WEIRD BARGAINS BY BARTER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23121, 20 August 1938, Page 14 (Supplement)

WEIRD BARGAINS BY BARTER

THE Cairo police have just had to deal with a most ingenious plan of a hotel proprietor for settling his bad debts. "Something for nothing" was unknown to him. He provided whatever was ordered, leaving the settlement until the customers' departure. When, as sometimes happened, the clients consumed more than they could pay for, he used force to possess himself of the most valuable part of their clothing, either in lieu of payment or as a pledge for future payment.

Most of the customers were in such a state that they could not resist this undignified procedure, but when one of his guests could riot pay for all he had consumed, and the . hotel proprietor, seized his "tarboosh" from his head, .the guest complained to the policp.. • The upshot was that tho hotel was inspected and the police found a room full of countless pairs of boots and shoes, trousers, tarbooshes, hats, shirts, socks, etc., which the proprietor hail retained from impecunious patrons and had not yet sold. 'Onions for a Bridge This may seem to be rather a, quaint standard of bargaining for drinks, but almost as curious are some of • the arrangements of high Egyptian officials. Only 'last year, for instance, the Egyptian Government concluded, an agreement with Germany by .. which part-payment for a bridge to bo built over the Nile by the famous firm of Krupp was'to-be made with £35,000 worth -of onions. Then, not so long ago/ a' rather unusual. boom occurred in -Copenhagen, when there was sudden and unusual activity in the moth market. The sudden boom caught most Danish jobbers by surprise, and the "market" quickly collapsed, with the result that sellers found it hard to get rid, of their stocks. 4 , Many Offers 1 The price quoted at the top of the boom was £8 10s for 2000 living moths in good condition, delivered'in-bottles. This worked out at about a penny apiece. i But this price was obtainable for only a very-short time after the following advertisement had appeared in the leadjng Copenhagen morning newspapers: —"Living moths bought. Apply English House, Copenhagen." #l .

By DAVID JONES— (Copyright)

More than 1000 separate offers were made during the day, and within a few hours of opening business the advertisers were the owners of 9000 healthy moths. One man offered a settee "guaranteed to be full of moths." The concern announced that tho moths wore required for the testing of a new chemical which was supposed to make' all fabrics moth-proof. Paying for Newspapers It ;was reported not long ago that a newspaper published in a log hut settlement in Saskatchewan .and designed to keep lonely settlers in touch with the outside world, was being paid for in several cases with deer carcases and many other kinds of forest game or products from the farms. Some years ago the Tishomingo (California), Johnson County, CapitolDemocrat set a "subscription" value on farm produce which it would accept in lieu of cash. • One half-bushel of any one of the following equalled a 'year's'-subscription: Jumbo peanuts, Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, black-eyed peas, or one bushel of black walnuts, apples or shelled corn. Similarly, the publishers would accept 10lb. of pecans or Bermuda onions, 21b. of butter, three dozen fresh eggs, one gallon of ribbon cane syrup, or two quarts of canned fruits or vegetables. The rate for accepting frying size chickens was 30 cents a pound. '' This subscription list reminds one of the pathetic plea published by another American, paper on one occasion. College Fees It ran: "Those of our subscribers who have agreed to pay lis in firewood are requested to bring it along soon, for if they do not, and the cold weather should continue, wo'll freeze to death. The sphere of education also provides some laughable examples of Americans are well-known for their courage and resourcefulness in "working their way through college" when thov cannot afford to get there otherwise. A family at a university in Indiana has thought of a unique way of paying college foes. T hrec members there took with thetn from their farm 400 white leghorn pullets, which they look after and sell the eggs to make the fees. Tn a recent session at renn College, Oskaloosa, lowa, the tuition fees included: One head of cattle, nine'sheep, 27 pigs, 30 chickens, 1500 quarts of» canned fruit, 25 bushels of apples, <«0 bushels of potatoes, 250 bushels of corn and 25 bushels of wheat. It was decided that the college should operate a farm where it could employ students as part-tiino workers and

utilise their labours as foes. In addition to this, of course, the poorer students pay' their bills in the classical manner the men by sweeping the college buildings, stoking the heating plant, or doing odd carpentry, and the girls as waitresses, cooks, maids, laundresses and typists.—K.P.tT.