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Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 88, 12 January 1928, Page 16

All court officials are familiar with the individual who, with morbid curiosity, attends the sittings of the court day in and day out listening to the details of even the most ordinary cas ( es with unflagging interest. There are one or two of this* type in every town, and men whose business and duty it is to deal with the seaniy side of life as it is recounted before the bench, learn to dislike and despise the constant watchers in the corners of the public benches. But one old man who for years haunted the Dunedin Courj: as regularly as clockwork, whatever the case and however sordid.the conditions, had at least a reason for his peculiar selection of amusefnent (says the "Otago Daily Tinies”). . “I am a retired farmer,” he told a, court official, recently.' “For years and.years while living in the way backs, my experience of life was gained solely from the columns of the newspapers I received. Now that I have retired I am determined to see the real thing, and I make the courts my place of study.”

It is quite a mistake to think that one has to go as far as Mayor Island or tho Bay of Islands for big game fishing (says the Auckland “Star”). On - these line mornings fishermen sit patiently on the , Mangere Bridge, watching a taut line and the young flood tide. Some of tho fishing’ is very good, with such splendid variety that one is in a state -of continued expectancy. The catch of the season was , made the other morning. An angler fixed a large lump of juicy undercut steak on a hook, and placed it beside him while he prepared another line. At that stage a big black retriever dog came along. The bait vanished abruptly, and the black dog began to trot in the direction of Onehunga, a journey that proved to , be limited bv the length of the line. It was a badly-flustered angler who played his catch, but fortunately the bait pulled clear, and with many a yelp the “record catch” made off.