MISCELLANEOUS.

Otaki Mail, 20 November 1922, Page 4

MISCELLANEOUS.

"A few days back a VVeiiihgtoh youth was out tishing oh the Weihngton Heaus..with a leiired otiiciai oi the iianjuur board, his hand hanging over the gunwale 01 the bout' about two feet ctear of the water, when he >vas attacked by a large barracouia. his hand being badly, torn. Tire -fish Raped quite clear of the' water at the limb. The party immediately returned and the injured band was given medical attention. The depression in the sheep-raising industry in the Poverty Bay district had affected the drovers very seriously, -slated their representative, Mr C. E. Bickford, at the Arbitration Court. Not only were many fanners doing their own droving, but some young' farmers were doing work for oilier farmers at very low rates. Mr Bickford considered this competition with regular drovers was unfair, as the farmers, having their farms ai their backs, were not wholly dependent on droving fees.

The manager of one of the largest wholesale trading firms in the. Dominion informed an El.tham Argus re preseutativc that the almost universal opinion in trading circles is that in a lew months' time, say eight or nine, there will be wonderful business activity in New Zealand. His optimistic ideas are formed almost entirely upon the'assumption that good prices will he ruling for butter, cheese, meat, hides, tallow, etc. It is only the success of our primary industries that can keep New Zealand going. An opportunity of viewing the largest and heiviest pig on earth was given at the Tim.aru Show. It Is a. monstrous animal (says the Herald), heavier than the huge pig shown at (he London Exhibition, and which was al thai time the heaviest quadruped of its land on earth. The pig is 10581 b in weight, Bft 3in long. Sit ; !)iu high, and 6ft Din in girth, ft is the property of Mr J. Gardiner, and ! is only two years old and still grow-

A Tainnaki correspondent writes: I am informed I hat the directors of (he Cape -Egmont factory, have, sold the output for the next three months" at about rid per lb of cheese. No doubt that the market price is again soaring upwards. Somebody will do a bit of "grouching" about the pricehuman nature is never satisfied and factory directors arc .often in the "soup'' for not being in the "swim." When dairy produce is sold, somebody cries "why didn't you consign" —and if it is "consigned" somebody else says "yon ought to have sold." The ready manner in which some business people accept cheques from persons they have never seen before formed the subject of some comments by Mr Justice Stringer in the Auckland Supreme Court on Saturday. The case with which he was dealing was that of a youth who issued severat valueless cheques, and his Honour said he noticed that prisoner tendered a cheque for £5 in .payment for a. tin of cigarettes, and the tobacconist, to whom he' was a stranger, cashed the cheque and game him the change. "A man who does a thing like that richly deserves to lose his money," the Judge remarked.

An accident, serving to illustrate the danger attendant on the settingoff of fireworks, occurred on- Sunday morning, when a youth, the son ot « welt known lfai;bour Board official, suffered a narrow escape from permanent injury, it appears that the boy had lit a firework of the "Roman I Canute" variety and was holding it out in front of him, when, instead of it exploding away from, him, it sudl denly flew back and hit him under j the hear:. The boy was rendered , unQonscioiXs for about live' minutes. He will probably bear the. mark of - tiie injury all his life, "The usual thing—robbery," is the * remark made by people when they receive a plumber's account when an item for dirt money, according to a ( witness in the Arbitration Court in i Auckland (says the Star,. He said it . was impossible to camouflage the J item, and although the plumbers re- | ferred customers to the clause in ths ! award, it appeared that the trade : would never lose its bad name. "It ' is only a matter of a few years when the plumbing trade will die out for , want of apprentices," declared an- ; other witness, who advocated a lar- I ger proportion of apprentices to jour- ; neymen than at present was allowed. I There has for some time been a i strong inquiry" for lamb for forward I delivery in the Wairarapa and asH high as 9d and even over has been j paid. One large "'operator on Monday received, instructions to cease, operating, which seems to indicate a ten- j

J dency to nervousness in London. The j recent activity has naturally encouraged larger ideas of values, and lOd j lias been freely spoken' of as a fair j equivalent for the prices ruling in ' London. The prices on which this ] is based, say 1 l or 12Jd is. however, I ex store, not e:c ship, and even on the ! basis of the new free?ing charges this j does not leave any margin to the op- j erator. —Age. ; At the meeting of the British Asso- I elation in September, Professor Brog- [ - ger gave an account of the Viking ship of Oseberg in Southern Norway. ' i,The tumulus "in which it was*'found j was the burying-place of a- lady of , high rank who died about .the middle ,of the ninth century, probably of ; the queen. The queen and her servant were laid within a special bur- ! i ial chamber in the ship, and sup- j ( plied with the most complete equip- ' j ment for the future life yet known in" ' j Northern Paganism. A four-wheeled" ! waggon, four sledges, beds, looms, buckets, and a complete kitchen furnishing, with 14 horses, four dogs, and two oxen were -amorig the things provided. Such 'a throws an important light on the art of Norway, and, indeed, of Europe during the ninth century

The opinion was expressed by Crr Broadbelt at the meeting of the Horowhenua County Council - on Saturday that a drainage board should be formed in the Taungata district on the Koputaroa-Foxtoh Road.-That was the only way of dealing with drainage in that district, and he thought the Council should take the initiative by calling a meeting to form the Board. The chairman (Cr. Monk) said that was a good idea, and Cr. Broadbelt said he would call a meeting at Koputaroa and talk the matter over with the settlers.