ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1807, 5 February 1884, Page 3

ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

Tub Harbour Board have taken a step which will be very cencrally appreciated l)y all who go down to tiie sea in cabs, carts and other vehicles, as they luvc abolished tno wharf 1011. There is no form of taxation to which we Anglo Savons, Celts, Normans and others forming the Bntisli Nation have such a sfaong repugnance as paying toll. Wo do not like direct taxation in any shape, but least of all when it is levied by a man who stands at a gate on the bridge and ncmands your money or your life. No ! I am wrong, it is the highwayman who demands your money or your hie. The toll collector demands your wonev, with the alternative ot being turned back, or, if you insist on passing without paying ov manage, to evadf payment ot toll, you will be bi ought before a magistrate, and punished for "bilking the toll." You Waikato folks remember how you used to be annoyed by the toll at the Hamilton Bridge,' and so can sympathise with us Auckland people in our pleasuie at having got rid of the whaif toll. As a matter of fact, however, strangers and sojourners inland complained more about the wharf toll than we icsidents did, as we very seldom drove down the w hdrf, whereas they had to do so, going to anil coming from the steamers. A good many of thorn thought the toll was a po.it of the cabmen's oxloi tion and objected to it accoidingly, but soon iound than their objecting availed them nothing, as they had to [ay the t^ll as well i>.s the cab-fare. * r I wonder why it is that cabmen aie so geneially accused of c.\ tot turn I must say that; if I were called to pass judgment as the lcsult of my expciionce my veulict would be -not guilty." Our Auckland faies seem high to st> angers, but I know ot jio othei town in the colonies uhit'h has such <jood cabs and hoises, ami, with the exception of Dunedm, such hilly stieets, and we must expect to pay toy these privileges, not that the lull} stieets can be consuleicd a \ cry valuable prm legc. One of the most moderate places for cab faics I know is Hobait. I called theic on one occasion when coining over from Melbourne. As we ai lived there early in the morning, and were not to leave until evening, one ot the passengers proposed that we should ha\e a diive and a picnic. We made up a paity of j eight, hiiod a waggonette and a pan of horses, dio\e about the town and&ulnnbs I in the morning, and then staited nt noon on the Launceston road. After dm ing some miles w e stopped on the banks of a stieamlet and had lunch. That disposed of, what we could not rat being given to some ju\ enile Tasmaniano, we drove back to the town, thiougli the Botanical Cardens, and dow nto the w hai f. "When the i gentlemin Mho had oiganised the expedition asked the duvei how much lie had to pay him he said, "Fifteen shillings.'' The gentleman slid, "That will not do. We come fiom New Zealand and i(f<J not used to such chaiges, ' and gave him a soveicign.'' The iest oi us quite agiecd that it was little enough to gnc a man foi ins own time and the use of a waggonette and a pan of hoises foi a whole day. I was somewhat suipu->cd to see that the Illicit Bill had buen pished by the Council ot the Goveinoi Gencial of India, as 1 thought that the \eiy stiong opposition to it, among the Euiope.in lesidenls m India and among those in England best qualified to foim an opinion about it, would ha\c lesulted in its rejection. The object ot thi> bill is to give native ma<,ioti ltcs m such pai ts of India as base no European migi>tiate, whioh means the major portion (veiy much wr\]oi) 7»i isdictiou oi tv Eiuopcan ofk'iidcis. What an oittay we would laiseif such a bill weie passed in New Zealand, md jet Maou chieh aie much moio fit to be ti listed with such poweis than most of the native magistiates in India. I know many Maon chiefs wlio aio far moie icpu table individuals, moic honest and moie capable of an iv ing at a just decision than some, at least of the white men who aie on the 101 l of the Justices of the Peace for the Colony of New Zealand. Still, as a lulc, it would be unwise to give them junsdiction over Emopeans, and weie such a thing pioposed, I would contribute my quota to the howl of indignation which would be raised throughout the length and breadth of New Zealand. I fully believe th it theio aie among the native magistrates' m India some, probably many, who w-iii use well the power confeued on them, but there will be so many who are unfit to exercise such authoiity that I am gieotly sin prised at the Indian Government insisting on the Ilbeit Bill, de-pite the opposition to it, becoming law, and J am not at all sm prised that the Marquis of Ripon, the GovernorGeneial, is as unpopular among the European lcsidents in India as Sir Aithur Goi don w as among the European colonists in Fiji. Talking about Sir Arthur Gordon, that was, apait fiom the blasphemy of it, a very good story that was tol \ to Moncuie D. Con way about the late Governor ol Fi|i. A losidenfc of that colony was asked what he thought of the Governor, and lophcd that lie was too undecided. " Undecided, how ? " was the question of the surprised enquirer. "Well,"' said the colonist, "He is undecided whether God Almighty made him or he made God Almighty." Of coiuse, this cannot be ttue, or else Sir Aithur would not have thought it woith while to ask the bishop of one of the colonies m which he was Governor to give mstiuctions that all ckigynien should piay for " Sir Aithur Goidon, by the Giacp of God, Governor of the colony." He ccitauily did so, and be never forgave the bishop for his refusal. By the wjy, I wonder how Sir Arthur is getting iiloiiL' in Ceylon, and whether he is trying to teach the Emopeans there that that, like Fiji, is not a white man's country. I ■wonder too whether he has been giving the Indian Government what suppoit he could in the matter ot the Ilbeit Bill, to which I have abcady alluded. I think it extieinely piobable that lie has leudcied them any assistance that lay in his power. It is very likely that ho has wiitten to Mr Gladstone, with whom he is said to be a favourite, in support of the bill. After a number of remands, William Heniy Jones waa biought up at the I'olice Couit on Monday, and committed for ti lal on tiie charge of fehooting John McDeimott at Onehunga on December 21st, with intent to murder. There was a discrepancy in the evidence, which looks lather like an attempt to shield the accused. Mis Smith, the wife of the landloid of the hotel in which the quancl between Jones and McDeimott took place, swore that the accused told a man named Learning m the hotel lhat he had shot at McDci mott and missed him, but that he would shoot him again. Mrs Smith is well-known, and a most leliablc witness, and her evidence was eonoboiatpd by her niece, who was employed in the hotel, but Learning, who was a workman in the iron-woiks, of which Jones was manager, swoie that he did not bear the prisoner make any such threat. Learning must be very deaf, or have a very bad memory, or it looks rather like a case of pei jury. I heard a rather cm ions story about the prosecutor, for the truth of which I will not vouch, though I got it on what I believe to be very good authority. When the case was called on on Monday week, an application was made for a remand, on the ground that Dr. Scott, who was attending McDermott, did not consider it safe for him to come to town. Iw as told that, after the doctor had examined him, the prosecutor actually got into an omnibus aud came to town, and, not content with that, got drunk before goiug back to Onehunga. A number of the Parnell people seem determined that the Auckland Cathedral shall be built at Parnell, despite the strong feeling of oppotition manifested at the last weetiPg of the Ajglfow Syood,

and are afraid to re-build St. Mary's Church for fear that the Cathedral will rob them of their congregation. I am sure that they may set their minds completely at rest on the subject, as I fool quite sine that no man now living will soo the Cathedral built at Pninell. No one except residents in that locality will contribute money for the purpose of building it there, and it will ptobably be two oi thiec centiuies before the Cathedral endowments will bring in sufficient money for that object. It, as I suppose, the paiishioners of St. Mary's intend to build a chinch of wood, they may s>ut to work at once and feel quite sure that their chmch will be worn out long before the foundation stone of the Cathcihal is laid opposite to them. St. Mungo.