NEAR AND FAR

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 73, 17 November 1931, Page 4

NEAR AND FAR

Romeo and Juliet. •*-. ^ The old adage "The course of true love never did rhn smobth" was .well exemplified iil the vicinity of a nearby country township the other evening, when a young man and his ladylove were enjoying a stroll, reports the Clutha Leader. Proceeding round a quiet street they saw approaching three bulls which were being transferred to a camp paddock. The appearance of the animals was too much fbr the hudding Romeo and he took to his heels and left his Juliet standing to face the animals, which were not nearly so ferocions as they looked, and passed the young lady very quietly. Novel Drain Cleaner. "Lion," a French dog, so named hecause of his strength, is a great help to those whose job it is to clean drains. A light cable is attached to the dog's eollar and he is let down a manhole. He scampers through the drain and is pulled out at the next manhole. Attached to the cable is a huge brush, which , cleans the drain as the dog runs through. He recently was awarded a diploma for his work at the canine expositidn in Nice. Bible Story Yeriified. New facts are being diseovered almost every day about Bible history, and not the least interesting are those about Moses] and the princess who found him as a baby on the Nile. Twenty-five years ago some tablets of stone were diseovered in the malachite mines of the Sinai Peninsula, and, after many years of siiidy, learned professors of afieient Eastern lahguages have succeeded in deeiphering the inscriptions on them. The infant Moses was hidden in a little cradle among the bullrushbS of the Nile, wbere he was found by Pharaoh's

daughter. Proxessor Herbert Grimme, of the University of Munster, has diseovered from the tablets that an Egyptian princess named Hatschepschut was in the Nile Delta and the Land of Goshen, where the Israelites lived in 1515 B.C., which is exactly the calculated date of the birth of Moses. "Home" Brew. An Oamaru housewife returned unexpectedly from a short visit tb the country, and, as all model housewives do after a holiday, she made a tour of inspection of the house to find how the plaee looked after father and the boys had done their worst. Having washed a pile of dirty disheS, thrown out the breakages, and watei'ed thq wilting pot plants, she gathered up the dirty shirts, socks, and collars which littered the bedroom floors and took them out into the washhouse with some of her own "things," dumped the "coloureds" into the tubs aiid the "whiltes" into a copper. Unfortunately the water in the copper was highly impregnated with sugar, malt, hops, and yeast, but of this the good wife was not aware until "hubby" returned from work and went to see

how his home brew waS progressing. A wail went up when the discovery was made. "You've ruined my beer," said he. "You've ruined my clothes!" said she. Another Fish Ydrn. The editor of an angling paper recently received the following letter: "I have read an interesting aecount of singing fish in your paper, It re- j called to me the memory of a rather remarkable fish I saw in Nova Scotia some years ago. It is -known as the Frost Fish, because it may he frozen like a lump of ice, but, if placed in water in that condition, it soon thaws out and swims about as vigorously as ever. The natives make use of this property to make ice-cream. The. fish is caught, frozen, and placed in the eream. In thawing out it freezes the eream, and its movejnents at the same time heat the mixture, making jit smooth. | New Zealand Violin. A violin of New Zealand manufacjture, shown in a shop window in Te | Kuiti> is creating much interest, says i an exchange. The instrument is handsomely finished with a front piece of ! native rewarewa (honeysuckle), side | constructed of saturn walnut, and a jback of English oak. The instrument i has an excellent, mellow tbiie, and re- ! flects much cred't on its young con1 structor, Mr. Leonai'd M. Timbers. j The strings were manufactured locally by Mr. H. Odlum, from the eni trails of a lamb. Mr. Timhers is ! New Zealand timbers. t 1 " Something New in Suicides. A Moslem whose identity has not been established committed sucide in a sensational way at the Bombay Zoological Gardens. He climbed a tree and leapt into the tigers' enclosure, where he was immediately torn to pieces. Severtty Taxes. Seventy direct and indirect taxes are imposed upon Frenchmen, who pay tribute to the State when they smoke cigarettes, travel by train or taxi, or buy a hecktie. There are also taxes on windows and balconies. C. Punga. "Burns, c Punga, b Eggleton." Strictly speakmg; this is the entry the scorer nfight w'ejl have made in the score hook at the Old Boys-W'esterh Park senior cricket match at Pukekura Park, New Plymouth. Almost springing on to the ball as it ,came towards him from the bowler the : hatsman made a mighty stroke, and the ball did not play him false. Describing a trajectory that would put a trench mortar to shanle, it sail'ed "dver the boundary and ianded ? fairly and squarely in the centre of „a" punga friee growing in the horseshoe bend. The nearest fieldsman had to make a spectaeular ascent of the punga tree, which, one might add, is a lot more easily said than done; before the ball could he retrieved.