"HUMANE" MAN-TRAP.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 285, 2 December 1931, Page 9

"HUMANE" MAN-TRAP.

RELICS OF THE PAST.

USED BY PIONEER FAMILY.

IN: OLD: COLONISTS', MUSEUM,

•-Our-.ancestors .used '■■ some weird and outlandish:instruments.:. One is.forcibly remindedof the.'fact uncommon collection : of ) articles just presented to the Old Colonists' Museum ;by 'Mr/ John Edgerley, .of Edgerley Avenue, Epsom, who is now 80 years of age. The things belonged to his father, the late Mr. John who came out to Hokianga in 1839.with. some scientists who were making a -collection of plants for Ivew Botanical Gardens. -Liking the colony, Mr. Edgerley" returned in the early 40 s and settled, here, dying in 1847. / - ; . The oddest.articles in the collectionall having been used by him in the 40's-r are two man-traps, oddly enough called "humane" man-traps. Apparently the inhuman. sort had nasty jagged teeth like a huge rat-trap, and the variety brought out by Mr. Edgerley simply held; the captive's foot by two round bars, which were snapped together; by powerful springs, very much the • size • and weight of a cart-spring; The whole apparatus was anchored to* "the ground. with a chain heavy enough for a plbughehain. Exactly why such a formidable article was imported into .New Zealand is not clear, but-no doubt it was to help in protecting the white man's home- from marauding "savages." . : '- ■■■•.".:-.--.;.,■-

Another trap in the collection is. a> big■': goat-trap,, just like an. enlarged edition' of a "toothy" rat trap. This was, frankly.; to "entrap trespassing' goats," according' to" the explanatory list forwarded with the collection. . • ! \ . . . ' ;'. ; , ■ A. little cabin lamp "used by Mr. and Mrs. Edgerley, on the voyage out to New Zealand'about the year 1845 serves to remind lis' that cabins" of those far-off days were very' holes compared with' the electric-lighted boudoirs of the modern liners. ." - . Another reminder, of -bygone'.fashions is" a goffering ii'on, which was used by the "elegants"' of the. 40's to crimp their rufflesand -similar adjuncts of what was then considered fashionable attire.. ;; A. "roughly-made iron boot-last" showsthat the-head of : the^family had^to■ jack of all trades, and another, article, connected with the primitive days is. a^I ijrou protector-for-6trapp^S'^Ss''^

instep,of : tlieT)oo.t,wJieii.digging with a .spade..''" ■ ■"- - J . ■_' " : . :";•■'. A"; corkscrew,.with;.a- sbrt;,6l. shaving brush-at. one end of the bone handle, might' puzzle present-day people .who take their refi-eshnient out.of the ; modern capsuled; bottles; but. our "ancestors were hot 'Unacquainted with the traditional "fine old crusted .port with its wreath oi* ; cobwebs round, the ; neck,"'; and the brush was used to. remove; this evidence Of. mellowing a ge' from the top of the bottle before- drawing the" cork. " Nowadays'we have not time, to allowour wine to gather these tributes from Father Time. This'"particular, corkscrew ' probably helped in -the - potations of -the "four-bottle men" one reads about in the good bid" days, for it was given to Mr. JMgerieyi along with-' other gifts, by. the household; of the Earl of Mount Noit*s when Mr. Edgerley set : out for New.Zealand in 1839.- . '

Other things in the collection; are part of a tinder-box used in the pre-matcji days; part of a;wooden butter-print used by the Edgerley family.<:over.. 82 'yeaiis ago; three candle extinguishers,; two of which. are very old; : , an -ivory tear-syringe, ingeniously made but.which could % harclly have been aseptic, and would probably niake a member, of the B.M;A. shiveri if he were asked to use it-to-day on a patient; a -home-made, iron nose-ring , ; tq prevent . pigs-rooting; two \ nipplewrenches'■; used* for extracting nipples from old-ifashioned foyiing-pieces * tlia't were fired; by "means; of -percussion, caps'; a set:of tools.for drillingholes 'for;blasting; a powder flask; and severaVhousehoH articles. 1 ;;.... -*•*.;• v , ;;

Jolin. Edgerley,:; who presented these old! family-relies" to the museum, spent several;, years , in- ; Fiji as a, young -min,; and "Star" readers will recall .that; a; few weeks ago two very interesting articles' from his pen appeared iri<the "Star s '/ ■Supplement.-" - The articles told of exciting; times when the Hillmen were still cannibals and the handful,of white settlers had to defend, themselves, and-their plantations from wild raid j.?j onthe warpath. .;;