ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1982, 21 March 1885, Page 4

ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

Yi--.! wo li.id a gait; on Satniday last, not a "gi ntle. Houghin' bieeze,'' such as tin' l'io-l)i t> mn minister pray« d foi, but .1 wild, roanntr, teming, blnsteiing gil<\ ,unl tin* eoii'.u(|in'ii(.T was somewhat siiiii'l.ii to that of the battle dcscubed by Bit t H.ute in Ins pnem, " Jolm Bums of (it tt\sl.m/.'," " Sli itt -ied fences hcie and theie Tossed tin 11 '.jiliiiti-M in tin- air Tin) vory trte-< were stripped and bare." Well ' the d."ciiption is liaidly ac cuiatu ThoiPvmuA i»twnl m:\uy Uwi tlwit wre stuppod and l).iu', while otli< is wore blown down, as weie a coiwdeiable number of feme*. Coiuidciuig the violiiji-i' of the gale it issuipusing that theie was not a gieatei \wa of lif-j. so tv as w« Unow at pus >iit onh Hit- uufoitun.itc man Wal-li uavin^ been killed He was a most respectable, industiious in.vi, and it 5,001 m both aad and strui<re th.it In .should h.ivi' been Kill* fl, while so many nun whoaie neither it spcelable 1101 industrious escaped se.ithloss Talking on this Biibjoct to one of th( I. 'pillar dincis at the Cafe, In- told mo of ,vi .icudent which he witucs-,- d in one ol tin) other colonies some years ago He and a number of other people weie standing on the bunch dining a hea\y gale, watch ing a boat containing five men, which was » n<lcivouring to reach the shore. As they were looking at her she capsized and h<rti\e occupants wvre «cen strii^'glinp with the wind and the wa\cs. One after anollur, thice of them pank to n^e no more, the onlookers being totally unable to render them any assistance. The other two struggled ontowaida the shore, but death lud not yet completed his task, for one of the two became exhausted and sunk, and lonly one was able to ie,ich the brave men, who had gone as far as they could into the sea to render help. The man that was saved was u iwlom, liarein-wariim fellow, whereas the hit man who was drowned was a it illy noble man, who was foremost iv every good work. It is extremely satisfactory to know that in the event of war against England and any other power, the safety of Auckland h availed, as the (Jovernhave called for tenders for the placing in position on the North Head one gun. Set n'(; that, as is well known, the Russian (Jovcrnment have, at least one spy 111 tins city, we- may feel quite sure th it ho has telegraphed that piece of inclination to S,t J'eteroburg. and that \u ,-ue., theiutoie, freed fiom all appre-luu-iiou of a hostile visit from a Russian cruiser. Doubtless other Governments have their spies here, fiom whom they have received the same information, so that we may conclude th.it wo :iie ♦juitL 1 safe. Should a war bieak out, and should a foieign cruiser com) ■ heie .if tor that one gun has been placed in position, what a tremendous battle would take place ! Tho bombardment of Alexandria.was mere child's play comp.ncd with the task the foieign invader who attempted to bombard Auckland would find he had set himself. Really the whole thing is too utterly absuid. By all means let the Govern ment place Auckland in a proper state of defence, but, seeing that they cannot do this at present, it is utterly absurd to call for tenders for placing one gun in position on the North Head. It would be lar better to do nothing ot all until they can do the whole thing properly. I quite forgot last week to refer to a a matter which is of no little interest to residents in all p.vits of the Provincial district of Auckland the acceptance by the (Jity Council of a tender for the election of the Kite Public Library and Art(Jallciy. It is quite unnecessary for me to dilate on tho advantage of such an institution, and as, though it will be paid for by the citizens of Auckland, any-one may use it free of charge, its bent fits may well be enjoyed by all who visit the city. There was one very curious feature in the tendering. When the various competitive designs were received by the City Conncil they were reterted to a committe of experts to select the best Th<y devoted a large amount of time and attention to their task and decided that the design of Messis (Jramger and D'lObio was the best, but expies&ed tluiropiii'on that the building could not be erected for less than £35,000. Apparently influenced by that opinion, Gnuuger and D'Ebro, in preparing the woikmg drawings, did <s« uiythinir they could to curtail expense, with the result th.it the council returned those working plans and demanded others in strict aceoi dance with the pn/e design. These wne sent and tenders were called for. When the tenders were opened itwns found tli.it they ranged from £|{),uOS to JL'il,SJ f 2. The lowest was acct pted, 80 that the work will be cartied out for £ 1 ,1,000 less than the estimate of the committee of < xperts It is very evident th,it boine one has blundered, and it r< Imy hardly prol/able tlntt the blunder v,is in.ulo by the temltier*. seeing that they weio all so close together. 'lime has been a very nnnece«s>ary houl of indignation ia.M-d by a tew ptople who evidently did not know what tl.< y vicie talking about. Alternativetciidcr« were leccived for a cemented front 01 one of Oamaiu stone, and the council decided, before accepting a tender, that the front should be cemented. U'lns diew upon them the wrath of a number of people, who naturally wished to -ec a building with a substantial stone hont, but I tlo not think they would h,i/( <|iiestioned the w istiom of the council's d> union had they been aware that theie was no intention to conHtimt the whole of the front of Oam.uu stone, but that, had that stone been used, it was proposed to use it only in pait, and to construct the remainder of the front of biick ceim tited, which Mould have it "dud in the pioductionof n "-fiit of hybrid fifFur, " neit' er fish. fli-.li nor good red honing." Had the int< ntiou been to make the whole of the fi out of Oamaru stone, I feel sure that the council would not have been detened from doing so by a slight difference in tost, but seeing that it was to use the stone only in pait, I think they acted veiy wisely in coining to the decision tiny did.

Sonic little time ago we had a lecturer here who succeeded in drawing crowded houses and made £150 by his fortnight's wot k — not at all a bad rate of pay seeing that lie had nothing to pay out of it extent tiavelliug expenses, as he lned "nu the cheap" while he was hsie. Aft* 1 he had finished his season hen> he yw v a lecture in ono of the suburbs. As lie mated in a church there waanocliatgc made ior adiniosion but "a collection v.is io.c, " as I heard an illiterate deacon say on one ocasion. Unfortunately for the lecturer, the collection was not a good one. It amounted to only four pounds and .1 few shilling*. The minister of the <lim< h, whr> had presided, expressed hn pui fii it and regret that it had proved so small and ".ud that he would make the amount up to five pounds. This he did, taking the collection and handing the leetinci alive pound note. The lattei tool' it without saving a word of fin/iks, held it out in liit* hand and "aid, " \\\\\ ! that ia tlu amiillfst amount I urn i iecui\cd for a leettiie." It would lie difht ult to find womlh suflicicritlv Hhong to eo'idc'iin kucli a piece of caddishnesa. I am almost Nony that the mini ter <lid i ot pay hin. in hu own coin by t'kmir bick the i\\< pound note ami ghing him the amount r*f tin culli t tion, tcllini.' him tint th.il wn^ tiie value t,tt on hia lectuie by hi' mdiuice

lii n c i f aiii town Him- j> n | arson who pr< .ichcs to l.ii"t' anil «ipp.«'i utni* Mill* nci i His father founded (i college or the parpo-e of training yonng men foi ;hc rnmstry, hut I should think he imi'tcl ti> 'Ctid his own win there, 01 ik< the son did not in.'iko proper use of lit opportunity ° Tie \»n* pmachini.' i'iiii.i tv\t in the Nt n Tt '■>■ itt H ,i ,i tn "1 >< ' 8 'i n •I'■ > «O'du 11.0 tot. lv Juct lh« wlifl« ucrinyu

iihtodon that woid. Among the uon was n man who had tttudirtl Ins Oieek Testament veiy caicfully, and ho was not long in noticing that the woid on w Inch the sermon u-nlly leated wan not in tlie ongiiwil (iicoU .it nil, liuiu^ nienly piintid in the autlioiinod vt-iHion in ltilics. I thought that <\ciy selioolboy U nt w that the wouls ltalidsod vt-ic not in the oiigmal tongue, lint wtro simply uiacittd to niaKf j;ood Kn^liih, hut it i< cms that I was wiony — or tins pai»on was. BT. MITNfJO.