ABOUT THE TAPROOM.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1991, 11 April 1885, Page 2

ABOUT THE TAPROOM.

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Tun turning of the lust sod ot tliat portion of the North Island Tiunk Railway which is to pass through \v hat is known as the King Country is, I notice going to take place on tho lSfch inst. It promises to bo a big event, an event of Colonial significance, in fact ; from all appearances the Government are g'»ing to make a splash on the occasion. They are going to launch out, like, and have a big show and give both fnends and enemies a treat for once in a while. TinTe Avvanmtn band has been asked— will be paid in fact — to be picsont and cic.ito ,i noise, and play " For they aie Jolly Good Fellows" when the toast of the Government ispioposrd. Tiuly a thoughtful arrangement. Tho natives are expected to number strongly, and be quiet and agreeable foi once, and cheer lnstly when the signal is pi veil, singing a wiata of congratulation and pel form tho daucß of peace, in puns natmalibus, for the edification of visitois. Tawln.io, Hi a swallow-tail and belltopper, and his noble breast decked with the d.u/.liug emblems of tcetotahsm, is to look with a bland eye on the performance, and and make, oi at least deliver, for no doubt it will be made for him, an approving speech. Wahcinui and Rewi are to follow and say they like the whole affair immensely and the lesidue of chief doin, at the stroke of Mr Wilkinson's baton, are to p\clann in chorus, with one simultaneous ■shout, " k.ipai." The "annomted" will then adjoin n to a marquee, wheiein a goodly spiead will be provided and discussed, toasts given and honouied, and speeches of the usual congratulatoiy and coiiiplunentaiy character delivcied. I understand it was on the programme that Mr Stout and Tawhiao were to rub noses as a sort of prelude, but Tawhiao objected on tho score of the Piemier's heretical tendency, and so the item vras .struck out.

But there is an old saying of Burns' which tells us about the best laid schemes of mice and men going ciooked sometime-.. I don t exactly know the woids, but that I behove us their pin port. Audit is quite possible that on this occasion we shall have that good poet's woids fully demonstrated. It is quite possible that the ceremony will be inteiiuptcd by a few dissatisfied native claimants, who will insist that then pciinission shall be nist asked ..ml obtained befoie the soil is disturbed by the Ministerial implement. The chiefs will make long and niolevant speeches about eel wens and the Treaty of Waitangi, and conclude with a brilliant peioration of " taihoas, ' and the uciial story of nnd\,ing love and eternal welcome. One big ciuof may get up, and, with a truly liberal spmt, gives his consent unreservedly ; wheieat another magnate of equal standing may inform the company that the picvious <.]»enkci was deuced liberal with what didn't belong to him, and that when the railway came to his land it would then be time enough foi him to lend bis countenance. There is still one other recompense which I have eveiy leason to believe natives have arianged to demand. It is a very reasonable one, and lodoniuK to the credit of their forethought. All the natives who hive a claim— and what native has not ?— to the land thiough which tho line parses will insist upon being decorated with the distinguished older of the peipetual fiee pass, after the fashion of their royal master ; and quite light too.

I was not at all siirpiiscd at the paragraph in the Times, on Thursday, refcriing to the refreshment loom accoinodatiou at Mercer. Indeed lam siupiised tint the matter has been taken up long since. The refreshment loom on the Meicer platfoini is altogether inadequate to the icquuvnicnth of the travelling public. The tiaffie on the Woikato line is very gieat at piesent, and traveller, particnl.uly ladies, have not a .suitable place to ad|ouin to, and the faie, T must say is frequently indiffcieut, and not at .all what people evpect after such a long and app jtiMiig journey. As a nutter of fact, tho majority of people who now travel bctweeu Waiknto and Auckland, do not use tho railway refreshment loom, but patronise the hotel adjoining, wheic fiom all accounts, both fare and attendance aio supeiun*. And even with the'hotel, acconiodatiou is inadequate The dining lomu is small, and so whan theie is a full train people ate obliged to stand up or squat down in the far pat lour and secure a meal as best thoy can. Now vwth a compacious and well piovided lefieshment room, a tempting bill of faie, and good attendance, one would have no occasion to inn into the town in seuch of a meal, where they aro in incessant dread of losing thetiaiu, and wheie eviuy tinkle of a bell oi blow of a whistle causes them to iush madly off with a half finished, and half digested meal, M\d in many cases, no doubt, forgetting then indebtedness to the landlord. 1 tiust I have said sufficient to induce the r.ulw ay Depai tment to give tins matter its immediate attention.

The Cambridge Jockey Club has evidently made up its mind to secuie a good attendance at its forthcoming race meeting. It has guaianteed the. Railway Depaittuont ISIOO for n .special train from Auckland. Of course the depaitment will have to make the fares sufficiently icasoiiable to induce people to take advantage of the excursion, or else, so far as the club is concerned, the whole thing will ha a failure. Seem? that the stewaids li .d to guarantee £100, I think itvvonld have been infinitely better had they chaitoied a special train for the occasion. They would not have had to pay any more, they could have arranged the fares as they likod, and in case of a surplus they could collar the diffeience. But I suppose that omniscient body, the stewards, know their own business best.

From all accounts the Mangaone railway bridge, near tho T.unaherq station, was, when inspected by tho engineer the other day, in a very bad state. I have it on very good authoi ity, that its condition for some time past had been absolutely dangerous, and had it been neglected much longer, the consequences might have been well, to say the least, decidedly unpleasant. Two bridge gangs >veie immediately despatched fiom Auckland to overhaul it; and as it is now thoroughly safe insurance agents need no longer be backward in looking up customers. Ido not lofer to tins matter with the cruel intention of creating a scale, for all danger is now past, I only think it very strange that a bridgo such as this should bo allowed to ever become dangerous at all.

Tho unseemly schism which for sometime past has been' distiub'ing tho harmony of tho congießation of S. Andrew's, Cambudge ha«, I am pleased to Ic.irn, boen disposed of for tho present. The matter wjib referred to at some length, in my last wcelv's letter, and most of your readers are doubtless fully aware of the oironnistances. The vestry met on Thursday evening, when tho matter was gone into at length and icvii'vved dispassionately by the members. Tho majonty wero in favour of what was known as the "bhd-cago" being removed, whcrc.vs, the others sfctetiuoiisly objected to tho quibble being eutotfcainod. Those who f.uouiod its removal gave the meeting to understand cleat ly that they did not do so simply bec.w«e <v certain member of the church took exception to it, and would not attend servicd while it was e\po«ed. They bimply favoured its removal because while it was of no eaithly good or heavenly utility to cither tho church, the minister, or tho congiegiitiou, it gavo offence to soir.e member or member » of the congregation. They foi mod their opinion irrespective of wlio the person offended mifjht be ; they were entiioly influenced by the piinciplo involved, not by the peison. But the question, however, w likely to come up in another form. Ono of the church w.vulens nlio objected to the ornament being removed, looked upon the action of the vestiy, in conceding, as giving way simply to tho whim and capiice of a paiticul.ir individual, and accoidingly announced his intention of lOMgning if tho p.uson acts upon tho voice of the vestry. I'ioin all aupear.uicus, therefore we shall hfarnioicof this veiy interesting and highly important subject.

Mr William Hutchison contests the Oamaru seat. The Mo>giel Woollen Company has declaied an inteiim dividend at tho iato of 10 per cent. A tfirl Kate Mai tin was drowned at Waikouaiti on Monday l.i^t She was ciosfcing a deep ditch on a plank and fell Mr H. Covvper will sell at his Mart, C(imhndge, on Saturday, IStti April, at 11 o clo< k, stationery, fancy goods, household, furniture, ? c . tho property of Mr C. H. Giluy, who has disposed of his business. Messrs W. S. Cochrano and Co. will sell at their auction room, Auckland, on Monday, April 20th. by order of the mortgagee, blacksmith's bbou nnd cottn.ro, Hamilton, now occupied by Mr Joseph Cochr.mp, Qn the ?7tb April, they wmwiso sell «t thdir mart freehold propertios situato at Taupiri, Af«njfaplko and al Ngaroto.