AN UNPROFITABLE VENTURE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXII, Issue 207, 26 October 1900, Page 4

AN UNPROFITABLE VENTURE.

A. Takanaki farmer, whose Dame I will say is Trough—it will do just as well as his teal one—saw. what he thought to be a safe investment, and, with the idea that there wasi money in pig', set al,out to extraot the sovereigns from the swine. Me got together a lob of: well-bred pigs, and h 1 si were the beauty and admiration of hit locality, in the course of time he pigs le.atne fat, and no wonder, brcus? they were dieted on the 'mo;t lij) ral ?cale, "Ton have a fine lot of pigs, Trough; I never saw better; thty ate as even as eggs," said an' enthusiastic neighbour, "Yes,"! proudly answered Tioagb, "I flitt&r mysalf jhty are gj> d, atd whoever gets them *ill gtt prize packets." Seine little oime after tbi?, Trough,sold hta "prize gasket" at a niije 'figure'to i, distant fi m -at least ha thought ha'hadsold them-and he gleefully rubbfedhia hands ss he saw his thirly-tio prime pigs' carefully placed in a railway truck. A week later he got ! a letter, and, after reading it through, he felt as if he had fallea oS his horse when out mustering cat"ie, and that every beast in the paddock had come up in ►ingle file and deliberate'y jumped cn him. This is what the letter stid i'- Mem'.random fiomTatnworth, Berkshire acd 00. To Mr. Trough: Dtar *i r i —With regard to the 32 pigs you consigned to u», we beg to state: (1) 5 were above the maximum of our stmdaid of weight; (2) 5 were below the minimum; (3) 5 had had litters; (4) 5 were practically stags; (5) 5 did not have the spscified depth of fat on the ribs; (6) 5 were lost between ; the railway station and the slaughterhouse; and (7) 2 complied jrith our I conditions, for which we feiVaid you our ch»qae. Kindly infotm lus what we ate to do wi'h the remainder, tw, our sp»ce is limited." Trough is now of theojpiiion that there is money in pigs, but he cou.du't find it —Star.