NEAR AND FAR

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 170, 11 March 1932, Page 4

NEAR AND FAR

Coqnsel's "Jemmy." When two young burglars reeently Broke into a store at -Wanganui East they used what was deseribed by the police as a "jemmy." Counsel for the defence was of the firm opinion, when the case was heard in the lower coprt, that it wds quite an innocent article and could be used legitimately for opernng packing cases. Detective Murray said that it could alsg be used for birjaking windows. At the Supreme Court at Wanganui, when counsel was putting forward a plea for one of the young men, he again deseribed the jemmy as "a simple lever of iron which is obviously an instrument for opening packing cases." He adde'dT "Of course, it could be used_ for other things." Freak Egg. Many thousand dozens of eggs ave been broken at the bakehouse of Mays Ltd., says the Taranaki Herald, and they have often included eggs of abnormal size or some irregular shape and sometimes with double yokes, but a day or two ago the staff had a new experience. An apparently normal egg so far as shape and size are concerned was found on being cracked to contain not only the yolk and white of an ordinary egg, but another small egg complete even with a hard shell.

Missing File Recovered. Four years ago the then secretary to the Timaru Harbour Board reported to the board that a file containing the correspondence of the previous meeting had mysteriously disappeared during his temporary absence, and a minute was inserted in the books recording the loss of the file. Reeently the present secretary of the board, Mr. F. Metson, found the file in the board's safe. The chairman, Mr. G. i T. Dawson, reported to the board that the file had been found in a small cavity, where apparently it had inadvertently slipped. As the minute on j the hook in a sense east a reflection on the members of the staff, it was j gratifying to know that the lost file j had been recovered. i Not Part of Australia. The need to dispel from the minds of foreign people the idea that New Zealand is a portion of Australia remains an inherent obligation on the part of successive Dominion Governments (says the Manawata Standard). Much may have been accomplished to this end, but the education is not yet complete. This fact is borne out by a letter received in Palmerston North this week from Holland which was addressed as . follows: "Administration, , Palmerston N., New Zealand, Australia." Return of Home-Spinnmg.. The latest hobby, which has proved popular among housewives in the j Wanganui district, is the making of 1 home-spun goods. Months ago an old | Scots woman gave lessons to some of j the farming community in the old : industry of spinning, and several j wheels at once made their appearance | in country homesteads and later in jthe town houses. Since then many I pounds of New Zealand wool have J been used in the manufacture of homeI spun woollen threads, and many of J the men are now walking about in i socks and other garments made from the wool of their own sheep. The use of the thread has not been confined to the making of garments, but has spread to the manufacture of woollen rugs and other artieles of use about the home. Ypres and Waterloo. "Britain might as well have tried to fight the battle of Ypres with the weapons of Waterloo as to try to fight the present day industrial war with the methods of Cobden and Bright," said Mr. J. Hogg, Dunedin, in an address at the Gisborne Borough Council ehambers, when (he defended ■Britain's action in adopting a tariff which, he said, was necessary. The spealcer added that even prominent British advocates of free trade now admitted that the tariff was a necessity.

Maori's Reward. Some weeks ago a Maori from -the country picked up a purse containing notes in the Avenue, Wanganui. A carpenter whom he knew was working in a shop nearhy, and the Maori showed him the purse and remarked that the owner was a lady and her name was in the purse, and he intended to return it. The carpenter did not meet the Maori for some time, and then the conversation turned to the purse and the notes. "I suppose," remarked the carpenter, "the lady gave you a reward." "She did," replied the Maori. "She gave me oue of the best dressings down ;I ever had in my life, and told me that I had stolen it."