GENERAL NEWS

Feilding Star, Volume XVIII, Issue 4593, 19 May 1922, Page 1

GENERAL NEWS

ROMANCE OF INSURANCE. la the Duncdin district one <f the many romances of life insurance is known to tho few immediately concerned, and may be mentioned at) a hint; to many (says the Star). A certain citizen, chancing to l,e in Auckland when the races for the first Sanders Cup were on, fourteen months ago, felt goaded by the Aucklauders' taunts into backing tho Heather to beat tho Iron Duke, and when Mr McCulloch's dinghy won the Otago man found he had won £l5O. An insurance agent heard of the windfall, and suggested that as tho winner had come by the money on a side lino, as it were, and did rot require it for ordinary purposes, he might as well invest it in a substantial policy. The argument prevailed, an insurance for £■sooo was effected on what seemed tj be a sound lifo, and tho .beneficiary died quite unexpectedly when only one nremium had been paid. "My mate and I have made a hobby of pig-shooting, and have a selected team of first-class dogs, and would probably increase our pack and take it on if the conditions are suitable." This runs one sentence in a letter received by Mr Masters M.P., from Palmerston, the writer stating he had noticed a report in the Standard of tho wild-pig pest in Taranaki during a visit of tho member for Stratford to backbloeks in Taranaki. The pic-hunter asked to be informed of the amount of royalty the Government would give for the destruction of tho pigs. He said that in the Palmerston district it was unusual to get more than thrje or four pigs for a day's hunting. P. may be stated that the Government is offering free ammunition, but so far no announcement of a royalty as suggested by the settlors out east.—Stratford Post.

■ln the middle and late seventies and the early eighties the little town of Macetown, in tho highlands of tho Wakatipu district, under the shadow of Advance Peak, was a very busy place (says the Otago Daily Times). Hundreds of men were settled there, all intent on reefing or supplying the reef miners, and a lot of gold was extracted from tho not very deep lodes. Tho Tipperary was the most famous of the mines, and probably the best, but the Gladstone and Maryborough were good, and others, such as the All Nations and the Homeward Bound, were talked of far and near. There was very much clever mining in the district, also much that was by rule of thumb, and it is open to doube rhether all the gettablo gold was got. Lodes suddenly became unpayable, either from fault or poorness, and in the case of fissure the men did not always know where to pick it up again. Now it is deserted. A rare discovery was made on Thursday last by Mr J. Varcoe and Mr A. Holmes, in the unearthing or a complete leg of a moa (says the Cromwell Argus). The find was made in a gully on the east side of the Clutha river directly opposite the Recreation Ground, at a point about two chains up from the road. Walking casually up the creek their curiosity was aroused by an unusually large bone projecting from the debris accumulated in the creek, as it presented an uncommon appearance. With the aid of a pocket knife they investigated and were rewarded by 'unearthing a complete leg toes and all included. Set up in the town in the evening it was. the centre ol much interest, a s with the complete toes attached there is no doubt as to it being the remains of this historic bird Gizard stones and egg shells were also dug out, and more will probably be obtained when the search is completed. It was in a remarkable state of preservation, with hardly a sign of decay. I