ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2076, 27 October 1885, Page 3

ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

Ho.vofr to v ho»i honour is due. The Christchurch people, believing that Hie construction of the East and West Coast railway would pio\c a benefit to their city and district, wore quite right in giving a banquet to their membets, Sir Jnhns Vogeland Mr Holmes, though I must admit that I have no gieat p.utialitj for banqmts myself. Among all my sins, and I suppose I have the nsml quantity, I certainly do not number that of the gourmond, and I think that if a man wants to .enjoy a "good squnie meal," he should take it in the middle of the day, and not at night. However, if Sir Julius enjojs a banquet, by all means lcthimha\e one. As the French sn\, " ChaciiH a sou tjnnt." This reminds me of a few lines I came across somewheie acme time ago. Whether they n.ay be considered to have special reference to Sir Julius, I leave my leaders to judge. They arc • "The Fiuich have ta^-te in all they do, Which we arc quite without ; For Nature, which to them gave GOUT, To us gave only Rout." Whether the banquet was a marvel of pout, and whether it lesnlted in an attack of yoiit to the Treasurer, does not much concern us. Whit does affect us and the colony at large is the evident determination to construct the East and West Coast railw ay. That seems to ha\ c been the principal theme of all the speeches made on the occasion, and it behoves the representatives of the rest of New Zealand to be careful and consistent in their opposition to that schem", or they will cuitainly find the colony pledged to it in one form or anothei It is rather curious to notice that Sir Julius stems quite disposed to drop Meigg*- and Co overboard, and to adopt the proposal advocated by Sir Ooroe Grey, tint the railway should be constructed by the colony. In that I think everyone will agree with him, with the imptr'ant rescr vation— if the railway is tobeconstiucted at all. • •• Sir Julius Vogrl U cither a humotuist of a very high order or one of those who have so gieata regard for truth that they carefully refrain fiom speaking it. It is quite amusing to read ms statement as telegraphed that he defied anyone to "ay that the Covernmcnt had continued in office without possession of the confidence of the House. A pretty confidence w hen member after member rose and said that he would vote for keeping the Ministry in and their policy out ! A pretty confidence when the alterations they proposed to make in the tariff were promply thiown out ! A pretty confidence when, after the estimates had been carefully considered and adopted by the Cabinet, thej were reduced br half a million sterling ! A pretty confidence when almost all the policy bills of the dov eminent weie either thiown out or so much altcied that their own fathers did not know them • Sir Julius Vogel knows perfectly well that the Ministry of which he was the virtual chief did not possess the confidence of the majority of the House, and that they were suffered to remain m official simply because the part} which held the balance of power was unwilling to allow Major AtkinsDn to return to the Ministerial benches. His statement proves that he is either aclevcr humourist or an accomplished * * A considerable amount of discussion is going on just now witli regard to the cutting down of Hobson-stieet, so as to afford an easy gradient from Custom street west. There can be no difference of opinion as to the desirability of this work, provided it does not cost more than it is worth, and that it is propeily done, but the trouble is that, if the work is propeily done there will be a huge bill fer compensation, which will render the cost simply prohibitive. Theie are those who say that the priperty-owners should not stand in the way of an important public improvement, but those who say so are not the property-owners aOectcd. These latter say that they cannot afford to have their property destroyed, nor do they feel called upon to suffer loss for the benefit of the public, and that those who desire the alteration to be made should pay for it, It is a pity that we have not n wpalthy board like the London Metiopolitan Hoard of Woiks which could Uuy tip all the properties to be affected by improvements and sell them at an enhanced price consequent on those improvements. Seeing that we havo not that, and are not likely to have it, I think it would be well it corporations had power given them to compel the ovvneis of property benefited by improvements to compensate those whose propeities were ilepieciated Take this case of Hob3on strct t, for instance. It the street were cut down, as it should be to make a decent job of it, so as to give a gradual slope from Customs' stiect to Victoria street, people owning property in Hobvm street near and above Vic toria street, would have its value vety materially increased, while those whose propei ty is below Durham stieet would suffer loss, and I think that it would be only fair if the tjaineis by the alteration could he compelled to compensate the losers by it. \* Our harbour contained an unusual number of large steamers in the beginning of last week, as there were the Shaw Saville and Albion Company's Arawa, the New Zealand Shipping Company's Tongariro, the Union Company's Kotomahann, and the French man-o-war Magon. The two dnect steair.ships came here for the purpose of loading with frozen and preserved meat, for the Lon don market. It is to be hoped that their cargoes will be disposed of at satisfactory rates, because the Frozen Meat Company will rcquiiu to make large profits to give them a lcasonable letnrn on the large amount of capital expended in plant and buildings. It is very questionable whether the directois acted wisely in erecting such extensile buildings as those on the leclaimed land near the railway wharf. No doubt it is very laudable to beautify the town by putting up such handsome buildings in that prominent position, but in this utditaiian age, the important question is, will it pay? Considering the keen competition existing in the meat trade, would it not have been better to erect buddings the least expensive that could have answered the purpose ? The handsome block cost a large sum of money, interest on which must be paid out of the profits of the meat trade, if the company is to be a financial success, and it is very certain that they will not get another farthing per pound for the meat because it is not prepared for shipping in a handsome building. I am not a shareholder in the Frozen Meat Company, but if I were I should certainly prefer to see a much less expensive "woikshop," as I then should know that I should have a much better prospect of getting a dividend. ♦ Judging by present appearances I think that the mayoral election is going to result in a " walk-over " for the present holder of the office. This is a great pity, for at no period of our municipal history n did we stand more in need of a thoroughly capable man at the head of affaits. Our city finances have been gradually drifting into a state of muddle, and that drifting process still continues. Perhaps Mayor Waddell is a thoroughly capable man, hut if so he has been singularly unfortunate. I know that I should not like people to be able to point me out as the Mayor of Auckland, and to add that during my term of office the city had been gradually drifting into debt. Of course it must be admitted that one man cannot do what he would if there are eighteen opposed to him, but if the one man had the ability to propose a broad and sensible plan of future action I believe that he would have thesuppoit of the majority of the eighteen in carrying it out. The only man in the council who seemed to be able to propose such a plan wa« Mr Upton, and hd, unfortunately, was compelled to resign his seat on account of ill-health. * * We ire begianin^'tQ feel the beneficial

effects of the return to power of Sir Julius Vogel. In addition to our large conttibutions to the general revenue we are now peimittcd to tax om selves for the maintenance of our chautable iu->ti-tutions, and in all piobability next session we shall have the whole of the co.it of that maintenance ca^t upon tin- local bodies. lhobo bjdiu*. .uc uKo^iau ma!) pcmiittwl to contribute to tlio cost of education, and it seems very likely tliat before long the local bodies will have to raise i lar^-c proportion, if not the whole, of the cost of the educational system. Wheie is this sort of thing to end, and what it-turn are we to get tor our contubutioni to the general revenue? Of couise, a large sum is lcquircd to pay interest on our public debt, and as that debt ia mci cased the chaige for interest must increase in the same propoition Then tlieie is the cost of the en ll service, tlio Law Courts,, police, Constabulary, <!fcc. Of conise, these must all be main tamed, but theie is a limit to the amount that the people can pay in taxation, and it seems as if that limit would soon be i cached. Then what will follow? A revolution of some s-oit Let us hope that it will be a bloodless om>, that it will take the form of the election by every constituency in the colony of men who will apply theinielves, and not meiely pledge themselves, for we know that electioneering piomises are too often of the "pie-crust" order, to ugoious retrenchment. They will have to cut down the salaries of Ministers and civil servants, abolish all sinecuies, sell the " Hnu'inoa." anil do many other unplo.isant things. There will he a good deal of howlfng, but it must be done St Mi' M.i).