ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2046, 18 August 1885, Page 4

ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

Till it H Is IV(M\ gl 111 11l tet'llllg If lllssltlS faction hen 1 .it the st ,te of .id. vii in Wei lnigt,on. Theln o v injuiity nl tin 1 nijia-Ik-is i>f tin- House .iiid nt the people th>oui?hout th" colony in- oppos, d to the .Muiutry as .it pi i'm nt cmi'-titiiti d, and \et no Attempt !-< in ul ' to mist tin. in fioiuolin c. aiid they evidently 111 1 -tK'tei mini U not (o gir until tiny aie tin m d nut Tune aftn time have tln-v bi\ n beaten on then poln y bill*, find yet they continue to ict.uii tlieu pmntioiu, .uid tlio member who h ive votul against them calmly .illov. tin in to do so. The di-cloMiies 111 connection with the I'l.i-t and West (!o i-t llulwav ought finely to lie quite wiiilu ii nc to piove th.it the Stout Vni,"l Mmishy should not lie allowed to 11 i,i. uu in olh'co anothoi day, as nothing cmilit lie un.re di-giaceful than tlieii action in coiimalm^ fioin the House the fin 'her demands of the horse-leeches— Mi iggs and Co. Wo always used to conKider tho Canterbury membera the gentlemen of tho Houso, but nothing would be more completely Jit variance with gentlumanly conduct than their persistent attempt to black-mail the whole of the colony for tho temporary benefit of their own paiticulnr district. No doubt that distuct is Imdly in want of relief at pre'ent, but were their demands complied with they would find th.it the temporary relief thus affoided would bo followed by a worse period of depression thim that from which they ,vrc now suffering. Undoubtedly tho main cau«e of the present depressed Rtate of afFaus m Canterbury is theiebound from the unnatuial and unhealthy state of piospeiity caused by tho lavish expenditure of public money. Of course, there are other cames of the depiession, some preventible, others not so. Of the latter class is the senous fall in the price of grain and other products of the land ; of the proventiblo causes, the chief is tho earth-hunger, which is chaiactcriitio of the \nglo-Saxon race, .and which cer tainly has not boon lemoned by the speeches of Sir George (hey and his followers. A great number of people in Canterbury bought land on deferred pay ments, paying a small deposit in cash, and agieemg to pay interest on the balance. These, cash deposits generally absorbed all their savings, while the paying of tlio inteiest on the balance strained their resources to the utmost, the consequence being that when their incomes were lessned or they lo~t their employment they wero unable to continue their payment and the land revolted to tho former owners, while the uufoitunate purchasers found themselves utteily destitute, all their savings having been lost. It is a rather a curious ciicnnistanco that while the deterred payment system has pioved a curse in Cantcrbuiy it has proved a blessing in Auckland, tho reason being th it there the land was sold at fictitious prices, and, to a large extent, bought for ppcculative purposes, whereas heio it has been sold at its fair value and bought for occupation. Many \vni king men hero who might have been paying rent for tho rest of their lives have hecoine owneis <>f the lioksps in which they live by a wise application of tho deferred payment system, through the agency of the building societies, tho Savings 15 ink, some of thf public companies and private nidivnlu ds. * t * Tin; Vnckland Savings Bank has, T belli vi>, do-in an immense ..mount [of good in the waj of assisting pioule to liecomo tin u own l.mdlouls. Their system of doing so ( in bo best lllustiated by the c.ws of i man whom I know. He was earning t'.{ pel week, out of which ho paid 10s per week for icnt. Whenever he had a few shillings to spare he put them in the Savings 15 ink, and so managed to get together fc">(). Then he begin to look about him for a house. Ho found one, built on a laige allotment, tho price of which was t'"J'iO After some negotiation he wm told that he might have it for £'200 cash. He uithdiew his tlO and the Savings Bank advanced tho other £l">0, charging him 7/1 inteiest, s-o that ho became a freeholder, and instead of paying 10s per week (t'2(J aye v ) rent, ho had to pay only £10 10s per annum interest. He paid into the Bank the 10s per week he had been paying for rent and, as lieforo, any money that ho could spate. Ho had the right to pay off his mortgage of £150 any sum not less thin t'l ~> on any quarter day, and by doing so he gi uliially i educed his mtere-st. In about fo'u yeais he, naid off the mortgage on his house, and then ho thought ho might as will buy another house. He continued his ]> iv ments until ho was able to buy the next cott igo to his own, which he let for 10s per week, putting the rent into the bank. He his that ue irly paid for, and lie says that if In- live-, long enough he will be able to buy all tho houses m the street. I am glad to see that tho members of the H.'rbour Board have decided to sing tho song '' We'd bottcr bide a wee," or at any rate to act on the principle with rejfnrd to then proposed loan. They have come to tho conclusion that there is no need to hurry matters. That they will not seek to get a now loan bill introduced into Parliameut this Mission, but will take time to consider their requirements and matin o then plans, and introduce their bill at the beginning of next session. This is a veiy wise decision, as it will give them tune to calmly consider what is absolutely requisite, and to ascertain from actual experience the capabilities of their new engineer. He may be a most efficient man, or he may bo a worse failure than his predecessor, and we certainly do not want to have a repel ition r>f the bungling at the lailvvr.y vvhaif, wheie there was an egregious blunder made as to the depth of water obtainable, or at the Hobson-stieet wh.irf, while v large sum of money has been spent on a structnio which will have t'> be re built. The haibour improvements pioposLd aie certunly lcqmred, but there is no hui ly fi r a few months, and sine and steady w u\-> the race * * I was very much sui prised on reading a lettei in Tho Waikato Tiinei on Tuesday, taking me to task for my mode of treating " tins tin eatenmg letter episode," in the Kcln.es which appeared on August lth. I have just re-read tho paragraph inqucition, aku the speech made by the recipient of the letter, and I really cannot see why " I'iotestant " should blame me. During all tho yeais I have been writing the "K< hoes f nun the Cafe" 1 have persistently di piu ited the iiitmduction into this colony of religious dissensions and of tlio Haunting of oiaugu ribbons on July 12th and of gieeu übboiis on March 17tn, but; as I said before, the sending of a threatening letter such .us that lcferred to would be a strong inducement to me to join an Orange Lodge. I am glad that " Piotestant " agrees with mi' in my objections to such cowiudly ar tionn as Tinling tin eatening letters, but 1 judge by his tone that lie thinks there was Homo justification for this ono. If so, ,*I totally di agiee with him. Tho speech made by Mr ( Joldic was made in a public hall and n pmted in the newspapers. Ho quoted ■>t ili-lm to prove that in Italy, tho homo hi I In' I'ipicv, the people aie in a lament ,tU< t i Li of i^'iioi iii(f, and that iimu: th m on' h If of the c rimmals of London, Liv< rpool uid \usti di i vveio lioin.in Catholic*, ami s.ud Ui it as this was the lesult of the education given by the Ohuich of Rome, w. -hnild be p.itic-ul uly caieful to maintain mil pioMiit of secular education. If Ins statistics wcie incorrect, they should h i c been eh dluigid in the new.spiper-', in which the report of his speech appealed. Theyweie not so challenged. but a threatening letter was .sent to him. I'.y ill means let us live in paace and goodwill, " Protestant," but sending and receiving tlneatening It ttcis do not indicate or conduce to peace and gooodwill. I leadily co'ieide that, .is a nile the Roman C.thnlics of Kew Zealand are peaceable and 1 iw tbidi.ig i lti/er^, and lam proud to i. Hutu i 'iii'iii/ my fin mis members of both tin cluuy md laity of that church, all of whom, I mi >nic, would join with mo in condemning the cow ndly miscreant who sent that tl.ieatunnj' 1 tlei. To turn to a pkwanter theme. The other day I heard of an amusing incident winch happemd to a good man doing his duty lie h the imnister of one of the sm diet ( liiim li< .in lll'' (ity, to which he w.ih goiir; on a ment Sunday, when lie <i\v a iiiiuibi i of i i'y \i >ln, two of whom \k ie di m( i itni}' tin Sibliith by indulging in a gann ot " pihh .n,d toss." JIo walked rjuietly up to them, bid his hand on the phoul'ii-i of one of tho playeis, and said: " My boy, do >oti know what day this is?" Receiving no n-plv, he put his hand on tho shoiildei of the other pla\ci and askrd him tho same tmestion. Tho little lasral did not make any answer to the minister, but turned to his companions, and said: "I say, boys, here's a go. Tho old buster has been out on the spree all night, and don't know what day it is." The poor minister wns so surprised and shocked that he did not know what to say, so walked on to church, where he preached, instead of the discourse ho had propured, a sermon on jiiw tiile lit piawty. # # Talking of sermon", the following

C'nlloqiiy 1) tweiii two vSL.itclniiou is , is good ,i [i ciiii"ii < t di\ ( ui-.tic wut ' .is 1 havo r Mm 1 acinvs tm s inu> timo Tho\ mcio w vlKtu^** !i >ino fn)ii\ tlio Kirk vlun miv .ml, " W'oll ' Vi'ih i, \.luUh.Klit MMi'thc MiniKii?' '• N.ii'tliin;; vi ; sud \ntlrow, '■ It w.is c mlil Kul hot ..^on. ' " Waur na ill .t, \nili.i, it «iWi.i hit Sr. MuN(O.