NEAR AND FAR

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 105, 24 December 1931, Page 4

NEAR AND FAR

Curiosity Killed the Bird The failure of the electric power supply to New Plymouth and surrounding districts recently was due to a bird which alighted on the cables and picked at a copper guard. Contact was established, and the result was thfe, throwing out of gear of the supply to New Plymouth, Inglewood and Waitara, ^and, of eourse, the death of the bir(f. The poor thing made a sorry sight. The power fault was remedied very quicldy. Wheat In Rangitikei A, prominent merchant in conversation with a Manawatu "Standard" representative stated that there was over 5,000 acres of wheat being grown in the Feilding, Sansen- and Rangitikei districts this year, which was the most that had been grown for many years. There was every indication that the erops would be good ones. Large quantities of peas wero also being grown. In the past this commodity had almost exclusively been brought from the South Island. Shining Sovereigns . There has come into the possession of a Christchurch man ■ a sovereign of 1830 which has all the appearances of a freshly-minted coin. Many years ago an old bureau was sent from 3. Bedford. house for repairing. The cabinetmaker discovered a secret drawer in which lay seven sovereigns bearing the head of George IV., and as new as the day they were made. The owners of the bureau were naturally pleased with the find, and made the cabinetmaker a present of one of the coins — the sovereign which has now found its way to New Zealand.

Letter to Santa Claus The following letter was handed to a parent in Stratford recently to post to "Santa Craws, Mount Egmont House": — "Dear Santa Craws: Would you please be kind enough tocome around to our place on Christmas Eve. I'm writing this letter to ask you if you would be kind enough to bring me a water-ball and my brother a wristlet watch. My brother is 13 and I am 8. When you are coming down the mountain and reins, take great care that your reindeers do not catch a cold. Rap them up in a warm kotton and no wool blanket because if you don't they mite catch cold and die. Well, I don't think there is anything more so good-by Santa Craws, and will you please bring our dog a present because he would be delited." Glass Splinter In Tongue Since December 28 of last year a young Christchurch man has had a lump in his tongue. His doetor told him he could not account for it, but a few days ago the lump was opened and a piece of glass an inch long and a quarter of an inch square in cross-section was found. It was on December 28 last year that the young man was badly cut by flying glass in a motor accident. A piece of glass 5in. long that had cut right through under his chin, severing his windpipe, was then taken out, and he spent eight weeks in hospital. Jealous Heifers A Hawera motorist set out the other day for a short run with his car gleaming like a mirror as a result of a polish. Driving on to a f arm, the motorist left his car in a paddock occupied by young stoek while he went away to inspect the nro-

perty. In his absence the cattle approached and inspected the vehicle closely — so closely, indeed, that they saw their own reflections in the shining panels of the bodywork. They evidertftly iresented the "intrusion" of the heifers they saw there, and set about putting them oflf the place, with the result that the car-owner, when he returned, found the bodywork badly dented from the butting it had received. It is estimated that it will cost over £39 to repair the damage done by the stock while waging war upon their reflections. Roadside Hoardings In discussing roadside hoardings at the half-yearly meeting of the South Island Motor Union at Blenheim, a delegate, says the Express, made use of the expression: "In starting a campaign against hoardings." This brought Dr. Gibbs, of the Nelson Automobile Association, to his feet with an indignant snort. "We are not starting anything," he declared, "we are finishing it! Why I have grown 'old in the campaign against the hoarding nuisance!" The president (Mr. F. W. Johnston) : "But you are not old!" Dr. Gibb:s "Well, these hoardings have driven my hair grey, anyway!" (Laughter.) Their Pound of Flesh Evidence of the "pound of flesh" which the Government demands from deceased estates by way of death duty is furnished by the figures relative to the city properties recently sold on account of the executors of the will of Miss Helen Mure, a- Gisborne property owner whose death in Great Britain was reported recently. The gross return from the saies of several Dunedin properties totalled approximately £75,000, of which sum over £30,000 will be annexed by the Commissioner of Taxes. No News Is Good News A superintendent registrar, who has just retired after 25 years in that .office, complains that although he has married an average of 100 couples per annum, during that time he has never once received a letter of thanks from any one of the 2,500 brides and bridegrooms. He is inclined to draw pessimistic conclusions about the marriage state from this fact. But although he has never received an expression of gratitude, it is equally true that he has never received a letter of reproqch. He' should remember that people will lodge a complaint quite readily when things go wrong, talcing for granted everything goes right; so that his absence of correspondence denotes a life passably well spent,