Untitled

Horowhenua Chronicle, 27 September 1915, Page 3

In an effort to win a modest wager { a well-known local resident "fell in"' rather badly tlie oilier evening, (says tho lake Ooiifcy Tims). He had made. ! a wager with tiro friends that lie could , extract a. bird from a fowl-nut close : at hand without being- detected. Alter considerable trouble he secured a fowl [ and proceeded to curry the bird in tri- , um,ph to his companions whom lie had I left some distance away. In the dark- ■ ( ness he mistook two other men for bin companions, and ho TTacl just conimeu,c«l to explain how lie had captured ! the bird when lie discovered that ouo of tho men whom lie was addressing wa.: the owner of tho fowl-run. Explanations followed, but it is .stated that ,the chicken-lifter had to bring all liis ■persuasive powers into operation vo avoid a police prosecution. A curious and valuable Jind was made by a Tanner at Cbnstantia, near Cape ( Town recently. it wa,s decided Io | clear and plough a. portion of rjie farm,'and while- watching his jneii the r larmer noticed, among the atones they were throwing aside, several "wjlidlooking ba-m covered with .sand, •-d J on Kt-ratchiiig one of tlioni it was found J to be soft and yellow under the crust of earth. An assay was made, and jtho bar found to bo of gold. Sixteen j bars altogether -wore recovered, .some .of which were oi pure, gold, the others containing {l proportion of alloy. The value of the gold is ostimafed at from £7000 to £8000, and the mystery -i.s ( to bars came to be on the spot is still unsolved. I , .. . I A very old and rainer grun perquisite of tho clergy of London has just disappeared. In tlie past the ecclesiastics have enjoyed what was nothing else than u tax on the dead. .But with tlie expiry ol the period specified in tho Burial Act of 11)00 this toll is removed, and the Londoner now finds that it costs about a guinea less to be interred in a private grave. This strange perquisite enjoyed by the clergy for many years arose out of the fact that in olden times Londoners had to bo buried in the metropolitan churchyards. -From this the ecclesiastics derived a comfortable income, and when Parliament gave permission for the creation of cemeteries outeido London they made loud and insistent objection. To meet their case !':•«■'' ■ ment empowered thorn to levy charges for burials, even though they no longer did tlie burying. In WOO an Act was passed abolishing tlie anomalous privilege after July, TtTis. The reduction In the cost of dying come.s «t an oppor- ' tune time when the ctofc of living is .so high. Extra prime .steaks oi fish Urom a 'fifty pounder) are to be had to-day ut Cole's lish-shop, mucen-street, Levin.