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Taranaki Daily News, 18 November 1921, Page 4

The New Plymouth Horticultural Society’s new schedule is to hand. The classes have been somewhat reduced in number, but, on the other hand, the prize-money has been increased. Interest is being shown in the summer show, which is to be held on December 9 next. A fair number of medals won in the late war are being offered to pawnbrokers in Auckland, but the latter will not advance money upon them. Enquiries made showed that a certain class of men were offering their medals for sate. Most of these, in the opinion of the pawnbrokers are not in distress. The pawnbrokers stated that the monetary value of a medal was not more than 2s, and so the sale of one would not greatly assist a man who was really in distress. The medals being offered are chiefly Victory medals, but attempts have been made to raise money on a few Military Medals, and an odd D.C.M. A certain number of war medals for campaigns of the past have always found their way into the pawnshops, and most .of the local dealers have at least one or o in stock. They are practically uii'Mi ybie, however, and in most cases been pawned among a variety of ct. -r articles.

..ais are known the world over for their cunning when in tight corners. An example of this was shown in Dunedin recently, when a large rodent defied the preparations made for his capture in the Harbor Board’s workshop (says the Dunedin Star). A board about 14 inches square, containing a thick coating of lithographic varnish, was placed on the floor of the workshop. A tempting bait was fixed in the centre of the board, but the rat overcame the obstacle by making a track of ashes over the varnish, over which he walked without any chance of getting caught in the sticky substance, and made off with the bait. The ashes were scattered about the workshop, and these would no doubt have been cleared away had anyone thought that the rat was going to show such sagacity. One of the Harbor Board’s employees attends to the preparation of the boards. They vary in size, and the varnish is a splendid trap once Mr. Rat gets his feet planted in it. One morning recently seven rats were found trapped on a board in X shed, while four were caught in E shed and two in R shed by the varnish pro-