Squatter: “Well, I’m blessed if I know, but I can tell you it’s perfectly square and enclosed with posts and rails. Each of the rails is 9 ft. long.”
New Chum: “Oh, then, is it what you call a three-railed paddock?”
Squatter: “Yes, that’s so, and now I remember that the number of rails in my run is equal to the number of acres. If you like you can take a horse and ride round and count the rails, then you will know the area.” This advice the new chum acted upon.
Find out the length of his ride and the area of the run.
A Federal Problem.
It is well known to our readers that paper money—such as pound notes—issued in one colony are depreciated in another; thus a one pound note of N.S.W. is only worth 19s. 6d. in Victoria, and vice versa. Some time ago a rather ’cute individual in Wodonga, on the Victorian side of the border, bought a drink in a local hotel with a Victorian note, and received in change a N.S.W. note, which was worth then and there only 19s. 6d.; he thereupon crossed the Murray to Albury on the New South Wales side, bought another drink for sixpence with his N.S.W. note, and received a Victorian note equal to 19s. 6d. in change. He travelled backwards and forwards during the day, getting his twentieth and last drink in Albury, on the N.S.W. side, whereupon he returns to Wodonga with a Victorian pound note still to his credit. He thus paid for all his drinks, which amounted to ten shillings. Who lost the money?
We cannot advise readers to “go thou and do likewise,” for the simple reason that such a proceeding would now be impossible, as exchange is no longer charged in the two towns mentioned. It is not until we get further from the border that the levy is made.
Doing Two Things at Once.