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Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 12 July 1935, Page 6

A man drinking in a Wellington hotel produced from his pocket a strange bronze coin, which he said he had been carrying around since it was given him some ten years ago. The bar-tender retained the com to have it identified. About as round as a farthing, and three times as thick, somewhat damaged at the edges, it had the dark green colour of extreme age. The head was that of a man, clean-shaven, wearing a wreath of laurels. On the “tails” side was a seated figure. The Dominion Museum numismatist, though unable to name the coin offhand, expressed the opinion that it was an ancient Homan coin that had been knocking about the world for some two thousand years. The* eccentric pastime of wheel-bar-row racing, popularised in Victoria, and. continued in other parts of Australia and in New Brighton, Christchurch, has reached the West Coast. On a recent evening the sporting population of Hokitika watched a baker set out in a wheelbarrow pushed by a blacksmith for Kanieri township, three miles or so south. The baker thought the journey would take two hours, but to the relief of the blacksmith and the following crowd, which found watching the race one of the colder forms of sport, The finishing line was reached in 55 minutes.

The Minister of Education, the Hon. S. G. Smith, proved himself to he a Maori linguist of no mean ability during the inspection of schools in the Hutt Valley district, when on several occasions he addressed Maori pupils in their own language. One little maid tin shed and .shyly hung her head when Mr Smith informed her that he loved her very much. The Minister commended the pakeha pupils for holding their Maori comrades in high honour. The answer of one Maori boy to a question caused considerable amusement. When asked by the Minister if he was a Ngati-awa, tho boy replied, “No, I’m just Smith.”

The operetta “Hod Riding Hood” will ho staged in the Anroa Hall on Monday night. With the work that has been put in at the practices and the talent engaged, a full house is assured.