BOUGHT PURE MUD.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 29 April 1931, Page 7

BOUGHT PURE MUD.

“SOLE” AGENTS APPOINTED. SHOE HOAX. SYDNEY, April 17. It is not safe to mention “rubber soles” to bootmakers and storekeepers at Dubbo, or several other western towns, without runnings the risk of assault. - Early last month a well-spoken traveller arrived at Dubbo, and, calling on a leading, bootmaker, offered a line of a new mixture which, he claimed, has revolutionised the boot-repair-ing industry. He said that the mixture, after being heated for ten minutes, could be spread on the soles of boots and shoes like “spreading butter on bread,” and the result was a rubber sole of any desired thickness that would never come off.

While he was talking the son of one of the local policemen entered the shop, wearing sandshoes, and the salesman gave a demonstration which dispelled any scepticism. At 2s a tin the bootmaker bought

a large stock, and was informed that he was appointed sole agent. The next day he found that all his rivals had been appointed “sole agents.’ ’ What was worse, there were no buyers for the mixture. One day this week one of the tins burst, and the bootmaker found that the tin was filled with gum leaves, rubbish and water. The fermentation of these had 'Blown off the lid. When he opened up other tins he found them filled with ordinary river mud.

And what happened at Dubbo is alleged to have occurred at Narromine, Trangie and Coonamble.