Page 5 Advertisements Column 5

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 9713, 8 January 1895, Page 5

A Home paper recently offered a prize of two guineas for the best incident relating how the writer became acquainted with his wife. . The prize was awarded to a somewhat commonplace account, apparently because the narrator was Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, but the following was awarded a guinea: —" I first met my wife in a cage, suspended in mid-air, thus : There is on the mountainous west coast of New Zealand a broad, deep, and terribly dangerous river, called the Teremakau. It can only be crossed, where the coach road reaches it, by means of a cage hanging from wire ropes, and drawn from precipice to precipice by a steam engine on either side. On entering this cage one stormy day on a journey to Greymouth, I found it already occupied by five persons -a poor countrywoman with two little children, a puffy, self-important, redfaced man, of the mining speculator type, and a young lady with nothing noticeable about her except her simplicity of dress and manner. As Iwasseatedwewereshut in and launched from the cliff over a boiling torrent tearing down to the sea. The crossing is never without danger, which is greatly increased on windy days by the extra strain on the wire cables. On this occasion, just as we got to the middle, where the leverage is greatest, there came a fierce blast, and a strand of the wire rope on one side parted with a loud crack. The hauling engine instantly stopped, and we hung swaying about in the gale, with the imminent prospect of being hurled into the river and carried out to sea. The thing to do , under these circumstances is to balance the cage as nicely as possible and then remain quite still. The countrywoman, however, was so terrified that she flung herself with her two children into my arms, tipping over the cage to a perilous angle, while the man, I am ashamed to say, behaved quite as stupidly. Having had a similar experience before, I held the woman firmly down on her knees with one hand, and gripped the man by the ; arm ■'. with , the fi other. a«The young woman, who : had never ;, moved, instantly took the two children, and, carefully shifting to the other side of the cage, nearly restored its balance. As soon as the wind lulled the hauling gear was slowly put in motion, and in a few minutes we were safely landed on the northern platform. I was so struck by the young lady's selfpossession and good sense that I sought her acquaintance, and found she lived in a neighbouring town with her parents, and was a highly-respected and beloved teacher in the public (school. I gained leave to see her at her home, and in six months we were married. That was ten years ago, but I have never for a moment had reason to regret the adventure in the cage on the Teremakau. I should say there are few instances of a man meeting his wife for the first time under more remarkable circumstances than those, and I therefore put in a claim for your prize of two guineas.--Mr. Henry Bucklaw, care Messrs. Wakefield and Co, 70, Lincoln's Inn Fields, W.C."

Remember that 5s in the £ is a genuine reduction- on all ] furniture at the D.SiC«t(Adv?). * • • '