"Missing Word" Competition.

Manawatu Herald, 3 January 1893, Page 2

"Missing Word" Competition.

_ « ■ The other day our cable news contained the information that the English Post Office authorities had detained a large sum of money in connection with some paper's " missing word " competition, and had returned the senders the money. The explanation is given by papers received by the San Francisco mail. The' "missing word" competition of pereous of .penny weeklies is-now" the rage in England. An editor prints a paragraph with the last word, usually an adjective, missing. He invites his readers to guess the word at a shilling a try and then divides the pot money amoug the winners. In one competition, which closed for the week of November 26th, the pool contained £2400, and each of the 40/000 winners re ceived almost £80. Many of the English Post Offices were sold out of shilling postal orders on the week ending December 3rd. This is the latest effect of the " missing word " craze that has seized the country. The pool received during the week amounted to over 217,000 shillings. | each accompanied by a guess as to the missing word in the phrase printed the week before. The sentence occurred at the end of a paragraph describing the practice of the Romans, who, when they invaded Britain, are said to have beaten their bare legs with nettles in order to neutralise the effects of the cold: The closing sentence was, " To our minds such vigorous treatment hardly seems ." The pool of £10,000 was divided amongst 370 competitors,, who sent 'in the word "enjoyable"