ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2088, 24 November 1885, Page 3

ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

It says very little for the imlilic npirit of our loading citizens that the election of mayor was allowed to go by default, there being no opposition, mid Mi Waddel being permitted to enter on a tlind teim. it must be .'dmitted th.it our present mnyoi has devoted a pie.it de.il of tune and attention to his public duties, but at the s.nne time I think it is a- mistake to allow one m.m to hold such a. position ye.v after yc.ir, | unless he is posges^ed of unusually tfro.it ability, or ha* pioved lum-elf nioie th.m ordin.uily well httid for the office. In the pi csent instance such mint tin case. Mr W.wld.-l has not more iibility th.vi ninety out of every bundled busmen-men in Auckland, while mv oun opinion is that he h.is not been unifomily successful as the ch.viiinan.it tlio ordinal y meetings of the council. 1 have he.ud of instinces of his interiuptmg coimcilloM who were speaking when their views did not coincide with his, and I need hardly say that that is what no chaii man <>f a meeting should do. Then again, he his been unfm tun ite in holding office while the finances of the city have been drifting into a state of muddl", and he has not shown the clear gra-sp of the hitua tion and the ability to show how order could bo evolved from chaos, which wo should like to Bee in our mayor. At the present juncture we need sneh a man, and it is a gieat pity tli.it he was not forthcotu ing. Still it 18 some consolation to know that wo might be worse off than we are, and wo should have been worse off had we, solely to get a change, rejected Mr W.idiiel and elected a mv.ii no better able to get the city out of us financial difficulties, and who lacked the determination to do his duty to the be*t of his ability which characterises our present mayor. Visitors to Auckland frequently express their admiration of the beautiful trees . growing in the sheets, and commend the U City Council for their wisdom in to adorning the tity and adding to the comfoit of pedestrians as well as contributing to the healthiness of the citizen*. Some of the burgesses, nnhappily, seem to hare an objection to those tree*. If they find that the falling leaven litter the footpath and are blown into their •hops, as was the case in Hob-on-street a short time ago, they petition the council to remove the trees and the council, of course, bows to the will of the sovereign people and removes them. Of course, this is quite as it should be. We cannot afford to hive trees in the streets, even though they are both useful and ornamental, if they drop their dead lua\es on the footpath and give shopkeepers the trouble of sweeping tiiciu out of their shops two or three tunes a day, and ho the tieos had to go. A short time ago some more had to be cut down in WellesleyMtreet East t'> make room for one of those ugly but useful things— a verandah. Of course, there is something to bo said for the individual who wanted the verandah to shelter his shop-window from the rays of the sun, but them is also something to be said for the general body of ratepayers who«e money was spent in buying and planting thoso trees, and has now been spent in cutting them down. Of cmise, I am only an unpractical outsider, but it seems to me thnt it mi/lit have been pos sible to conseive the interests of both parties by allowing the trees to remain and giving the man who wished to erect the u ver.wid ih permission to put his pill.tr-> siifli- ' ciently f.»r on the footpath to keep them clear of the trees. * • There is one thing that the City Council will have to face sooner or later, and the sooner they do it the belter, and that is the widening of a. large number of our streets. The people who laid out Auckland certainly did not show much foresight. They should base made most of the streets yoiy much wider than they are, and they might as vv ell have made mote of them straight. Hovvevei, the straightness in a matter of suntim "lit rather than of utility. Not ho the width, or lather wunt of width, of many of our streets. Just look at High-stieet foe example. That thoroughfare has to carry a very large and rapidly increasing traffic, and it u so narrow that there is barely sufficient room for two carts to pass each other. I think that it .should be possible to remedy the evil. My idea is that the City Council should have powei to alter the alignment. Tin n anyone rebuilding should be compelled to do so at tlie new line. The advantage of frontage to a wider street would be r | into a sufficient lvjcomp 'lisp for the loss of depth to all pioperty-numrs except those w!i"-ij lots are at the comei * of intersecting stre 'ts, and they should receive compensation. The amount to \m givn should be n,s-''<sed now, but paid only when tho buildings should be erected at tl.e new hii". This would save the council from the neceisity of paying for the unearned incieinent. I believe that some such plan as this has been adopted in Sydney, though lam sure of the details I A do kimw, however, that there arc buildPuiig-. winch project very much on Home of the piiocipal streets of that city and that, if tli'J owners of those buildings make any alterations to them they are compelled to do ho at the present street alignment. * Mr D. K. McDonald, the late engineer to the H.u hour Board, has left our shores, but, unfortunately, we still ha\ft some pi oofs of his skillf?) One of these is the railway wharf, with regard to which he vi ide a giinvouK miscalculation an to the depth of water obtainable. The board has expended a onsideitible Hum of money in attempting to icmovc thw blunder by dredging the mud away from the end of the wharf, but tin result is so far from satisfactoty that the agents of the Shaw Savill and Albion C >mpany have intimated that they do not consider it naft» to b»jith the ateamships of the company at that whaif. If they do not do so, the stoamers cannot load with frozen meat, and, therefore, are not likely to come totliHport. Another monument to Mr McDonalds en?inejrin;s ability which we still have is the retaining wall built to aeawaid of tho reclamation of the eastern Hide of the (jueen-street wharf. It has repeatedly given proofs of its inability to serve the purpose for which it was built and has lately shown a strong inclination to follow the engineer who planned it to Sydney. Ido not know that the whole blame for the inetficency of that wall should be laid on Mr McDonalds nhoulders, as I belipvo that tho plans were submitted to and approved by Mr Bhxjkett, the Engineer-in-Chief for the colony. If this is so, the question arises whether Mr Hlackctt is com [>< tent to nil the position he h>>]ijs, and wheth"i it would not bo well to allow him also to betake himself and hi* engineering skill to some other dune. • * * People are beginning to get rather dis gusted with joint stock companies, as one l| aftei anoth'T holds its annual meeting, at which the directors are compelled to meet tho sliansholdi-rs with ivbilance-cheet show ing a balance on the wrong Hide of the lwlgei. On Wednesday lu«t it was the nlurfli'ilrlciH in the Union Oil, Soap and Caudle Company who had to listen to the doleful tale and look at a balance-sheet showing a loss of nearly £2000 on the transactions ofthepa*t year. Of course, this is very unsatisfactory to those who have invested money in tho concern, and naturally looked forward to getting at least as good a return as if they had lent their money on freehold security. The question arises whether these unsatisfactory results of the operations of so many of our public companies are unavoidable, and the opinion is very general ttut in many ewes they are. Of this pat ticular company I know nothing beyond what is made public in the columns of tho newxpapers, but I speak of joint stock companion as a rule. The idea is becoming very prevalent, that the expenses of management are ex cessive, but too often the directors sanction expenditure in connection with companies which they would never allow in their own business, and that, when appointments are made there are too many exemplifications of the proverb, "kiising goes by favour." If a manager or secretary is required, the appointments is given, pot always to the man best fitted for the position, but to tho man who has moat influence with the dippotow, Now Ido not assert that these are fact", but merely repeat the remarks made at t' ■• Cafo and elsewhere, and leave the diretcwn ./f each company to decide whether in their case the cap fits. It would appoir that Reuter made a A stupid blunder in telegraphing the sentences passed on Mr Stead and Mr Jacques for their nliare in the Armstrong abduction case, as their punishment is three months' and one months' imprisonment, instead of three years' and one year, as previously announced. These more lenient sentences would seem to indicate that the judge believed in the purity of their motives, and that they bad merely acted on tho pernicious principle of doing evil that good might ensue. Of course, it is satisfactory to know that a man who had worked himself up to so high a position in connection with journalism ua

Chat attained by Mi Stead, has app.'to.itly, bet:i conucted of wilful wumg doing tor a ba-e purpose. At the Mine tnno we must not lotto sijjht of tilts f.ict tli it thosu disclosures lme pioved .v peifoct mine of wealth for tho F.ill il.ill (i.izette, .\nd I greatly foar that ths publication of thiwe objectionable detuls have done much harm tn inn<'cont >ntmK punpla of both se\ot. The other day I picked up a pamphlet giving preliminary e\ unin .ition, and Mr Stead\ siipprc^cd defence. As the pviee of it wa* sixpence, and the sale would coitauilv be enorinoii I*,1 *, it icpirscat^ a >cry h indsome piolit to the (iawttr, at \vho-<e othco it was pul)h>ln-d. Sr. M1.\(.0,