the expenses of m inajctuent. .ire qi eater in the case of aconipiny than in that of a private individuil, but tliat i-> nioie thin compensated by the case with which the company can raise a capital, While it would often be difficult, if not impossible for an individual to raise £1000 or £2000 to meet a sudden energency, it is a trifling matter for a bundled men to pay £10 or £20 each. Plans for the Public Library and Art Gallery, in accordance with th^ prize design, have been received fiom Giainger and D'Ebro by th" (Juy Council. So far as 1 can le.un, the working plans and now received „ie s'lhstintiallv collect, and the council wllbe ilile to call for tfiideis limned ately. Of eoiiisp the delay that li is been c ins' il lij the ai< hitects li it> bienveiy annoj in_', but 1 believe it it, not unlikely tint tiic city will, in the long inn, gam by it At the pie sent ti ii t'lese ,uc a number of laige buildings incouiv of eiujt:on and nppioa< liiiij: complet on, but theie are no ■works of any magnitude in contemplation with the exception of the Free Public Library. Those competent to form an opinion say that the consequence will be that, in all probability, the tendering for the work will be very close, and it will be carried out for £2000 less than it would have cost had tenders been called six months ago. Of course, accompanying the plans, there was a letter from Grainger and D'Ebro complaining of the way in which they have been tieated. In it they mention in a casual way that their charges for doing now what they should have done in the first instance are £50. As a citizen of Auckland, I would much rather see that amount spent in legal expenses than given to them. In their latter they enclosed an extract from The Builder, in which the tower was condemned as the weak point in their prize design, but they did not mention the fact that the alterations they proposed to make in the tower would have made it a still weaker point. The weak point in their letter is where they insinuate that the refusal to accept the first set of plans was due to professional jealously, when they know, or at any rate ought to know, that almost all the gentlemen who awarded them the first prize sat on the committee which condemned their working plans. * * * In the October number of the Cornhill Magazine there is an article entitled, " The Sanatorium of the Southern Ocean," having a description of the hot lakes. Geysers &c, in the Provincial District of Auckland, and making reference to the steps taken by Government, under the Thermal Springs Act. No doubt the article will do good by drawing the attention of English people to the " Wonderland of the Antipodes," but it would have done better service still had tho writer been able to tell from personal experience how easily and.

cheaply the hot lakes can be reached by the Waikato route. He went in 1677 by way of the Thames, so it is needless to remark that he did not enjoy the journey very much. Of coarse, wo know that it is now a very easy matter to go to fiom Auckland to Cambridge by train, and thence to the hot lakes, by coach or buggy in very little more time than it took to make arrangements for going in 1877. However, despite this omission on the part of the writer, it is very satisfactory to see attention drawn to our Sanatorium in a magazine having so laige a circulation as Comhill, as the ai tide is sure to be the means of sending tourists here. St. Mu.vcjo.