ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2070, 13 October 1885, Page 3

ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

The City Councillors have been wasting more tune over their so called retrenchment prop isaJs. Sumo tune ago they le-ohed to reduce the salaries of the town clcik, engineer, inspector of abbatoiis, and one or two othei officials, and on Tue cl iy evening they held another special meeting to fuithei consider the nutter. It was pioposed that the allowance of I*4oo per annum to the mayoi slimild be 1 educed, but as most of the councillors "-ecmed to think that sooner or later they would occupy the in. H "r<<l chair, the majority of them objected to am 1 eduction. This is genii .til} conceded to be a very absurd deciMon at which they have aruved, a-, better mayor-, than the present aspirants to the office have meeivcd tinallcr allowance*, and it is thought that those who receive the honour Mionld be willing to pay something for it, instead of ueeiving sufficient to recoup all expenses and a little more. Then the citj fathers pioceeded to reconsider the salary of the town clerk, which it had been decided to reduce from t'soo to € 100 a-year. The result was that they decided to restore it to £000. In this I quite concur, a> if a man is fit to be tow n cleik of Auckl mil he should bo woith t.">oo pei annum. If he is not worth that salary lie is not pood enough to hold the office. The councillor aie certainly not to be congratulated on the way in which thej have faced ('') this que-tion of retrenchment. To u-e a homely phrase, they have been tiying to save a few diops .it the spigot while gieat waste has been going on utterly disregarded at the bungholo. The sooner the whole lot are sent to the rightabout, and men who have the seme t<» apply themselves propeily to leal retrenchment are put in their places, the better for the ratepayer. We have had no lack of amusement of ono sent or .mother lately, but tho best "moral i>how," ns the de ir depirted Artemus Ward would -.ay, tint we have neen for a long tune is the working modi I of the famous Strasbuig clotA. Tho original is m Stiasbuig Cathedral, and mi much afraid vvr-re, the inhabitants of the city that the linker would conduct a himilai one for some other city that they put out his eye-.. This wonderful clock shows not only the minute and tho hour, but also the day of the week, of the month, and of tho year, the planets revolving round tho sun, and I know not what besides. Despite tho extreme caie with which the clock is guarded a watchmaker's appientice managed to leain ltsseuiets, and nuke a working model of it. It is this model which is now being exhibited in Auckland, and it is well woithy of a visit. The most interesting part of it to the oidi nary spectator is the proce-sion which take* place every quarter of an hour. A cherub strikes a warning note on a bell, and the figuie representing the passing quarter gives place to his successoi (youth, boyhood, manhood, and old ago). Then a figure of death stukes the nnnibei on a large bell. A bur-t of music is now heaid, and the Saviour copies forth from .idooi in the centie. Then the Apostles pass by in procession, meekly bowing to their Lord as they pass, with the exception of Peter, who turns hw back. As ho docs so a cock, which is standing on a side tow pi, claps his wings and trows. The last in the piocession i-> t Judas Iscanot. As he comes forwaid Satan looks out at an upper balcony to see what the traitor will do, but he, in his hypocrisy, bows moie lowly than the rest. Altogethei, the clock is mitet interesting, and, though it may seem to us to be making religious matters 100 common, we must remember that on the Continent religion is i pait of the daily life of the people to an extent quite unknown among Kngli.sh-«peakmg people, and this was even more the caso m tho Middle Ages when the great clock was made. Talking about religious nutteiH, we have two lecturers here, both of w horn have left the li.man Catholic Chinch, one having become a Protestant, the othei a Freethinker. Of course, d.s this is a country m which the utmost freedom is allowed m all matters of loltgioii, theie is nothing to pievent these ladies coming heie and giving utteiance to their views. At the same tune, I venture to think it would have been better for us as a community if they had not come. Hitheito, Protestants, Roman Catholics and Freethinkers have got along tolerably well togothor, and v>e do not welcome j>cople who come and sow discord among our population. It may be said that these ladies express nothing but their conscientious view.s with regard tn the Church from which they have seceded, 'and I should be sorry to doubt their good faith, but when I sue that they charge for ad mission to their lectures I cannot help thinking that their main object is not to enlighten us with icgard to icligiourt matters so much as to get aa many of our shillings and half crow us as possible. When Mai tin Luther preached against the Roman Catholic Church he did not hire a hall and elm go for admission, but stood in the marktt places oi ai.ywheio else that was convenient, and exhoited the people to ..bandon thoenors which were sanctioned by the Chnu-h, uther than the Church itself. Hi*> olijttt was not to amass wealth, but to pioclaim the truth. There is one thing in connection vvitli the Freethought leetuie-s that I am at a loss to understand, and that w why she should be allowed to thai ge for aduiusion to lecture-) given on Sundays. U is not veiy long since a photographer was fined foi carrying on his business on Sunday. Now, why should a photographer be v" n >*l lC( l for earning money on Sunday, while lectureis and lec-turesse-i are allowed U* do the same tiling every Sunday evening? Wo aro a funny people and do Home veiy xtiange things. One of our inconsistencies h that we allow the fen y steamers to nra on Sundays, as also 'busses licensed by the City Council, but we will not allow the ti.iui cais to run on Sundays Why the dilfeieiice sjmnld bo made I do not Know, but Mia of the clauses m the agi cement made between the City Council and the Tramway Company cxpicssly stipulate s that the cats shall not run on Sundays and that clause cannot be revoked except by a special resolution of the council. It certainly cannot be a matter of pi maple, because if it is w rong to allow tfio tram tars to carry passengers on Sunday, it is equally ho to allow th« 'buses to do it. Without gompf into tho whole Sabbatarian (pies tion, I say it is manifestly unfan to " make fish of one and flesh of the other. ' Kither tho tiam-can, should bo pei nutted to do Sunday woik, oi the omnibuses should bo pievented front doing is. The Tramway Company have now an excellent oppmtumty of showing the absurdity of the pie.sent state of affati-. They have recently bought the omnibuses of the West End Lino, so tho only thing they have to do is to ai range with their drivers and they can stait Sunday tnimc .it once. 1 am not an advocate of Sunday woik, but if it is considered light to allow business to ply for hire on Sundays I think it is less objectionable to permit tramcars to do so, as they requite fewer men and hoi sea to carry an equal number of passhongeirf. « It is .satisfactory to know that the (Joy eminent liavo at last completed arrangements for a new San Francisco mall service. There .tie those who, ru membering the unsatisfactory natuie of the hnit service by that route, which, like tho new one, was canted out by a ennnee tion at Honolulu, fear for the sucefss of tho new contract, but circumstance* have altered very much »mcc then. The boat which C'uripdtho passengers and mails between Honolulu and San Francisco was a veritable tub called the Moses Taylor, moie familiarly known as the Rolling Mo-es, vvheioas in the new service that part will be tarried out by the steamships of the Oceanic Company, which arc reported to be tint rate vessels in no way infeiior except perhaps in ni<ce, to the best boats emplojtdby the Pacific Mail Company, the Australia, and Zealandia. That none but first class steamers aro to bo employed is evident from the fact that the contract time in a day less than that of the present service. I believe that Mr Centor, the representatives of the Oceanic Company was not at all pleased with tho way m which the negotiations for tho mail Mrvitc were conducted. Indeed, he accused Sn Julius Vogel of vacillation in language much more plain than polite. This vv.r hardly fair, as tho Tieasuror was s< hampered by possible participator* in tin sui vice and by opponents that ho could nol Hay, " l)n this and I will pay so much foi it." However, it la a good thing that w< aro certain of the continuance of the Sat 1 rancisco mail tsemco for the next thret jtars. 15y the expiration of that time w< shall probably be able to make bettei arrangements than are possible at present. The "champion mean woman" did livi here, but she has "cleared out for Guam.' She was in service and succeeded n borrowing a pound or two from a, siuipl( feU<AY-Be.r\an,t oa "personal security.

Though she was in tocoipt of pood WAgw t she made no tiToit to repay the loan. After .1 while she tjut manied, but t-tiJl s,he was eithei unable <ir unwilling to pay back tli.it money. Howeur, hhe piopused to her cieditoi that shu .~.ho\ik\ "workout" her debt. The innocent «ul readily consented to this, and bought -xmie material to be nwidf into clothiN. Somo tune eljp-ed but theje was no mXii of those garment •!, vi) the girl went to leain the reason uhy. She found that l>er "fnend" l.ad cleft led out, taking the material with hui, »o that tlio Minplo cieatuio Ins 10-.t her ni.itenal as well .-.s hci motley. I am not well up in lorjil itenii but I should imagine that thi« is what would bo called " laieony .is a bailee,'' and I think the matter should be placed in the hsvnds of the police, as a woman who would rob another who had be friended her nchly deserves to bo pun i-hed. Sr. Mlm.o.