NEAR AND FAR

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 121, 14 January 1932, Page 4

NEAR AND FAR

Guilty or Not Guilty. A pnngent and amusing commentary upon the intricacy and uneertainty of proceedings in our Law Courts 50 years ago was made by a Maori warrior, Titokowaru, in January, 1882, when charged hefore^the . New Plymouth Bench with having used threatenlng language at Manaia, says the Taranaki Herald. The old warrior pleaded "guilty," evidently thinking it useless to do otherwise. But the Bench, at the instance of the prhsecuting counsel, entered a plea of "not guilty," and pr'oceeded to take evidence. The following conversation between the interpreter, Johnny Blake, and Titokowaru ensued: Blake: '''The Magistrates won't allow you to say you are guilty; they "say you are not guilty." Tito (wrapping his blanket lound him, and preparing With an air of satisfaction to leave the dock): "Kapai'l (good). Blake: "You mustn't go; they are going to try you now." Tito (astonishedj. "What do they want to try me' for if they say I'm not guilty?" Blake. "But you might he guilty after all." "But — There are Bright Moments." "It was weary work for some of the examiners to weigh the merits of 150 to 250 papers,'5 says the Church Chronicle in referring to the recent examinations conducted by the Wellington Diocese Sunday School Association. "But, even in weighin'g examination papers, there are bright moments. It was a sheer joy to come across the candidate who described

Bar-Timaeus as a _'bung-eyed hloke what sat cadging in the gutter.' BarTiinaeus Was no anonymotis puppet on that intelligent youngster's stage. And how is this for 'association of ideas' — 'Saint Christopher discovered Columbus'?" Love Apple. Perhaps no Vegetable has become so popular in Germany as the tomato. Yet some thirty years ago it was hardly known. When it did appear it was regarded with suspicion on account of its brilliant colour, and it was considered to be harmful. For a long time, under the name of Liebesapfel (love apple) it was cultivated in only a few gardens for decoration. To-day the tomato is eaten and enjoyed in every form by rich and poor. Now that it has been proved that this useful fruit or vegetable will keep good for more than six weeks in ice storage, the growing grounds throughout the country have been enormously increased, but foreign importers, with Holland at their head, do a very great trade with Germany.

Hot Dogs. "Hot dogs" from an automatic machine were shown for the first time at the Leipzig Spring Fair in Germany. Upon dropping three tenpfennig pieces (approximately 4d) into a slot and turning a handle a real red-skinned sausage, all steaming and delicious to view— and to smell comes out of the machine on a paper plate accompanied by a slice of bread and a hlob of mustard (writes the correspondent in Germany of the "Christian Science Monitor").' The automatic machine can hold 50 sausages, which are hung in a small chamber through which steam flows, keeping them moderately warm. Upon turning the handle, one of these sausages is thrown into hot water, where it acquires the necessary warmth for eating, and then slides down on to a cardboard plate. A small {pump squirts mustard on to the edge of the plate, and from some. other hidden quarter a sliee of bread joins the trio. The interesting part about this machine is that its heat is regulated automatically so that it delivers the sausages at just the right temperature, no matter how cold or warm it is outside.

Hammerhead Shark. A large hammerhead shark, the first of the season, was landed at Whangaroa last week by Mr. R. B. Watson, of Walton, fishing from the launch Ethel, after a hard fight for two hours. Great difficulty was experienced in getting the fish alongside the launch to harpoon. The shark weighed 3821b. On the previous day Mr. Watson landed a fine mako shark weighing 2801b on the Ruahine reef. Demand for Fruit Stands. Some 26 Hindus and one white man attended the auction sale of city street fruit stands conducted by the Wellington City Council. If rents in general have fallen during the past 12 months, it was scarcely reflected in the rentals paid by the Hindus, as the total amounts received — the full quarter's rents are paid in cash on the fall of the hammer— for 13 stands amounted to £604 7s 6d, as compared with £591 17s 6d for the correspond-

mg quarter of last year. The highest rentals paid- were £94 each for the BoWen Street and the Lambton Quay dispatch office stands, which represent a weekly rental in each case of £7 4s 7d. — iDominion. JLiving Torch. Overcome with grief at the death of her father, Habiba Hashan Charaf, a young Arab girl, of Alexandria, Egypt, made a daily pilgrimage at sunset' to the cemetery, where she lay upon his grave, praying and weeping. One evening recently the lodge-keeper of the cemetery was astonished to see what appeared to be a human torch rushing around madly at the far end of the graveyard. He found that it was Habiba, who, unable to support her grief any longer, had set fire to hpr clothes, and was dancing in frenzy on her parent's grave. Before he could summon help, Habiba fell dead. Tui Appreciated. An Englishman, who has been spending a holiday at Waiheke, heard the tui for the first 'time a few days ago. He was entranced by the glorious liquid nptes, and said that he would certainly place Jhe New Zealand bird second to the nightingale.