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Otago Witness, Issue 3212, 6 October 1915, Page 62

The misplacement of a comma is sometimes a very serious thing. Such a blunder in a Tariff Kill once cost the United States about 2,000,OOOdo! of revenue. There was a section enumerating articles admitted free Of duty, which included “all foreign fruitplants,” meaning plants for propagation or experiment. _ The clerk, in copying the •tatute, accidentally changed the hyphen in the compound word “fruit-plants” to a Comma, making it road, “ All foreign fruit,

plants.” For a year, oranges, lemons, bananas, grapes, and other imported fruits were admitted free of duty. One gramme of radium is worth about £20,000. When a Chinaman desires to marry, his parents intimate that fact to the professional “matchmaker.” who thereupon runs through the list of her visiting acquaintances, and selects one whom she considers a fitting bride for the young man.