ON APRIL ONE

NZ Truth, Issue 1149, 8 December 1927, Page 11

ON APRIL ONE

Tied Neighbor's Gate To Keep Cows In

(From "N.Z. Truth's" Wanganui Rep.) The green fields of the fertile valley of Wangaehu have often been favorably commented upon for their placid' beauty by travel: • lers, and one would never think that anything disturbed the tran-i quility of that select locality. Yet the unexpected happens. THERE has apparently been a kind of .feud between the families of three dairy-farmers settled on 50-acre plots, and Magistrate' J. S. Barton was called upon to adjudicate at Wanganui the othor day. ' , After sitting 'ill days and listening to tlie 'parish pump ramifications of the respective rural gentlemen , and their wives, howeveiS he refused to make an order to have one corneiv of the triangle, to wit, Allan McKay and his wife, bound over to keep the peace.. The most extraordinary doings were alleged against the McKay family, by Mrs. Alice Cairns Honeyman arid Mrs. Rosina Myrtle Cracroft, both* young married women. These two, according to the evidence, were m the habit of visiting each other to swop '■philosophy, or any other stfcial topic In the valley. They generally met near McKay's gate and m such meetings they alleged that they had been insulted by McKay; his- better half and daughter Ivy. In fact, one of the star turns alleged to have. been performed by McKay and his wife was a sort of Maori or McKay haka, so as to annoy the Informants. McKay was also supposed to have poked his tongue out at the two ladies and wagged his head about like a golliwog. Tho language alleged to have been "used was also . calculated to have shocked the most weather-seasoned farmer m the district. t The evidence went on --to show that McKay, on All Fools' Day, had tied the gate of the Honeymari's with wire, but McKay later explained that he wanted to stop Honeyman's cows netting out. He also contended that he was more sinned against than sinning, for the gentle ladies often called out nasty remarks to his wife and wanted to know why he did not pay for his motor-car. He attributed" this to jealousy, for ho was doing better at extracting lacteal .fluid than t*iey were. All he wanted was to be left alone by those gossiping women to work out his own salvation. j As the magistrate refused to make the"' orders asked for, It now remains to be seen whether the interested parties will give practical effect to "the Scripture "pass by on the other side."