ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1971, 24 February 1885, Page 4

ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

Mr J. C FriiTii wiute an able letter to the Herald on eominete.al ft deration, whic'\ appeal od on Tuesday. It was undoubtedly an able lettci, though in my humble opinion it was, '-cut to I lie wion^ paper, the Times m some othei leiding English newspaper being, I thu.k, a tnoie appioptiat? place for it. WJiat ho if commends is practically nciprocity be tween Gieat Bntain and hen colonies— that the Mother Country should admit Our expoita free of duty, and that we should admit her goods without levying any fuither impost than the e\igm 1 s ot our revenue requite. It may lv I'ecuise I have not given the same amount of attention to the mattei that Mr Futh has, but I fail to see that hn plan is piaetieable at present, 01 will bj f r bOinc time to come. England no*' puisues a policy of tree trade, and so long as she dot ? bo she can ollei no ad vautag st)s t) the colon less not enjojed by othei cjuitties. It, as ia not nnprobible, t\e | risen t Liberal Government i-> tu.n d out of otiii.e shoitly, the. (Jonseivatnes m ly signalise then letinn to powvi by aduptn q protection as a part of tneir joluy, i>i, wnat is mote likely, bj im i* ing tl c sjatem of fair tiade, whio'i is pnelie.illy recipioeity. Tins would mike it possible foi j']'i«land to enter into si chun mange inent as Mr Fiith advocate, l)iit what about om selves? At the pscsjnt tune the levcmic ot the colony is denved in inily from customs duties, almost all of which me levied on goods imio.ted lioin England. How then aiu we t) be in a position to enter into such an a. uinge inent as Mr Firth advocates? I a-n like the man who was fined for s-s'ung a liddle he could not answer, because I cannot give a satisfactory reply to my own question, and I very mucli doubt whether Mr Firth can. The other day 1 heard a very good stoiy in connection with a meeting of members of the Auckland (Jlub. In that institution the cateiing results in a considerable loss, which is recoured by the piofits of the bar. Des| ite this fact Mi (Joidwater is a m^mb r, and as he goes tl.i re to lunch daily he gets t iat lunch at less than it costs, the deficiency being made up by tho^e who tliink wine, beer, &o. Whether this is right is a nuttci winch couceiri3 the conscience of Mr Coldwater, who id one of our tno;>t pionnnent teetotallers. As he does it we must believe that his conscience jippioves of his doing so. At the meeting in question he moved a resolution to the effect that it was desirable that the bar should be removed fioin its proseut conspicuous position. His reasons for iloi.ig so are so obvious that they need not be repeated. The resolution was seconded by another member who said that he consideied the removal was very di-siiable, that he liked a glass of wine, bat that, as he had just been elected a licensing commissioner on the teetotal ticket, he did not like to be suen drinking, and he could not easily avoid it while the b.u was in its present position, In putting the lesolution to the meeting, Sir F. Whitaker, who presided, said that he thought that it should be earned, .is it was evident that the club was losing a good customer in the seconder, and lie heartily sympathised with the proposer, for he was quite sure that, with the bai in its piesent position, it was utterly impossible for a blue nbbon man to get a drink on the quiet. • * # I think that it is not at all unlikely that a certain city will soon be in want of a town cleik. (By the way, why should a city have a town cleik, not acityeleik?) The present occupant is ■well able to fill the position, as he knows hu woik and can do it, but he has a very unpleasant manner, especially to poor people and those who do not please him Among the smaller latepnyets there is a very g'n*ial feeling of dislike towards him, because they say th »t he treats them as if lie paid them instead of they pa) ing him. It do's not tend to improve matteii that h'> is at variance with almost eveiy other officer of the council. One of the other officers " sprang ;» mine " on him last week. He was asked if he ould not woik his department with fewer men than he had, anil replied that he could if his men were not taken fioin their own woik to do other work at the town cleik's private house. He was asked what he meant by that. He said that he had better get the time-book, in which the work his men did was entered. He did so and piocceded to read out Biindiy entries, from which it appeared that the men had been sent to the town clerk's private house to beat carpets and do other work of that soit, the ratepayer, of course, paying the wages of those huh The salary attached to the office of town clerk may be totally inadequate for the maintenance of the dignity of the position, though I feel sure that there would be no lack of applicants in the e\ cut of a vacancy, but if it is too iniill the recipient should openly apply to the council for an inciease, and not supplement it surreptitiously by sending mj n eiiijil<))ed to do city work to beat his caipets, Sec. m ■* * The speech deliveied by Sir Julius Yogi I at the Theatic Royal on Tuesday evening was an undoubted evidence of peat ability, though he laboured under the gieat disadvantages of not being in good health, and of hnviua to remain seated u lulespe.iking Despite these facts, hespoke w ell and was listened to with gre it attention by a large audience who crowded the building to ov erflowing, though, for the reason*! I have mentioned, his speech reads better than it sounded His views on the various snr>jects upon 'which he spoke were given very clearly and logically and he carried his audience with him when he expussed Ins opinion tint it was of far rnoie impoitance to us to initiate local industries than to spend oui time in faring for the interests of Sir George Greg's friends, the unborn millions. Theie could not be a mote marked contiact than between the speeches of the Knight of Kawau and that deliveied on Tuesday evening. The former are full of sentiment, while the Jatter was eminently practical. Sir George appeals to people's fancy, while Nil Julius reduces matters as far as possible to a question of pounds, shillings and pence. He touched on numerous mattei s of great importance to us .and our children, among them the conservation of our forests. Anyone who pays the least attention to this subject subject must see that wo are " killing the goose that lays the golden eggs." We aie rutting down and selling our timber, we are burning it wantonly and through gross and culpable carelessness, and we are doing almost nothing to replenish our stock. Were we to see a man pursuing this course in his business, we should bay unhesitatingly that he was going on the. straight road to the Bankruptcy Court, and what is tine of an individual is true of a nation. Unless we take steps for the eonsenation and renewal of our fonsts we w,!l certainly ree'ive the welldeserved cenauie of our children. * It is very «atisfactory to know that Sir Julius i« negotiating for a new and improved Ran Francisco mail service, by which we will leceive our mails within thirty dajs of the time they leave London. He wan the father of the service and went to Amenca to make arrangements foi the tiaii^it of our mails across the continent .md the Atlantic, co it is most fitting that he should be the man to ariauge foi the invitation of a postal sen ie ns much miperior to that which he then inuigurated at that was to the one which preceded it. It is needless to siy that we Ancklanders are especially pleased with his statement that our port will be the tei minus of the new service, P3 being the terminal port means a very large annual expenditure. That <tdv<in taj'e has been enjoyed by Sydney for 'ome\e,'ii3 past, but the Government of New South Wal"s has foifeited any claim that it might Ir.ve had by hying to secure all the benefits of the S,in Francisco mail seme, while leaving New

Zealand to <l pay the piper." Ry AuckI mil, instead ot Sydnej, being m ido the terminal port tho Pacilic sei\in i cm In iiiaiiitaiued I»y two boats, and so it i>not nnpiob.ible that wo may get th< fister smicf foi a less suhsidy <li«i" "<• aic now paj mg Ne\s South Wall su ill be .idle, if t-hc wishts, to get the lietictit of the mail Muuce by linking at i.itim - i cits \utli tlie Union Company to ths jat^h theii steanwi fiom here linmuli .itc-1) aftci the annalot the steamer iioin 1 Frivco, St. Mrv.o