NEAR AND FAR

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 209, 28 April 1932, Page 4

NEAR AND FAR

"Necessary to Farmer" "Some people complain of the farmer's extravagance in posse-ssing motor cars,'* said a Taranaki stock and station agent to a Taranaki ^"News" reporter the other day, "but I don't regard the matter that way at all. I think it a necessity these days, and justified economieally. Suppose a farmer were to revert to the old order of things. He would require a couple of horses for his buggy, and they consume as much food as five cows. At £10 per head hutter-fat the total would be £50, quite sufficient to maintain the working f armer's motor car. Besides, the farmer is able to get about morequickly with his car, and time- saved is money saved. Then there is the added advantage of giving his wife and family a little change and varia-' tion in what to many is a f airly uneventful and drab existence." Freak Heads Two freak deer heads, each a malformed 21-pointer, were hrought in to Christchurch recently for mounting. Th'e Rakaia deer forest of the North Canterbury Acclimatisation Society contributed one, the trophy of an English tourist, who hrought out several normal good heads, and the other was shot in the Lees Valley country, A peculiarity shared by the heads is that each antler of each head is equipped with the "cup" at the top, which is one of the hallmarks of good heads such as the "royal," prized among trophies — the cups of royals, according to tradition, must each hold a tumblerful of wine. On the Lees Valley 21-pointer, one of the biggest tines did not sweep up and out, but curved sharply down, like a ram's horn. The biggest head, in terms of points, ever shot in New. Zealand, was a 24-pointer taken abont 1912. Unfair Taking of Trout Stoke-hauling, a fishing method abhorred by men who profess and call themselves anglers, has been practised at the mouth of the Leith for the unfair taking of the trout that have there assembled _ to wait for chances to go up stream. The dodge is to attach three large hooks on a sinke-r to a line and draw it with sudden jerks in the hope of hooking in the eye, by the tail, or otherwise fish that at present have no appetite, and consequently are not attraeted by bait. It is possible that before long some addict to this unlawful practice will be publicly exposed. Fifty Years Old After lying hidden for a number of years behind a pile of railway graphs an old timetable was discovered at the Wanganui railway station, advertising a two-day meeting held hy the Wanganui Jockey Club on March' 8 and 9, 1882, and a oneday meeting held by the Wanganui Trotting Club on March 10, 1882. Special trains, stated the notice, would be run to Wanganui from Foxton, recalling the fact that at that time the railway extended from .Wanganui to Foxton, and was owned by the Government, and that the route to Wellington commenced at Longburn, just south of Palmerston North, and was owned hy the Manawatu Railway Company, the two lines remaining separate. That the Wanganui meeting was popular at that time and was attended hy keen punters may be estimated hy the fact that the first train for each day was scheduled to leave Foxton at 5.30 a.m. and tjhe return journey was commenced from Wanganui at 5.45 p.m., the train arriving in Foxton at 11.30 p.m. The notice was pasted on a board, indicating that it has been in use for these 50 years.