DEATH ON MAGPIES.

Auckland Star, Volume 304, Issue 304, 23 December 1926, Page 7

DEATH ON MAGPIES.

FARMER VOWS VENGEANCE. BIRD'S ACQUISITIVENESS. (Received 12 noon.) SYDNEY, this day. Discommoded by a new set of false teeth, a farmer working in the bush in the Grafton district, placed them on a stump. A magpie flew down and stole the teeth, which he carried to a high tree. The farmer fired at the bird, but missed, and saw no more of the magpie or the teeth. He is now conducting a merciless war on the whole magpie family. BEER PLENTIFUL ON COASTGUARD BOAT. RUM-RUNNIK)G PATROL. BOSTON, December 17. Beer flowed freely on board the •United States coastguard boat 242, when the vessel was on rum patrol in Boston waters, Frederick L. Burnell, first-class boatswain's mate, testified at a naval court-martial at the navy yard. Four members of the crew of the 242 were on trial charged with trafficking with rum-runners. Burnell and other witnesses said they had received "gifts" and "loans" of money while their craft was on rum patrol, -and William Curtin, a seaman, said the crew of the cutter had been paid for taking a load of liquor to Plymouth and unloading it there. Burnell said there often was beer on ice in the cutter's kitchen, and the men drank it with their meals, but he said he never knew where it came from. He said he had received money from a civilian named Wilson, who once told him to "keep his mouth shut."