"Blank, Blanketty -Blank!"

When "Jimmy the Nut" Was Gone But Not Forgotten

IN the old days of the early Lakekamu gold rush in Papua, there was one prospector known far and wide as “Jimmy the Nut”.

Famous for his humour, Jimmy was a master of extreme Australianisms, which astonished even the “hard cases” by their highly coloured fluency. So choice was his language on one occasion that a storekeeper, possessing a gramo phone recorder, decided to preserve this particularly brilliant performance for posterity. , , , .

Jimmy died shortly afterwards, and his funeral on the field was well attended; and after the ceremony his old mates foregathered at the store to drink his health.

It was while recounting all the virtues of their departed friend that the record was mentioned. “Let’s hear old Jimmy again,” they all said, and the idea took hold. So the gramophone was dragged forth and wound up, and the record fixed.

Then, with shining and solemn faces, they listened in reverent admiration, while the atmosphere became charged and sultry with the profane eloquence of their beloved mate, “Jimmy the

Nut”.

M.L.

Mr. T. A. Fletcher, Educational Inspec tor for the NZ Government, has returned to Auckland from the Cook Islands He made a tour of inspection around the Lower Cook Group by schooner.