ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1949, 3 January 1885, Page 2

ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

Os Boxing D.iy wo had the usual fiist day of the Racing Club's Summer Meeting and the u-u<il bungling in the railway arrangements, and, " to improve matters w'oise, ' theie was a mild deluge in tlie afternoon to cool the tempers of the excursionists \\ hen the management of the railway had " made their angry passion rise '' Tlie racing was, on the whole, very good, but theie was a very ceneial feeling of dissatisfaction at the way in which some of the Southern horse-owners acted witli regard to the Auckland Cup. However, it is generally believed that they weie sold through l'oct winning the i ace. I hope that they were, but do not feel \ery certain on the point There was another cause of dissatisfaction on Friday, and that was tlie way in which the totalisator was worked. I am not goinn to say that it was not woiked fairly, but many people think that it w.13 not, and as it was supposed to be under the control of the club, it behoves the stewards, for the sake of tlie public and their own reputation, to see to it that that control is a reality, not n mere name. It is generally supposed that the betting on the lawn is to some extent an indication of the snpport given to the different hoises by those who do their betting through the totalisator. The result on Friday certainly doeB not support this belief. Take the Maiden Plato, for instance. The betting was 5 to 1 agauut the Clow n, 3 to 1 against Torpedo, 4 to I against Revolver, and 6 to 1 against Linda, the winner of the race. There were 717 in the totalisator, 101 being on the winner. Now, does it not seem strange that nearly oneseventh of those people who put their money in the totalisator Bhould have backed a hot so which was neither first, spcond, nor third favourite, against whom the odds were six to one ? The same sort of thing occnried in connection w ith cacli race, and the public think that la very funny. Of couise it may be all absolutely correct, but the stewards of the club certainly ought to take steps to ascertain that it is so. * # • There seems to be much reason to fear that the laurels won by Auckland on the cricket grounds of the colony may be lost by a team which left here last week on a Southern tour. When the project of sending a team South was brought before the Auckland Ciicket Association it was favourably considered, but when it was found that some of our best men would be unable to q. j t away, the association refused to sanction the tour. However, a number of the men were determined to go, sanction or no sanction, and they got togethci a teim and started. Hi'f of the team aie fiist-class men, two or three aie second class, and the remainder aie thud class, fourth class, or no class at all. The consequence is that if they play against a good team down .South, which, however is not very likely, a3 the Southern Associations will not put a team in the field against the n, seeing that they are not sanctioned by the Auckland Association, they are almost sure to be beaten, and they may be beaten by second-rate team 9. The general impression is tint the a3socia tion made an error in refusing to sanction the tiip. It is an imposibility, as a rule, for the best men to leave home on a protracto.il tour, so the best men who could go should have been selected, and the selection should ha\e been made by the association. [Fad it been so, some of the very inferior players who are now jeopardising the honour of Auckland would be quietly attending to their own private affaira. It appears from the telegrams received from London that the money market is consideied unfavourable to the floating of our two and a half million loan, and that, consequently, it has been decided to defer it, and reduce the amount to one million. lam soiry that the result of this will piobably be delay in the Xoith Island Trunk Railway, but I «im not sorry to find that the English capitalists have the sense, lacking in our legislator, to see that there niust be some limit to our borrowing. This is such an easy way of raising money, and bo much more pleasant thau increasing taxation or reducing salaries that it won Id, apparently, go on ml mfiintuiH if the lenders of money were willing. Ido hopo. that our Government and Parliament will see that wo have very nearly reached tlie end of our tether, and take steps to prevent New Zealand again asking for a loan which will not be given to her. For years past theie has been a great deal of talking, both in the House and out of it, about retrenchment in the Civil Service, but it has ended in talking, and nothing nan been done. If, as is believed, a hundred thousand per annum could be saved in that way, a lot of railway construction could Le carried on without further borrowing, and if the money were saved instead of being borrowci] there would be no need to,piov{dean additional amount of interest, and the sum which would be requited foi that if the money were borrowed could also be spent in constructing railways &c. A few week.a ago I referred to the death of the Hon. \V. Swaiuson, and said that I believed that no one would regiet his ioss more than would Mohi, his old Maori boatman and factotum, I did not then know how neatly the decoaaod yontleman (for, of con t so, ho was. a gentleman despite his meanness) had tieatrd poor old Mohi. He left pioperty of the value of £16,000, a\\ pi which he.

lias bequeathed to a neice living in England, with the exception of £50 per annum to his old housekeeper and £10 to iMohi. Of course, it may be said that a man may do what he pleases with hit ovv n property. So he may, and another man may Bay what lie thinks about the way in which he disposes of it. Mr Sviainson a\ ailed himself of his right hy bequeathing his property in the way I have mentioned, and I avail myself of mine by saying that I think it was intensely mean of so wraltliy a man to leave £50 a year (not quite enough to keep her without working) to his housekeeper who had been in his service for, I believe, upwards of thirty years, and a paltiy ten pounds, not ton pound* a year, to a man who had been in his service for something like forty years, and who ii now too old to do much work. * • I am glad to learn that Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, the genial author awl humouiist. has celebrated his seventyfifth biitluhy. He is bett known by his thiee companion books, " The Professor," "The Poet," and "The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table," and by his poems. A graceful tribute was paid him by "The Critic," the New York literary journal, the number of which, published od the day after his birthday, consisting almost entirely of poems and letters congratulating him. I am not a poet, and so cannot add a hymn of congratulation, so niust content myself with expressing my pleasure that Dr. Holmes is still alive and well, and with advisiug all those who have not yet done so to read his works. To give an example of his poetry, I will quote a poem from the "Poet at the Breakfast Table." It is supposed to be written by a young girl, and is called "Aixt Tabitha." Whatever I do, and whatever I say, Aunt Tabitha tells me that isn't the way ; When '■he was ,v girl (forty summers ago) Aunt Tabitha tells me they never did so. Dear Aunt! If I only would take her advice, But I like my own way, and I find it so nice ; And besides I forget half the things I am told, But they all will come back to me — when I am old. If a youth passes by, it may happen, no doubt, He may chance to look in as I chance to look out ; She would never endure an impertinent stare, It is horrid, she says, and I mustn't sit there. A walk in the moonlight has pleasure, I own, But it isn't quite safe to be walking alone ; So I take a lad's arm — just for safety, you know, — But Aunt Tabitha tells me they didn't do so. How wicked we are, and how good they were then, They kept ;it arm's length those detestable men ; What an era of virtue she lived in !— But stay — Wen* the men all such rogues in Aunt Tabitha's day ? If tho men were so wicked, I'll ask my papa How he dared to propose to my darling mamma ; Was he like the rest of them ? Goodness ! Who knows ? And vv hat shall I say, if a wretch should propose ? I am thinking if Aunt knew so little of sin, What a wonder Aunt Tabitha's aunt mutt have been ! And her grand aunt— it scares me — how shockingly sad That we girls of to-day are so frightfully bad. A martyr will save us, and nothing else can, Let me perish— to rescue some wretched young man ! Though when t<> the altar a victim I go, Aunt Tabitha Ml tell me *he never did so. I would like to quote a good many more of Dr. Holmes's poems, but I have already exceeded my allotted space, so once more advise you to read them yourselves. St. Mpngo.