All Clear for the Slasher.

A flaxcutter died in the Manawatu district the other day from a terrible gash in the back of his neck made by his slash-hook while cutting page 42 for a mill. Apparently a blackberry branch caught and deflected the slasher when the poor fellow raised it to cut at a flax bush, hence the fatal injury. It is quite feasible. It is perfectly easy to suffer a serious accident when using a slash-hook or axe amongst tangled vegetation. A slash-hook such as bushmen and hedge-trimmers use is an implement to be used with care, especially if you are raising it above you. One can recall instances of injury suffered through entanglement in a supplejack vine when cutting a bush track.

And even the domestic axe is capable of inflicting a nasty cut. Don't, if you value your neck or your home reputation for good temper, don't chop the household firewood anywhere near a clothes-line. All the chances are that you will deliver a mighty sweeping blow that will just catch that line, and if nothing worse happens your nerves will be frayed more than a trifle.