NEAR AND FAR

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 85, 1 December 1931, Page 4

NEAR AND FAR

Shag Decoys. Just across"the river from the Idaburn irrigation dam at Oturehua are • two lofty proniontqries, on- each of which a small calrmhas been raised, says thfe Otago Daily Times; On top of the cairns is a little white ohjeet which frohi- a distanbe reseiribles a shag. Asked' what" they - were a resident of the district ttold a Daily Times reporter -that a few years ago -when Shags • were woxth 7s 6d each dead, a- couple of men erected these as decoys, the idea bding to attract the shag's attention when flying, so that he~ would investigate, and in all probahility alight,- even after realising" that1 the ohject on top was inanimate. This, it was .hoped, would ensure a fairly accurate shot that would mean on"e' less fish poacher. The idea was certainly an ingenious one, but he did not know whether any shags "fell for it." Caught in the Act. A woiild-be clothes-line thief received a shock in a suburban back garden recently. Tfie house wif e, hearing a step go round'tfie"hduse, "and'iidt" desiring to fie*"at home" to itinerant vendors of miseellaneou& wares, did not respond to his "knocks, but took up what turhed out to be -a highly strategical position behind the window curtains. Having apparently 'decided that no pne *was at home, and not wishing to depart empty-handed, the visitor steppfed' dcrosS"' 'thC-lawn to the clothes-lihe and cooly removed an article of apparel, which he- placed in his pocket/ This was too much for the housewife, who opened .the window and demanded" not; only fhe' return of the article, but its replacement on the line. The1 request was meekly complied with, and it was a very; abashed young man who made a hasty ' retreat. Nearly Drowned. A supposed hoax, which nearly turned into a tragedy, occurred in Central Park, Whangarei. iVo bank clerks "were sitting under the treed eating their lunch when another young man arrived. He stripped and appeared in the very latest bathing costume.:' "I can't swim," he confided to the dthers. In his togs he looked so athletic that they did not believe him. "You jitmp ;iri there. It isn't very deep," they said, pointing to the main channel. "In he jumped. He was in difficulties immediately, his head bobbing up * and • down, and he called for help at each: emergenee. For a space the boys on the' bank thought he was joking, Then a true realisation of the position came Upon them, and they jumped in to effect a rescue Firewater? An extraordinary accident happened at the rear of an hotel in Wairoa, Hawke's Bay. The proprietor had emptied -a' barrel -of whisky the previous day and placed it out in the yard. -An employee peered into the opening of the barrel, where the bung had been taken out, but - f of got that he had a lighted cigarette in his mouth. Arterrific explosion occurred, resulting in a large piece of the barrel heing hurled' 40 yards away, and the employee being very badly burnt about the face and forehead. The sourid of the explosion was heard some distance away. Evidently . the whisky had soaked into the wood, and after its being in the open all -day the sun had drawn-the fumes out so that when the lighted cigarette came in eontact an explosion occurred. Another Marriage! "Does Mrs. Coates know that you have 'married' again?" queried a wag at the meeting at McLean Park, Napier, when the Hon. J.- Gi. Coates "was referring to the fusion of the Reform and IJnited -Parties. Yiolent Objection. A shower of ink spoiled the robes and papers- of the presiding ju'dge of tfie Appeal Court at Mainz, France,1 when a Coinmunist pi-isonef threw an inkpot at him on hearing that a sentence of imprisonment passed by a lower court was to he inereased. Six court officials struggled with the man before he was overpowered and removed. Tui as an Imitator.. "The tui is a great' imitator," said Mr. Johannes Andersen when addressing members of the Yottng People's Library at Wanganui. He had once known a woman living in tfie btish who had been confined to the- hduse for some time with a bad cold.- Ohe I day she had noticed that after she | had coughed a tui had made a sound | exactly the same. At first she thought : that the bird was ill -or 'that -it had i something the matter with it. In order to see * whether the bird was really imitating h'ef the woman* had repeated, "Oh, dear, I am so bad," after each attack of eoughing. It was not long btfore the bird was also imitating her to the best 'of 'his ability, and repeating'- the words after imitating the cough. Old Powder Horn. While whitebaiting in the Waitotara River Mr. H. F. Frater noticed a dark object bohhihg up and dowff in the- water. His curiosity being piqued he picked it up and, on examination, found it' to Be an old powder horn in good condition. Thinking that it Would he of intere'st h-e brought it to the Wanganui Museum and left it in the care of Mr.' J. H. Burnet, wh'6 expressed some -shrpfise • that: £ sueh a heavy object had not sunk. He #as also eurious as to how the horn 'came to he floating1 down the river; for it is many years since a powder horn ha: been in xise. Glass Steam-engine Model. 'A toy steam-engine built entirely ; of glass, that aetually runs, was the masterpiece of er af tsmanshfp -that Mr. A. A. Scott, aged 73, of Long Beach, i Califorhia (U.S. A. ) • presented tb his grandsbn recently on the boy's third birthday. Reputed to he the oldest glass-blower in the United States, Mr Scott took eleven months to build the 374 paftS"of the engihe ' dnd* to join them together. The three-foot-long model, which is 22in high/ 'has a governor, two flywheels, dOUhle pistons, and a boiler that is fired by a tiny alcohol lamp. Aceording to Mr. Seott, this unique engine toy deVelops one-twenthieth • of a horse-power. Its chjef appeal to the child lies >in the fa6t that its internal operations are visible.