© Allied MediaShepherds drive a mob of sheep near Lowburn, in the upper Clutha valley. Photo: Otago Witness, Issue 3799, 17 August 1926, Page 46 The term “cross-bred,” as generally applied in many parts of Australia, refers to any breed of sheep other than merinos. To correct this the following terms are suggested for consideration by the graziers associations throughout Australia, and, if approved, their adoption. The progeny of a longwool ram and a merino ewe, or vice versa — half-bred; of a half-bred ewe and a merino ram — quarter-bred or comeback; of a longwool ram and half-bred ewe — three-quarter-bred. These may be more fully described as a half-bred Lincoln or a half-bred Border Leicester, etc. Thus a comeback or, a quarter-bred should be 75 percent merino and 25 percent longwool, a half-bred 50 percent of each, and a three-quarter-bred 75 percent longwool and 25 percent merino. The percentage of different bloods in a line of cross-breds would clearly describe them. If these terms were adopted by vendors it would protect buyers from being imposed upon, as at present they are not infrequently put to much expense and loss of time inspecting sheep that are incorrectly described. Buyers are sometimes misled when inspecting recently-shorn sheep supposed to be, say, half-breds, but which later on prove to be nondescripts; therefore it would be necessary to fully describe them in the sale contracts. The term “cross-bred” would be applied only to a line of sheep whose breeding the vendor could not or would not be able to describe. It’s a small world after all That the world is a very small place is a time-honoured saying, but, nevertheless, evidences of its truth are constantly recurring. Mr J.H.F. Hamel, of this city, received an instance of this during his recent trip to Fiji. Whilst on a visit to one of the outlying districts he discovered that the head master of the Sawani Native School, about 12 miles from Suva, was Mr A. Thomson, an old Kaikorai and Otago High School boy, who was also a schoolmate of Mr Hamel’s son. Inventor puts a lid on it John Eustace, of Dunedin, is the inventor of what is known as “the airtight tin.” We all know it. It is the tin we get our treacle in, our honey, and our paint. Few people, as they exert a leverage on the lid of the treacle tin, think of the financial tragedy of which that lid is emblematic. John Eustace is no better on for having invented the air-tight tin. An Otago Daily Times reporter called on Mr Eustace yesterday, and asked him the history of the tin. Mr Eustace told of the biggest stroke of misfortune that had ever come his way. “You see the collar of the tin used to stand up. The lid went on over to the outside of the tin, and it was never satisfactory, as it was easily knocked off. So I took a tin home and looked at it. And then the idea came — the inspiration of a life-time. I conceived the idea of reversing the collar, so that the lid sunk down a little way inside the tin, not out.” And that is how the idea which should have made him a multi-millionaire came to Mr Eustace. “I made samples and submitted them to the late Mr W. Gregg,” said Mr Eustace. “He thought it was a good idea, but that it was 20 years before our time. You see, none of us had realised its possibilities, for tin making had not reached anything like its present state. “However, the late Mr Robert Smith entered into an agreement with me, undertaking to pay all expenses in regard to patenting on condition that they would have the right to use the tin free of royalty. But it was simply registered here, and the patenting throughout the world was omitted. You see,” he repeated, “ we had not the faintest idea of its possibilities. Well, about four months after the dies arrived from England we noticed that tins of paint were coming from Manchester with lids exactly the same as mine.” — ODT, 27.8.1926
