Niue Was

Nailed

“How many of you have had a puncture of your bicycle tyres this month because of nails left on the road?” asked the official Niue news-sheet. It explained that the Niue Administration spent £5OO a year on repairing punctures to local vehicles, that it was fed up and that it had de cided to offer 6d a lb for all nails picked off the Niue roads.

It was a fine idea. It was so good that in the following issue the news-sheet called a halt.

The response to the call, it ex plained, had been “staggering”.

It had been intended “that only nails off the roads would be taken, but some people must have misunderstood the request, as they brought nails from rubbish heaps and other places where they would have been better left.”

It added: “We accepted all that was offered in good faith . , . and hope that the money paid out is being put to good use.”