NEWS AND NOTES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 1014, 2 March 1912, Page 4

NEWS AND NOTES.

The weasel has always been looked upon as the bane of the fowlyard, but it is now recorded that he has started on a new line, that of destroying trout. Recently a weasel was seen at Mikimiki coming out of the river bed with a live trout 4iu long in its mouth.

A quarrel, which ended in fisticuffs, was heard at the Huntly Court, when the male defendant (a Waahi native) was fined £s, with £1 2s 6d costs. The naming of a child was the reason of a dispute, the father wishing to call the child by the Maori equivalent for “ Trick.” As such cognomen was already bestowed on a mongrel canine well-known in the pa, the mother naturally objected. In the linguistic argument the latter came out victorious.

An amusing story is told on the boulevards about a fraud perpetrated on a famous society woman, who is bitten by the craze for extremely small dogs now prevalent in Paris. A few days ago she bought from a street hawker for a large sum what looked like the smallest griffon ever seen. When she took it- home it promptly ran up the curtains, and when it was re-captured by the servants it turned out to be a rat, sewn in a dog’s skin.

The equanimity of a Dauuevirke hotelkeeper was sadly disturbed the other evening. Business was proceeding quietly when suddenly a gallant steed and its rider forced their way into one of the small enclosures around the bar. Those already in the enclosure found there was no room for them, and beat a hasty retreat, some over the counter, from which numerous glasses were knocked to the floor. The bar attendant refused to serve the animal with liquor (presumably it was under age), and an endeavour was made to lead it out. There was not sufficient room to turn the horse round, but after many anxious moments it was backed out into the street, where it had to be content with drinking the water from the gutter.

A peculiar case was heard at the Westport Magistrate’s Court recently, when a constable was charged with assaulting the wife of a local publican. The evidence of the complainant went to show that she was pestered by the constable, who invited her to meet him on the night of February ist, and she accepted the invitation, with friends following a short distance behind. When the constable put his arm around her waist she produced a hockey-stick she had concealed and gave him a thrashing. At the conclusion of the evidence for the prosecution, couusel for accused submitted that no offence was disclosed, as complainant, in accepting the invitation, anticipating what would happen, and baiting the policeman was really a consenting party. The Magistrate took this view, commented on the extraordinary conduct of the woman, and dismissed the information without calling on the defence.