Page:Travel letters from New Zealand, Australia and Africa (1913).djvu/103

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it was received by wire. If an editor prints a faked telegram, he is liable to fine and imprisonment. The idea isn't a bad one. The government has lately ordered an investigation of the wireless telegraph business. The people desire to know just what is actually being accomplished by wireless. I shall watch the investigation with interest; I should like to know, too. . . . Tomatoes are generally sold here at fruit stores. Which revives the old conundrum: "Is the tomato a fruit or vegetable?". . . A place in Wellington is known as "The American Lounge." It is a soda-water place, and this sign appears in the window: "Coca-Cola; something entirely new in New Zealand." The soda fountain is a small one-spout affair that a suburban grocer in America would not tolerate. . . . In one of the suburbs, this afternoon, children followed us, as though we were Chinese. "They are American people," the children said, apparently not knowing that we could understand what they said. An old gentleman reprimanded the children, and apologized for their conduct. . . . The race track is twenty miles from Wellington, as there is not enough level land in the vicinity to accommodate a mile track, and most of the people are out there this afternoon. We were walking in the wholesale district at 3 P. M., and, looking in every direction, were able to see only five people; and they were hurrying to the railroad station. Wellington is very hilly, and mountains are only a stone's-throw from its main streets. . . . Yesterday a man named James Cole brought an action against his wife, Fanny, because she failed to properly support him. Cole said he was unable to work be-