NEAR AND FAR

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 181, 24 March 1932, Page 4

NEAR AND FAR

Maori Birth Registrations. A curious position has arisen with regard to the native registration of hirths, at Taupo. In order to qualify for the family allowanee the applicant has to set out tke names and ages of his children, and these have to he verified by the official register. The registration of births is not compulsory with natives, and therefore many children have never been registered. Now that they have an'ihfluence on the pension, the fathers are registering children, some of whom are several years old. It happened that a neglectful father recently took along several children, registered the lot, and duly applied for the pension. Unusual Occurrence. A rather peculiar misadventure recently befell a young lad who was working at the Patea freezing works (says an exchange). While engaged in retrieving a pieee of timber from among a large stack of tallow casks, the lad slipped and fell head downwards between the barrels, where he became firmly wedged.' An employee at the works fortunately happened to pass by shortly afterwards, and hearing a noise from the centre of the casks, proceeded to investigate, and after some time noticed a boot sticking out above one of the casks. On further investigation he found the lad hanging head downwards between the casks. He was not long in extricating the unf ortunate ' youngster, who was rapidly becoming exhausted. What would have happened had the employee not heard the cries of the lad when he did, it is not pleasant to contemplate.