NOTES AND COMMENTS

Waikato Times, Volume 102, Issue 17285, 22 December 1927, Page 12

NOTES AND COMMENTS

INTERESTING JOTTINGS A BLUFF THAT SUCCEEDED. For sheer shrewdness the laurel Is due to a certain Invercargfll motorist whose husiness makes it necessary for him to pay frequent visits to the country townships (states the Southland Times). On a recent trip out he had the misfortune to run over a dog whilst passing near a store. On his return journey, before he reached the scene of the "accident, he was informed by a passing acquaintance that an angry owner was awaiting him at the store Forewarned is forearmed. On reaching the store he assumed a bold front and faced the owner. "Was that your dog I ran over?" he demanded, j On receiving a reply m the affirmative he continued: "Well, I'm afraid it's going to cost you a few bob. I strained a steering control as I went over it." This aspect of the case had not occurred to the astonished owner, who .was alarmed to such an extent that his anger evaporated. "Oh,'l think we'd better call it quits," he said hurriedly. "It was a valuable dog." As he turned away he added philosophically: "Anyway, another dog license saved, I suppose." The driver is still congratulating himself on his genius. HOODWINKED THE POLICE. 'A few days ago, when the first hot dust-wind of summer came down like the wolf on the fold and assailed a Wanganui motorist's throat, he parked before a Willis Street hotel in Wellington (recounts the Chronicle). A notice informed him that he could not leave his car longer than 15 minutes, but he smiled at the ample margin of time ,An old crony, however, greeted him 'inside with fishing reminiscences and plans for future excurisons, and it was almost an hour later that, coming to the hotel entrance, he noticed a policeman evincing an undue interest in his. car, which portended trouble. Luckily there was a rear exit. Through this he went straight to the police, and unblushingly reported that his car hsd been stolen. Yes, he had left it in Cuba Street an hour and a half ago. An hour later, having been summoned to identify a car that had been located in front of a Willis Street hotel, he was enthusiastically eulogising the police for their proficiency. THE RULE OF THE ROAD. "I wish to make it clear that on a road constructed as this road is, with bitumen down its centre and metal on either side, a motorist has, in my opinion, no right to hold on to the bitumen if by so doing he may endanger others on the highway," said Mr E. Page, S.M., in the Wellington Magistrate's Court recently, in giving judgment in aiHutt'road collision case. CHURCHES AND SUMMER-TIME. Congregations at Wanganui churches have not yet suffered to any great extent since daylight saving came into operation. "It may be too early to give an opinion yet," said a local minister recently, "but I do not think the extra hour of daylight will have a diminishing effect on church attendances. Regula* altcnders, I am sure, will continue to go to church on Sunday evenings." A HINT FROM THE STATES. An ingenious system of clearing roads of nails is in operation in the United States. Two 22in lifting magnets are suspended between the front and rear wheels of a five-ton truck, with their faces raised Din above the I surface of the roadway, and magnetising current is supplied by a direct current generator driven by a 'petrol engine mounted on the truck. In one round trip in a 100-mile section recently 13701 bof nails, spikes, and scrap-iron were picked up—an average of 45 pieces of. sharp-pointed material per mile, waiting the opportunity to puncture the tyres of unsuspecting motorists. •

Various interesting sidelights on the payment of farm workers in Taranaki were afforded in the course of the hearing of a claim in the Supreme Court at New Plymouth. A South Taranaki farmer stated that a good man for fanm labouring could be obtained for £2 'a week, and that a sharemilker on a reasonably good proposition would probably clear about £2OO a year. Another farmer of North Taranaki said he employed a sharemilker whose wife, daughter, and two sons all assisted him, at Ik a week. He considered the work on his farm was light, however. A South Taranaki sharemilker who has for some time been sharemilking on first-class farms, and has now taken up a farm of his own, stated that during the last year or two he had made about £450 gross and cleared about £l5O net. .