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An Automatic Cheque

Hoani coveted Farmer Smith's fine hack and wanted to own it. When one day he met the farmer and offered £20 for the horse the farmer agreed and Hoani wrote out a cheque for the amount and the farmer gave him a receipt. Some time afterwards, Hoani happened to visit the post office and the postmaster handed him a telegram. As the Maori could not read English, he asked the postmaster to read the telegram out to him. It read, "Cheque lost. Please stop payment." Hoani understood it well enough. He hesitated but said nothing. His friend, the posmaster, asked him for his reply for the telegram was prepaid. He looked at the ceiling and quite seriously said, "Tell him, don't worry, cheque stop himself."—Cheerful Yesterdays.

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