DYSTER MOUSETRAP

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 13904, 11 July 1938, Page 2

DYSTER MOUSETRAP

SURPRISED INTRUDER. SHELL FISH WINS FAME There may be nothing strange in a mouse nibbling at an oyster—but when the oyster bites the mouse it Js news. In a New Plymouth hshshop recently a large oyster broke all conventions by doing an unheardof thing and acting as a perfect mousetrap. A fresh supply cf the shell fish had just arrived from Stewart Island and the open sack was stood in the rear of the shop. A mouse appeared on the scene, took one glance at the apparently helpless oyster sitting on top of the sack with its shell wide open and decided that this was as good a time for lunch as any But his ambitious tastes that led to a desire for a fresh oyster meat were his downfall. As he sunk his teeth into the soft flesh the oyster, o-bviously very much alive, snapped the jaws of its shell together viciously with tremendous force and the mouse was caught by the throat and killed immediately. Tlie New Plymouth borough inspector appeared o n the scene in the course of his inspection duties a few minutes later and was astounded by the “mousetrap.” To a Taranaki H< raid reporter later he denied that it was liis intention t<i patent this epoch-making disco very. The way is open therefore for a rush to the patent office perhaps. And so because the oyster resented being bitten by the mouse and took effective steps to stop the annoyance, it won fame In a photographer’s studio later in the morning bright lights were; trained on the oyster as it lay with) its captive still held firmly and the camera took a permanent record of the occasion. Disillusionment is not very acceptable to anyone, but the hoped-for climax to this story is missing. Jt could not have been the Jure of wealth that drew tip mouse to the oyster, for when a Taranaki Herald reporter made an eager search this afternoon he could find nothing that bore the slightest it semblance to a pearl.