Page 5 Advertisements Column 5

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVII, Issue XLVII, 6 March 1912, Page 5

The, health of tiie people of Auckland during the , present mnnmer shows a general improvement as compared With last year (states the "Herald.") So far there have been less cases of typhoid, scarlet fever, and diphtheria., than were reported last summer. This satisfactory state of affairs is chiefly attributable to the fact that tlie whole district is cleaner and in a more sanitary condition, owing doubtless to the. strenuous cleansing operations carried, out subsequent to the plague scar© in 1910. This disease is conspicuous by. its absence amongst the large quantities of rats being examined daily. Both the cooler weather and the rain experienced have had their effect upon the decrease of serious epidemics, but cleanliness and •sanitation on all sorts of premises is the main factor. A class in a uirls' school set recently to the task of paraphrasing passages from the poets, produced some amusing examples. The first girl being given the words from Tennyson's "ißrook," "To bicker down a valley,"—offered, as paraphrase, "To have an undignified quarrel in a low place amon<r the hills." Another srirl stuck still more slavishly to the dictionary, for her version of .the words from "Lochinvar," —"He stayed not for brake."—was, "He never stopped for a mechanical contrivance to rriluco speed by means of friction." In many cases, one might question the intelli pence of the examiner in asking young schoolgirls to answer such nuestions, for a- good deal of poetry consists in describing simple things in an intricate way. Even for nrown-up persons, all poetry requirei to be explained in notes.