ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 2025, 30 June 1885, Page 3

ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

Oi coin so, the in >-t engrossing ttijnc of couvei-ation dming tin- week ha* been tin 1 Financial Statement dehveied by Su -1111111-. Vogcl. ft veiy one .iduuts th.it it is the most elevei, lucid, and compiohensive which ii.is evei been made in tin-, piobably in any, colony, but no one tsatisfied with it. On tho tonti.uy, eveiy<>no is dissatisfied with it. After the state nient made by Sir Julius last yeai about the saving to be effected by the com ei -ion of o-ir loans, and seeing that that con\ei>ion is pioeeodmgas rapidly as could i<v«onably be ejected, and about tho lehef to tho colony by the cessation of the Sinking 1 Fund, it w.is fully expected that theie would bo no addition to, it then 1 w 0.10 not an actual i eduction of, taxation. " Blessed aii' they who expect nothing', foi they sh ill not bcdi-ap] omtcd, 'is a text w bethel taken fioin the Ki»ian, the Ved.is 01 tlie h"l\ books of Confucius, which is particulail\ applicable to those, who expect econoMiical measiues ftotn Sn Julius Vogel. lie is n<.t that soit of man Ho must ha\e nionej to spend, and .is the io\enue of New Zealand h much too small to please his views he must borrow. His piesent. pioposals, if canied, as 1 hope they will not bo, would commit tho colony to continued bon owing foi the next twent\-fivo yeais. Like Sn George Grey, he acts in tho mteiosts of the unborn millions. There can be no doubt but that lie considers boiroumcrn gdM thing, and so he intends to peipetuate tho system. Many people have been honing that a limit would be set, beyond which there would be no fuithei borrowing. If it is to be set it w ill not bo by Sir Julius Vogel, a* the two woids "Vogel"and "borrow" are indissolubly connected. The proposed alterations in the tariff please no one. They aie of a distinctly protective charactoi, and in no cisc is the protection required, so that they will enhance the cost of )i\ ing without conferring any countei balancing benefit, except on the few people engaged in nianufactuies. Take the boot tiade, foi instance. The finer classes of boots cannot be made in the colony, because the quantity of them lequiredis not sufficiently laige to enable the making' of them to pay. The stiongei goods, .such as are usually worn by the majority of people ate now made heie, the dutie.s levied undei the old tauff and the cost of liiipot ting bem;,' quite sufficient piotcction to enable the localh-nudo to hold their own against foieigu goods. The higher rate of dut\ will Minply add to the buulens of the people and to the pioht of the manufacturer. In woollen good-, tho [ matter standi in piotty near the same ! position. Fine goods, such as bioad cloth-, cannot be made here, because the dein md for them is too Miia.ll to enable their m inn facture to pay, while low class goods, puncipally " shoddy " are not made in the colony, and I hope ne\er will be. Good honest all-wool tweeds aie turned out bv the Mosgiel, Kaiapoi, and Roslyn mills at prices lower than those at which similai goods can be impoited, in this c«u»e also the old duty, fieight &c. being quite as much protection as these goods require. In one lespect the taiiff is decidedly hostile to loci! manufactureis. Low-priced shirtings-, &c, which weie duly free, and were iinpoited in laige quantities and made up in the colony aie now to be subject to duty, the consequence being that the .shiit manufactories will have to cease operations, as the diffeience between tho wages paid heie and in JCngl.tnd is so groat that the mdustiy will not pay unless the mateiial is admitted duty free. r -A What we in Auckland consider the mo.st objectionable featuiem the now tariff is the ic-iii'position of duty on cheap pi hits imputed foi tho Jslauds tiade. From our ge'igiaphical j osition we should be able to command all the tiade with the Islands. No one has stated this more emphatically than Sir Julius Vogel. Indeed it was only last session that he introduced a bill having for its object the concentration of the whole of the trade in New Zealand. His plan was utterly unpractical, but still its object was to foster that trade. That was last session, not a year ago. What do we find now? That he proposes to levy duty on the cheap prints which aie among the most impoitant items of the tiade. The consequence will be that a large proportion of the business now done w ith Auckland will be done w ith Sydney, which is a fiee port. It may bo said that tho difficulty can be met by the allowance of draw backs, but this is not .so. In the hist place nodi aw back is allowed except on ouginal package-, or on packages lepacked under the supci vision of an officer of the Customs. It is \eiy often invenijnt for a bn\er to take .in original package, and the le packing under Customs inspection costs money. In the second place, the whole of the duty chaiged is not lefunded. In the thud place, there is a consideiablo loss in interest of money, as the amount of drawback is not paid until the ictuin of the ship, and some 'if tho voyages occupy si\ months. Lastly, tho draw back is often lost because at many of the islands there is no consul or Customs officer to endorse the di aw back wanant and certify that the goods have been landed, and without such endorsement the diawback cannot be paid. Most decidedly, tho new taiiff, if enacted, will gi\e a seveie, if not a deadly blow to our trade with tho Islands, *■ m I see that that other legislator for tho unborn millions, Sir Geerge Grey, ha* started a new fad. This one is to prevent the use of wax 1 matches. Because it has occasionally happened that some unfortunate infant has met its death through eating the heads of wax. matches, tho whole adult population is deprived of the use of them. Matchless absurdity ! (excuse the pun, but it was so obvious that I could not help making it.) Theie would be just as much sense in prohibiting the erection of high buildings, because one man fell from the top of tho Viotoiia Arcade the other day, and received seiious injuries which may prove fatal. There would be much moie sense in providing for the punishment of the parents of the childien if there is proof of culpible negligence in leaving the matches within reach of tho infants. But that wo know that Sir George Ciey is always actuated by the purest and most lofty motives, we might suppose that he was taking this action in the interests of Bryant and May and otboi makers of safety matches, lint if Sii George were successful .someone else might discover that the so-called safety matches did not dosorvo their liamo. but weie as dangerous a,s the wax dittos, and get them also interdicted. Then we should find our selves reduced to the fliut and stool of our grandfathers, or tho two sticks of the savage. Either would, I feai, lead to a huge amount of cursory language, and add gieatlyto the crow ded state of our lunatic asvlunis. ' » The other day I heard a veiy good storj about an admirer of Sir George Giey, who lecently left this world for, I liope, a bcttci He was a "'raal ould Irish gintleinan," named Mac w ell ' let us aiy McSw coney He wiib a gieat man for aiguing, and wane ver at a loss for a leason. One day he w <mted some sacks, and went to get some that he had put away in a cupboaid, but found that it was like the ti.uhtion.il one of old Mothei Hubbaid. It was bale at least as far as sacks weie concerned. Not find ing them at home, McSweeney went abroad to look foi hi-> sacks, J3efoie veiy long lie saw a number lying in the bottom of a cait. He immediately claimed them, but tho cat tor said they belonged to him. "Shuie tho-,e aie my sacks," said Mac. "Shine they are not," said tho caiter, and ho pointed to his initials P. <}„ on them. " Shuio thnt proves they are mine," said Mac. " Luk at that now ; P. for McSw eenoy, and I^. for sacks." Would you believe it— that carter was not convinced by such excellent proof, but insisted on keeping those sacks ? The Chief Justice gavo one of the Gisboine lawyers a mild hint that ho was making an ass of himself, or rather that he was showing himself to bo one ahoady, in a case that was being tried in that town last week. Soineono was suing ono of the foreign companies for the amount of a policy, and the company's solicitor was raising a. number of fiivolous objections. After they had been disposed of, the lawyer raised ono which he appealed to think fattl to tho case. He said that the case of tho plaintiff must fail, as ho had not pioved the incorporation of tho company. Tho judgu looked at him for a moment, and then quietly remarked " I presume, Mr , that the company you loprosent does not intend to continue to transact business in tho colony." The lawyer subsided, and judgment was givui for the plaintiff. » Talking about insurance companies, I nm afi aid that those doing business here will shortly laise the nites considerably. The> have had a namber of veiy heavy losm>lately, and they piofcss not to soo the logic of the old woman who said that shn lost muiioy on well uitiulu she Hold, but that it

un-> tin 1 quantity th.it paid hoi. If they would deign to take .1 hint fiom an out--idor, 1 would s ingest that theie *\ould not be so many fiie-. if they insisted on .1 l.ujrot 111.11 gin between the amount of the mbiuancei and the value of the goods insured. Apart fiom thn d.mgci of incoiidiaiiMii, it i-. (\\uto ccitatn tliat people ,ne not in careful as they should be when they know that they are covered by insurance. Sr. Mi mio.

A Critic! — A ipgular ciitio was obliged to leave town, and turned over his work for one night to the sporting ni.ui of the staff. Tins is how the criti asm on an important concert appealed the next tiny. — "Tune was called about eight o'clock, and about fifty bugles hfes, and fiddles en tired foi the content. The fiddles mod the to«, and took the nibide, with the chandcheis right in their rjes. The umpire, with a small chib, acted also as staitcr. Just before the start he stood upon a ch(cse-bo\, with .1 small lunch counter before him, ami shook his stick at the putiics to keep them down Tlip contestants (11st started it to 'I aiidliche Hockzeit,' by Goldsmaik, Op 26. They got of neaily e\cn, one of the fiddlers gently leading. The 11 an with the Fiench lioi 11 tiied to call them back, but they settled down to work at a slogging gait. with the big roan fiddle bringing up the ic.ir. At the first quarter of the course the little black whistle broke badly, and wi nt into the air, but the riddles on the left kept well together, and stiuck up a tattling gait. At the half way the man with the sti night horn showed signs of fatigue. There was a little bobtniled llute which wrested sadly with the bugle at the mile, but he was wind broken and wheezed. The big fat bugle kipt calling out ' whoa ' all the time, hut he seemed to keep up with the lest till the end of the lace. They all came under the string in good order, but the judge on the dices box seemed to rescue his opinion He seemed tired, and the contestants went out to find their bottle-holder and get icady for the Beethoven handicap. It was a nice exhibition, but a little tiresome to the contestants. All bets aie oft. ' — Ameticin papoi.