FROM OVERSEAS.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3322, 29 October 1919, Page 7

FROM OVERSEAS.

ITEMS CULLED FROM THE ‘ 'WOR-LD ’S PRESS. ’ 1 “IHAT IS A “SPORT.” I have been Worried all day by the case of the "Wille.sdnn polieemsa-n woh had two prisoners. a soldier and a civilian. both charged with the same offence ‘(Remarks a. correspondent in at .Lomlon paper. The civilian bolted, and the policeman did not l'{noW4Whethel' to run after him, and risk losing the soldier, or to hang -on to the! soldier and let the civilian go.‘ “Go on, constqb]n_” said the soldier. “I’m sporty!” and sat on the fence while the policeman I'9-cap-lflll‘€d the -other man. The laconic report concludes: “The Bench f-mod l)0’tl‘.- prisoners.” But what I want to know is: Whether they fined the sporty soldier the same amount the unsnort_v civilian; and whether the civilian prisoner agrees that‘ the soldier was sporty. Hl*;\"'S OF ’I‘.HE INSECT WORLD’. The reason why- the Kaiser cannot be tried in \Vesl‘nlillstm' Hall e-an be summed up in one worcl—-—beetles (says l..lo_*;rl‘s News.) These little pests, it u'ns~' (llF(’OVf‘l'(.‘(l some time back, have so eaten into and l:-0ne_ve»o-mbed the stout English oak which forms the roof 41° the fmnoxls hall. that is threatened to enll.'.ms-"‘ and the rep-nil's now in nl'OL*""‘.<.s are not llkelv to be completed before 1921. The insects that have muenrl the damage nll l)elon,r: to bne species, a wood-boring beetle known to naturalists by the alarming name of “Xestobium fess-fll'tnll‘ ” To ordinary ‘people, liowever, it is the “death tick,” so-called because the neenliar t’ekine; noise caused by its boring operations in the tilnlb»el's of old hon!-‘es was :InCi'enflx' Supposed to presage death and disaster. .

CC‘MMERCIAL SHARK HUNTING.

i Ree_entl_v in Hewaii shark-llnntin,r_>; has been hlaeed on a eonnnercial insis. and the development of 3. big .’ndllstr_\' is f.'oreenSted. Sliark fins are deemed :1. great delicacy by Orientals, land dried shark meat has found a ready nmrket. The canning of shark meat. is being considered. Shark liv iers yield a. valuable» oil. I HOW HE GOT HIS REFUND. Many, girls whose boys were away at the front iralivedi in their deferred pay for two or three years and cheerfully married. other blokes. Some diggers took legal ection, others chose to grin and bear it, but one out Goulbnrn (N.S.\V). way has taken a third ‘course. He called one Sunday morn!ing on the man who had inarried his girl and entered El. protest: “You got my money with the girl,” he explained. “and I demand »a; refund."’ The other lad ohjec-ted, so the digger peeled off, ,r;'e.ve his sllccessflll'l'iV':il the father and the’ mother‘ of a. beating, put on h:':< coat, and Said: ""I‘ll:l'i’s the prelimimiry P-‘Jlll'(‘l'. I’m coming to see you every Sunday,‘ Dan, and every Sunday I’m going to give you a hell of :1 hiding or take one quid Off wh~nt’s due to me.” He was ‘true to his word. The next Sunday he got to Dan as bofol'(‘_ Oil Den ‘met him at the gate Awith five pounds and saddled horse. “Here ’S live quid in advnnee~,” he stiid hastily, “and is you’ll take Ponto here and’ five cows you nee’dn’t come mrd see me again.” It was it do:-1l.——Smith’sf Weekly: - I

’J‘O*Ml\«[Y’S LETTERS. "Comparing the letters ceii§ol'ed by him during the war,‘ an Army elLap~ lain. Captain the Rev. Wirriam Field, of Port_smouth, says 110 found -that Scottie}; soltliers’ letters were m.a:tter— Cf fact, Ixish illiterate, ‘Weslh flewery, and Englisli simple. Dominion letters more robust———‘C:lml(lin.ll brief and blunt. New Zealancl affectionate anq homely, and Austrzllian Well Written. their literary style, clean-cut sentences, e.\:z>ellem command of laiiguege, good grzunmas and pronounced originality, generally speaking, being \xr,-.r~ll"nt:. He exm'esse_u: the hope tha-t few, if any, of the English .l soldiers’ lell‘el's have fallen into enemy hands, for “Germany won-d be fi_lloa w=,tl]_ (lis,<_,rust at lhe educational system which proclueerl. sueli .sl.en_(lez',- mind even wrefched results. It is rln:l.t.ion_ :11 refleefion flint we must remove Witb,out delay.”