MISCELLANEOUS.

Clutha Leader, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 91, 4 June 1912, Page 8

MISCELLANEOUS.

In ths cqurw of the hearing of a chfcfc» of-tlieSfVaty toe Supreme Court at AitokUwtdia side-lignt»on country life wiußfioiJdedrbj onfcofth* witnesses, a Puki&kehe farmer. "You employed the prisoner?" inquired the < Crown Prosecutor. "Yes, for some months," replied the .■witness.. "And where did he live during that time ?'' ' 'Oh, in my barn," answered the farmer. "Where?" inquiittd bis Honor. "In the loft over my stable," amplified the witness. "And did his -wife and four children also live in the loft over the stable P" asked the judge. "Y<es, they all lived there, your, Honor," replied the witness in a matvoice. ' It transpired further that the prisoner was paid 8s a day during the period he was working for the farmer in question, having earned £25 in 63 days, most of which, however, was paid through the storekeeper in the way of groceries. He was apparently also supplied with firewood and jam, and was generally regarded by his employer as a good, hard-working man,, worth some little consideration. The residence of the husband, wife and four children in the stable loft struck no incongruous note in the mind of the countryman. The trials of a clerk in a savings bank are numerous at any time (Bays the Christchurch 'Press'), but they do not tend to be diminished by the children's money-boxes at present so much in use, particularly when, as was the case recently, the long-suffering clerk finds to his dismay that little Willie has inserted a quantity of specially greasy and rancid butter into the box in addition to the coins. No doubt it was put in with the intention of improving the "works," but it had not—as in a famous paralled case—the advantage of being "the best butter." Though reports are often heard of poaching game and shooting protected birds (says the 'Northern Advocate') the local authorities have not been able to effect a capture so far. Yesterday a vigilant constable apparently thought that he had a certain haul in view at the railway station when a suspiciouslooking sugar-bag was deposited on the platform from the down train, and he felt more certain than eVer when, in answer to his question, the claimant of , the bag said that it contained "birds." The police officer insisted on the bag being opened, and called a member of the Acclimatisation Society to witness the exposure. An interested number of people gathered round, but the "birds" belonged to all appearances to the male persuasion and the law was "out of it." The officer did not go to the length, as' rumor states, of dissecting the birds, neither did he examine so closely as to ascertain whether the tail feathers of male birds had been transferred to hen pheasants to give them a different sex appearance. A.Chinaman at Stratford is,the possessor of a gramaphone—not an ordinary gramaphoue, for the music it dispenses is calculated to frighten-the customers away from his shop. The records came direct from Canton and are, he states, genuine samples of Chinese music. Recently a- member of th'e Stratford 'Evening Post' staff had the pleasure of hearing a few records run off on the machine. The first selection was a very plaintive melody, the musical accompaniment consisting of weird strains interspersed with much banging of gongs. There was a good deal of "patter," but according to the operator this was not the effort of a Chinese Billy Williams but was the tearful farewell of a little Chinese girl leaving theFlowery Land, perhaps never to return. .From the record it was quite evident that she intended to jump overboard at the first opportunity. The second was a garrulous affair, and all pretence at music seemed to have departed from it. Imagine two vaudeville artists endeavoring to give simultaneously impersonations of a dog fight, and a cat squabble. Then, while these are laboring for breath, imagine you hear a Celestial laundryman explaining to a deaf customer that he ean't get his collars without a ticket. "What you tink ?" said John when it was all over. "Welly ni'—him go mallee, see fadder."