ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXI, Issue 1790, 27 December 1883, Page 2

ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

Thk new Minister for Public Works has been making a twr of the Middle Inland, to see what requites to be done tliero and, as a matter of com se, has I e^n interviewed and deputationised till further orders. A portion of his reply to a deputation which waited on him at Dunedin, has rather "fetched" me, He is represented to have said that he did not consider £20,000 to much to spend on station buildings for a city of the size and importance of Dunedin, and I have not the slightest doubt but that his audience fully concurred in his opinion. £20,000 may not be too much to spend &c, if the colony can afford it and if the expenditure is absolutely required, but on both these points I have very grave doubts. In view of the very important public works required in other parts ot the colony, which are either not in progress at all or are progressing at a snail's gallop (the Cambridge railway, for instance) I do not think we can afford to spend £20,000 on a railway station at Duncd n, and I do not believe the expenditure is absolutely required. I was in Dunedin in March last, ami though there were Easter excursion trains starting for both north and south, there did not seem to bo any serious deficiency in station accommodation. If £20,000 is considered necessary to provide a station for Dunedin, I wonder how much the Minister for Public Works considers necessary to provide a station for Aucklaud. Judging by my own experience, I should be inclined to say that there are many other ways iti which £20,000 could be expended which would be much more ' advantageous to the colony than providing additional station accommodation at Dunedin,

The other day I heard a pretty little story about the daughter of one of our local aristocrats. The old gentleman is Sroverbial for his love of the " Almighty ollar" and the daughter seems to re1 semble her father in t'liis respect. It seems that one day she and another young lady were doing some shopping together, when the latter found that she was short of change and had to apply to her more wealthy friend for the loan of twppence, which was readily given. A few days afterwards the young lady who had borrowed thfc money oalled on her friend for the purpose of repaying the loan. She tendered two bronze copies of Her Majesty's features. Her surprise may be more readily imagined than desscribed when her friend said, ''That is not sufficient. There is a halfpenny due for interest." I do not think there is much neccessity for that young lady to learn the little hymn, which says, " He who more than his worth doth spend, Makes a rope, his life to encj •, He who .spe^dg nywQ than he should, Shall not have to spend when he would."

It would seem from the London telegrams that there are a number of people who are afraid that New South Wajea wants to spend in.org borrowed capital th.a.o. ft choujd, ths consequence being a determined effort to " bear " the stocks of that cplonyr For* the information of ,fcho3e.unncqtiayited with theslanglof the Stoclt, jEjxcKaiige,, I may^entiou, tlwt stock^b¥dfeers V! wHoHry-t69ais<& price of certain stop^s foy tjje purpose of seUIng. at a high figure are called " bulls,'! while those who^try to , lower the prices for the purpose of buying at a low figure !»re{t cai'cd^fiiibeirsj'itandsithe u two»jprp> <P.f 3 , s aai'e s called respe^vely, 1 ' and ,' } , -rOf • Anne;-' this dw', !fem^^n>o|?fell J^tliefthe i ''66^Me -adoptft^with; jegarcl Ik>^ New/oSoti^K m^il^l° c fei^'4 n t^ypJ^^feMnut *i

f making the pace, too, hot'" for aafety.f If the latter be the case, there is certainly no good ground for fear, for, of all the Australasian colonies, ' New' SbrittTWnles is the least! likely to out-run the constable. Like New Zealand, she has botfridleW miheral 2 resources*, /while she is far ahead of U iii area, in" population, and in accumulated wealth. She has also many miles of splendid railways, whic'i were constructed' with her oWn revenue, so that the English, investors need not have the slightest hesitation about lending her as many millions as she asks for to continue her railways.'

Anyone who wants to enjoy a jhearty laugh should read " Vice- Ver/aVt which was the most successful novel that appeared in London last, year. The story is most absurd, but intensely funny. The book begins with a description of Mr Bultitude, of Minciug Lane, a highly respectable city merchant, sitting in his dining-room after dinner, waiting 'for his sow Dick to come an I s.iy good-bye before he returns to school. Thgre, is not much sympathetic accord between father and son, the former being of the class who look upon children as a .necessary evil, and think they have 'done their; duty towards them when they have sent their sons to school and paid the school fees, while the latter is ail intelligent, hut rather mischievous boy of thirteen, who who sUnds very much in awe of his father. Dbk asks his father for some money, and receive-? the inunificieut sum of five shilling*. He then asks if he may !. j ave the priva l e school he is, attending— - Ciichton Home, kept by Dr Grimstoue— • at the end of the term, and go to a public school, but is met with a stern refusal, aud a homily on the benefits of education, &c, Then he produces from his pocket a peculiar-looking small grey stone, and nsk-« his father if he may keep ifc. Mr Bultitude, in reply to his enquiriiM, learns that the stone in question was brought from India by his ne'er-do* weel brother-in-law, who said it was a talisman, and given to the late Mrs Bultitude. He takes it from Dick, holds it in his hand, and says th.it he wishes that he was a school- boy like Dick, an lie would make good use of the opportunities his son despises. No sooner wa* the wish uttered than the transformation began, and soni he became, apparently, a school* boy of thirteen, while Dick assumed the appearance of a grave city merchant. As soon as the metamorphosis was completed, the cab arrived which was to take Dick to the railway station, and Mr Bultitudewas sent away in it. At the statiou he was seized by Dr. Grimstone, and escape was hopeless. The misfor* tunes that befell him on his way to, and while he was at, Crichton House are most humourously described, as also the , pranks played by Dick while apparently the grave city merchant. ' Qne of these was putting the wastepaper basket on the head of his father's Calcutta correspondent and another to invite the pantomime clown to dinner to meet a number of city m.iguates. However, the hook is so full ot fun and absurdity that 1 can give but a poor idea of it. It should be read by every one who wants to «injoy a hearty laugh. I am afraid I have already said too much about it, and the consequence will probably be that the Editor will tell me that it is not pai t of my business to review books. If so, I must cry, "Peccavi," and take care that it does not happen again. St Muxgo.

United Status Treasury bomls to the amount of £24,000,000 are held by three persons— the Duke of Sutherland, Sir Thomas Brassey, and the Baroness Burdett-Coutts. The Japanese mean to enter upon the mauufautnre of woollen articles on an e\tcnsive scale. Iko Tekiulo, acted as commissioner at the Melbourne Exhibition, has been trying to initiate a wool trade between Vicfcoiia and Japan. A Vienna concspqndent of the Chronicle says it is 'reported "from* Alexandra that a son of Arabi Pasha is about to enter the British Army. A submarine ballon to carry eight passengeis to the bottom of tiie sea will b« one of the exhibits at the Naples Exhibition, A telephone will connect the balloon with the shore or a boat abos c. Sir Henry Thompson, the London snrgeon, recognises in fish a combination of all the elements of food that the human body requires in almost every phase of life, more especially by those who follow sedentary employment. To women he considers fish to be an invaluable article of diet, but he scouts as a complete fallacy the notion that fish-eating increases the brain power. Nkably everybody who lives at Newburgh, N.Y., is more or less bow-legged from walking up and down the hilt on which the city is built. The same peculiarity is familiar in Poughkcepsie, another city on the Hudson River bank. . The same is the ca?e at Walsall, England, whence a current localism, " Wal-sall-legged." Early in the morning of ?Gth July & large steamer on the Volga, which was carrying 680,0001b of naptlia, was struck by lightning, ami was at once wrapped in flame. It burned the M'hole day and night, it being found impossible to extinguish the fire. Several men who were on board at the time, and had no means of saving themselves, perished. On Friday, January 18th, Mr J. S. Bucklaud will hell at Camp's Hotel, TaniAhero, the horses and plant of Mr A. Clements who has given up contracting. Teadeis for repairs to the Waijw-Raglan road are called to be in by Friday, ,4th January. Tenders for the formation and permanent way of the Hamiltou-Cambiidge railway will be received until noon of Wednesday, February (ifch, 1884. Mr F. J, Yon Stunner has been api>oiiited creditors 1 trubtee in the bankrupt estate of William Gumming, of Hamilton, Brewer. Mr J. S. Buckland advertises a cattle sale at Cambridge on Monday next, a horse hale at Cambridge on Saturday, January sth, a live stock at Ohaupa on Tuesday, January Bth, and a sale at Waitoa on Thursday, January Bth. At a final meeting of the Whatawhata sports for New Yeai s Day, it was determined to. have po&t entries. ' Mr Patrick Quiii has filed a statement that he is unable to meet his engagements* and the first, meeting of creditors will 'be held in the Court-house, Hamilton, on the sth January, 1884. You will do well to furnish your house from Garlick and Oanwell's. ' They have now the most complete Furnishing' Warehouse in Auckland, furniture to suit all classes, good strc.-,(i> and cheap. They have»Tapestry Carpets :rom 2s 3d per yard, Brussels from 3s lid per yard, Linoleum from 3s 9d to ss, Oil Cloths from Is 6d to 4s 6d per yard, good 12 foet wide Oil Cloths at 3s 0d per yard. Immense assortment of Iron Bedsteads from Infants' Cots to, 5 feet wide half-tester Bedsteads. Double r iron Jted* f toads from 235. 480 Bedsteads in stock to select from. Beddings of all kinds and sizes kept in readiness. Dining, Sitting, Drawing-room Furniture, and and a large assortment of Manchester and Furnishing Goods, including » lot of Cretonnes. , Book Catalogues aont free to ( in* tending purchasers. Garlkk and Cra'riwell, City Hall Arcade. Quofln-ntrcct Auckland;

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