The Globe. THURSDAY, MAY 1, 1879.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1621, 1 May 1879, Page 2

The Globe. THURSDAY, MAY 1, 1879.

Poor Sir George Grey! He lias been forced at last to go to the Te Kopua meeting uninvited. How mortifying! No Miss of blooming seventeen longing for an invitation to a select ball, no Peri hovering outside the gates of Paradise was ever more eager for the precious word “ Como.” So much hung on an an invitation too. Where was Sir George’s boasted influence with the Native race if they would not even deign to ask him to come to their groat mooting ? There is something almost pitiful in the whole affair. To notice the way the Premier has sidled up, as it were, to the neighborhood of Te Kopua, hoping that, if ho wore in close propinquity, Tawhiao might relent! He seizes on the excuse of turning another railway sod. Having already turned one first sod at the end of this particular railway, he determines to turn another at the other end. Ho might just as well, when ho was about it, have turned several others up and down the lino. However, he goes to Hamilton, and takes, as the to-day’s telegram informs us, three hours in turning this wonderful sod, doubtless prolonging the important operation to its utmost limit in the vain expectation that his dilemma might be solved. Drowning men catch at straws, and one can imagine, though not without pity, our Premier laboriously eking out his bucolic employment with one eye fixed on his spade and the other gazing eagerly towards Te Kopua in the hope of seeing the longed-for messenger with the perfumed invitation from Tawhiao. Alas! the largest sod must at last be turned, and Sir George is just where he was before ho stripped for the work. It is no good shilly-shallying any longer, he must make up his mind one way or the other. And so ho determined to put the best face upon the affair and go uninvited. It would really be too ridiculous to turn back. The country would bo dissolved in inextinguishable laughter. And so backed up by his trusty Native Minister ho sets out. The whole situation is not a dignified one. Tawhiao has assumed more or less of regal state. Ho issues orders like an autocrat. He is surrounded by gendarmes dressed in white, with painted faces, the chief soldiers having firemens’ helmets and scarlet waistcoats. And into this scone of barbaric and christie-minstrel magnificence sneak our Premier and Native Minister, snubbed and uninvited. What a bathos!

A short time since we drew attention to the fact that whatever views might bo held by persons on the question of total abstinence, the sympathies of all must go out towards Mr. Fox’s persistent endeavours to stem the current of the abuse of intoxicating liquor, an abuse which has proved and will prove such a curse to this country. The fact that two millions sterling are spent directly in the purchase of strong drinks, and that probably as much more is wasted as an indirect consequence of that expenditure, proves that this evil is of a gigantic nature, oven in an economic point of view. The efforts of the promoters of temperance hotels and institutions of a similar character, must consequently meet with ample recognition among those who look seriously into the matter. Wishing such institutions all imaginable luck, we would desire to point out on 0 rock ou which enterprises of this nature coustamiy strike. It is a small matter, but “ every micklo «i a kos a mucklo,” and it is by attention to detail that the greatest successes are obtained. What wo allude to is the quality of the tea, coffee, and chocolate supplied to customers. Those who work hard certainly need refreshments, and if they cannot got the above mentioned or similar beverages of a palatable nature and at a short notice, betake themselves to alchoholic liquors, simply because it is quickly procurable, and does not taste like dish washings. Now nothing is so delicious as a good cup of tea, coffee, or

chocolate, and nothing so nasty as a bad 1 one. And yet it is a fact that in Christchurch at the present moment it is abso- | lately impossible to buy a good cup of any of these beverages. Why is this ? because the cost of a decent cup is so high that tho profit gained on it will not pay the seller ? By no means,. We have made a careful calculation of tho cost of producing the best cup of coffee, and find the result stands much as follows : p. d. Coffee required for 14 cups 2 0 Sugar „ „ 0 4 Milk ~ ffi iii - 3 ■ ■ ~ q ,ii > “ s 6 That - is to bay each cup would host exactly 3d, which if it. was retailed at 6d, would leave a very handsome profit for the seller. This 3d is tho outside price of tho very host cup that can be procured, the coffee being of tho best possible quality obtainable served up on tho French principle of Cafe ait lait. It is simple laziness On the jiart of sollei's that debars tho public frfthi the possibility of procuring a most ’delicious and invigorating beverage. Perhaps there is as little drunkenness among the French as among any people outside of Pitcairn Island, and this may partly be attributed to the fact that they are not driven to drinking alcoholic iluids in pure self-defence. Let , any man go into a Parisian cafe and note the eagerness with which tho frequenters imbibe their coffee, and lot tho saifie than watch an unfortunate, slowly and with many grimaces, working through the naseous mixture that is given him in Christchurch, if he has the temerity to order coffee, and then let him say if there is not some reason in tho ideft that much of the drani drinking that takes place here is attributable to tho fact that the only palatable fluid obtainable is the dram. Wo wish the Temperance Hotel all success, but its usefulness will bo much curtailed if the detail we have referred to is not thoroughly looked to. But we go further than this. Wo hold that the cause of temperance would be much forwarded if coffee taverns were established, where firstclass tea, coffee, and chocolate could bo obtainable at a moment’s notice. These taverns might, or might not, have a general license to sell liquors; that is a matter of no comparative importance,- because anyone wishing for spirits can, in every case, always get it close at hand. But it should he of tho first importance that all tea, chocolate, and coffee provided should be of tbe best quality and instantly procurable. The ordinary English cook seems incapable of making any of these beverages : either he cannot or ho will not; probably the latter, because a considerable amount of trouble is connected with the affair. If this is the case, cooks should he obtained straight from the Continent who have made the business a specialty, and liberal wages should bo given them. Looked at even as a commercial speculation, wo feel confident that taverns conducted on such principles would be a success. But should no one be found willing to undertake the risk, then the philanthropically inclined amongst us should see if they cannot make something out of the idea. They may build temperance hotels by the dozen, but after all the men who will principally use them will be those who, in any case, are tho least liable to fall into temptation. What is really wanted is some mode of correcting a vicious national taste, a matter that cannot bo done off - hand. Vicious attractions must he met by attractions of another description. Temperance hotels and temperance leagues are all very well iu their way, but “ the man in the street ” has, as a rule, a sacred horror of such cut-and-dried institutions. “ Tho man in tho street ” is the individual that tho philanthropist wishes to get at. Tho latter must stalk his quarry cautiously, or the former laughs and turns way. “ I am thirsty,” he says, “ what am I to do p” and at present the philanthropist can only point at a cup of an execrable lukewarm mixture, and say, “ Drink that.”