ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1953, 13 January 1885, Page 4

ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

!! new j-oir has b-guti, happily for c aadly fo? others. We Auckland wns may congratulate each other on successful floating of our loan of ,000, which has been coveted at £109 for eacli £100 debouture, and which subset ibed fourfold. This is another >f, if pi oof were needed, of the plenti.i sn of money seeking piotitaule mineut in England, and of the high hou our municipal seuiwties hold in London inai ket. When the last San nu->co in til left I ondon, oiu 5 pel ; loan, of which this £i! 5,000 is the Efond instalment, was quoted ,it 110 to 12, so that it i& not suipiisinjj that so nfcistactory «i pi ice should Invc been ealhed, though there were those who bought that the National Bank, the orporation's hanker*, had imperilled the >an liy fixing the niiiuiimm so high as 07. Of comae, tho^se people prob.ibly id not know tlie nuiket quotations of ur municipal loans, and ignored the Uliculty that exist 3 in Kngland of obt timing safe investment for money at so ugh a i ate as 4$ per cent, which is radically the rate of interest that the ity will have to pay. A gentleman who rnved by the Arawa a fortnight ago ,38iired mo tint he knew, from his own lersoual knowledge, of hundreds of houainds at fixed deposit at 1 per cent. nterest. * * This statement, taken in connection with the successful floating of our muni:ipal loin, plainly contradicts the asaer;i')ii that the state of the money maiket was not favourable to the floating of our colonial loan of two and a half millions. Brante.l the disparity between the two ttmoun's asked for, there is a pioportionate difft rence in the value of the securities. We must look to something else than the state of the money market to account for the loan agents being compelled to reduce the amount of our loan from two and a half millions to one million. Sir Julius Vogel has vouchsafed an explanation of the matter, in which he states that the lednction is due to the Bank of England considering that the colony is pledged not to borrow more than a million before the next Parliament. Tina may be so, but it does not hear the word "probability' stamped on its face. If there had been any such understanding, how does it happen thit nothing was said about it, either in London or in Wellington, at the time that our Parliament sanctioned the raising of the two and a half millions Uutil thorn is very conclusive evidence fortneotninse as to the reality of this understanding people will not believe in it, but w ill believe that the change has been made in consequence of the fe.vr of the English capitalists that New Zealand is trying to increase its loans too rapidly and th.it her finances arc not m good hands while Sir Julius Vogel is Colonial Treasurer. Iv reply to a question during the last session ot Parliament, the Minister for Public Works taid the Government would consider the advisability of appointing a non-political board to manage the railways, and would take steps to ascertain how the similar board recently appointed in Melbourne answered the expectations. Judging by reports in recent crpies of the " Australasian," the boai d seems to have signalised their accession to power by providing such facilities as have not been known before for excursions during the Christmas holidays. In addition to putting on excursion trains to carry passengers at very low rates they put on tarly trains from all the suburbs to enable the suburban residents to reach Melbourne in time to catch those train*, instead of being compelled to hiie cabs for th it purpose. Only those who know what an immense population the suburbs of Melbourne have can appreciate this onveui-"ic3 thoroughly. Tins is simply | an indication of the beneficial results that I are likely to ensue for having the railway traffic ducctcd by business men, and I do hope that New Zealand will soon follow Uu* sample of Vietoiia in this ie-,poc\ 01 unu'de, :n our ca3e it would lie nojcs^ary to have at least five different boaids, one at each of the four puncipal cities and one at Napier. It is very certain that the fust thing that each of those boards would devote its attention to would be the simplification of the tiafhc regulations, ao that it might be possible for a man to ascertain what amount of fi eight he would lire to piy without haviug to de\otc as much time and study to the matter as would enable him to understand the inset lptious on the Egyptian pyiarnids. In addition to the usual column for death notices, the •• Australasian" has ! another column headed " In memoriam," in winch are insertpd notices of deaths which ha\e ocmir-d sometime before. The Christmas number contains four of these, of which throe are of an ordinary (haracter, while the fourth is so veiy absurd that it looks almost like an attempt to ri licul»* the inseitionof such notices, were it not for a certain appearance of genuineness. It is apparently sent by a mothe, and is as follows • — " In lo\ inn remembrance of my beloved daughter, Kluaheth Augustine Dakers, who departed this life on tho 25th of September, ]88», at her parents' residence, 24 Nicholaon street, Fitzroy, aged 17 yearß to-day. May her soul rest in peace. Re-<t, darling Li^ic, thy work is o'er, Thy loving hands shall toil no more. Your birthday I hope you may enjoy in heavon, with your beloved father and your two dear siiteis. Kest, my dear Li/zie. Gently sleep.' I wonder if the poor woman supposes tint the " Australasian " is circulated in that better world to which she believes her daughter has gone, or, if not, how she is to learn her mother's wishes for her enjoyment of her bnthday The notice is little less ludicious than those obituary poems in " Out of the Huily-burly," one of which reads t.lins — The deith anj^l smote Alexander McGlue, And gave him piotrnoted repose ; lie woie a checked shut and a number nine shoo, And he h.is a pink wart on his nosp, No doubt he i-, happier dwelling in space (her there on the evtrgieen shore. His fnendsare informed that hm funeral taket. place I'm clioly .it qii.u tr>i-]>ast four. Another effort of tho obituaiy poet lP'ulted thus — " Oh ' bury Bartholomew out in the woods, f n a beautiful hole in thegiound, Whero tho bumble-bees buzz, and the woodpeckers n\ng, A rid the straddle-bugs tumble around ; So that, in winter, when the snow and flush Have covered his last little bed, His brother Artcrnus can go out with Jane, And \wit the place with his sled." Of course, the object of those absurd parodies was to put a stop to the practice uf attaching little '* hims " to the notices of deaths in the newspapers » There ought to be a proper enquiry held to ascertain who was really to blame in tlie case of that unfortunate man I'atteison, who died at the Hospital in consequence of injuries received at the racfs on New Year's Day. Of course there has been a coroner's inquest, and a veidict of accidental death was returned, which was the only verdict possible, even to that stupid assemblage, a coionei's jury. No one finds fault with the verdict, but many people do find fault with that pirt of the rider which censures the Hospital porter for his behaviour towaids T)r Evans. The porter swore that the doctor was intoxicated, and theie was no cv idence to the contrary. If this weie ti ue, the porter would liave acted quite properly had he refused to admit him into the Hospital, for a doctor who is intoxicated is far worse than no doctor at all. At the matter now stands it is satisfactory to neither party nor yet to the public. If the doctor was not intoxicated, ilif* porto r is guilty of perjury and ought to be punished, and if he was, the porter

should not have been cen&uteil The Hospital Committee is composed of men of probity and of st Hiding in the place, and, if thuy held an eiKjuiiy, the public huu ld accept then decision, as they are not disposed to do with that ot the 001 onei's jury. It is much to 1 c hoped tint something w ill bo done in the matter, w liioh ought not to be permitted to lemain in the piebent unsatisfactoty position. St. MCN«(i.