ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 2006, 16 May 1885, Page 3

ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

The piospects of peace are happily inipio\nig \ cry mudi, audit now looks .is if th 10 would not b-> a iy gi"it e^e cisj of patience required by those who wish ti> % ' >\ait till the clouds roll by." For the sake of oui piospentv it is foivontly to hi liopml tint poaoc will Monn be estiblwhed on a finn basis, for, as I ha\e «aid before, we cuinot gain anything by war, wlnlo nc mii^lit lose a greit deal. Wai might bung a certain amount of temporary prospouty to the farmers, and those engaged in the gram and wheat tiades, but that prosperity would assuredly be followed b\ a collapse, in which all would sutfei. K\cn in the nuMinvhile, the piospenty would not do much good, a-, it would be conlined to the claaie> 1 have inentionpd, while th» mci chants, busiinN^ people and labouiiiigcla-ses would ceitamh suffer The outbreak of war would pi event «ur lo in being rimed, and that would n"t only stop all public work", but would iai-e the piico of g.>ods of all desciiptions. as well as the late of interest, and it woald b' nogie.it ads antage to the fanner if he got fifty per tent, nioie foi hi- produce and had to pay hft\ pel cent, more for his supplies, ha 4 had the mtciest on the mortgage on his Jfarm or on h.s o\crdiaft (I believe that >,<>ine of the fanners ha\e nioi t^ages on their fauns, and -0111 c has eoveidrafts) raised fifty i)er cent. also. At the parent time I b•lieve that eoiisirlerabk' sums are lying idle in the banks, the owneis of th»m lefiKintr to lend then iiiohp> atcunent rates of inteiest, piefeuing to wait a little longer and get ten tot) fti-en percent, instead of se\pn to ten. Another lesult of the fear of war is that people aie af laid to proceed with the erection of buildings. I know of one architect who has plans prepared of buildings which will cost £50, 000, but his emploveis will not allow him to call for tenders until they feel assuied that war will be averted.

The mo*t disappointed at tin* peace piospectsaiu Miom! joung men who ha\o li« come volunteoi sin older to escape sen ice in the militia. They hnd now that Iheie is little piospeet of the mihti.i being called out, and that, hat in? been sworn in, the> most serve for .1 y.-ar. J expect th it, at the end of that time," there will be a, gieat weeding out of the various c iiiipames, and th.it some that ha\e & Ui<ht and obtained anthority to recruit up to a hundred men will have considerable difficulty in lit lining a mtneient number of men on the roll to enable them to continue in existence. I fancy tint, among the fh>t t<> collapse will be the CJ-imison Aitilleij, otherwise known as the " Painell (Jentlemen," on account of the company having oiigmated among a few young" men living m Painell, who issued a ciicular to thn'-e whom they considered eligible, in which it was stated that the intention of the promoters way that none but gentlemen should be allowed to join the company. They h.ne made a splendid stait. attending drill elesen 01 eight hours a w eek, but the pace is too hot to last and their ardour will soon bum nSi-lf out. Whoever has the contract of building their uniforms should make as much money as> he can out of this lot, for theie is not much probability of his being letjuired to furnish it second supply.

The time having arrived for the tnenni.il local option vote, we may know by tbi> time ne\t week whether the number of publicans' licenses ni.iy or may not be increased during the next three yeais. 1 believe that the lostdt will be a negative vote in e.i'li c.iMS, and if theie !■> any exception it will be caused by the apithy of the temperance paity and the teetotaller*. I have no hesitation in raying that we do not ieqmre any more public house-, though we possibly iec|iiiii> ihdie hotel accoiuodation than we have at piesmr. However, we aie not m> b-uil} provided in thi» le-pei'l as we wtue two' 01 tlnee jears ago, when Auckland was notoiious for having hardly any hotels ht to li\ c in, and the few that there wie weie always unplea-rintly ciowded, and if thoie is a lerpnrement for additional accomodatioii, it can be very easily obtained by adding to existing houses, informing the lei.sees of tln>->ii hotels which aie so m nanii- only tint thry must make proper provision f u ti av filers 01 lone their licenses. It is well known t!i ittheie arc a puinbtT 9f so-called hotels which comply with the letter of the law, but not with tho Bpiut— a ceitain number of rooms in excels of those requited by the public in and his family aie k"])t fin nKhed, but if anyone wihlui- to staj f'tr a. night or two he it t> Id that th<> h >v->« U full This i> the cis wilh si.mc of toe best combicted houses in the city. They ilo .i q >od bar tiade, and the licunxftifl look after that because it p.ijs well, and tlicy will not attend to b iard 'is, who invoht .i deal of tiuubleand v try little profit.

The teetotallers air not «ati«fied with the locil option clause of the present Licensing Act, whicti ieqmr«». that <i puil of the ratepayer^ shall be taken eveij thud year, t<i decide whether the number of licenses in the district may 01 may not be increa«td. They want to ha\e the hw alteied so tl.at a poll shall be tiken with respect to everj hotel to dei ide whethei it- Ikcnse shall 01 shall not be renewed. One of the most rabid piohibitioniots in Auckland \v.\s talking to me on this subject at the Cafe a few days ago. I told In in tli.it he wa,-> not fit to be allowed to vote on the subject, as if he and tho^e of his way of thinking had the po>\er in their hands they would close every hotel and public hmwo in the place. He «ail that tfi'it wa* just what he u'oiild d(», and I quite Mievo him. I t'»ld him the consequence would be that far mine sly {?ro(T shops than theie now aie hotels would bu im mcdia t"ly npi-ned, and that thero would be such a revulsion of public opinion that one of the fir.st thing* done in Parliament at its np\t KPShion would bo to sweep the local option cl.uisu.s off tho Htatute-bnok. I must admit tliat, were the local option applicable to each individual houi-e, there are two 01 three in the city apayist which I would recid my \<>tc, one in particular, which has been noted for yearn as a regular gambling hell. By the way. I hoard a very f?oodstoiy in connection with th.it house. A PreHbyterian minister arnved hero by one of the innil stiMmei". Someone, whether tin onfjli ignoiane<, by accident, or as a joke, had recommciidud him to s-t»y at th it hotel and he acted on the nduce gncn him. You miy imagine hi< anuo>.uice and di-^iist when he dit-emuied that he had t.iken U|» hi- quaitt'rs at a houoe frequented almo-t cntuely by book-uiakeis and bpoiting men. He left soon.

The M'n-itmnuf the work li.i-.lvon the bmgl.uv .it ( Jo kJsou's f.incy .shop. It is uiiri that the luugl >r 01 burglars obtained actc---. tlnoiiKh the front clom by means of a skeleton key, find ifcole Jt'oOO uoith of gold jewellei v. There h.ive been several buiglaiies on n small c-cale lately, houses and shop* i>) the >>üburb-< h.iving been robbed, but there has newr been anything on «o extensive a '•c.ile in Auckland bffme It ceitamlv doe-» «epin t-ti.inge th.it the thiuf or thieves uhould have been able to effect their entrance and egress without being seen by the police on duty, but Mr (Joodson s.iys that it has been done, and he ought to know. Somo disciples of Thomas DidyimiH say that they do not believe that any burglary ha* been committed, and that there was> not £nOO woith of jewellevv in the shop to bo stolen, but, of course, their belief* or non-beliefs do not prove anything. At present wo hate Mr (!ood«on's statement, which is coiniboiated by his assistants, that the goods weie in the shop on Haturday night, and were not theie on Monday morning, and it remains for the polite to ascertain who took them away. This should not be a very difficult task, as the thief 01 thieves are almost s>ure to try to dispose of their booty, and the receivers of stolen goods aie not \ery numeious and are well known to the police. For the pienent the matter is a mystery, hot it is to be hoped that it will not long lemiin bo St. Minoo.