Local and General

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 2, 24 April 1939, Page 4

Local and General

SEAGULLS WELCOME RAIN Wheeling gulls o er the wharf and SLrancl last Thursday welcomed the drizzling rain >\hi h fell practically without interruption during the whole day. Businessmen and others in the tnvn were attracted bj' their shiill cues. SOCIAL SECURITY With the Social Security Depart, ment now handling pensions, unemployment benefits, placement of workers, and other jobs formerly done by other branches of the Gov. eminent, the Whakatane courthouse now sees more callers a day than it formerly did in a week. The clerk of the court has been appointed district social security agent, and he fins with him Mr J. J. Searing who has been transferred from Christchurch.. NEED TO PREPARE "The question may be asked 'Would it be loyal to our sons—to the rising generation—to forbid them at least a chance to live through such another inferno by leav ing them unprepared?" said Captain H. J. -Gillmore, secretary of the Territorial Association at the meeting in Whakatane. "Is it not identical to the parents whose children are leaving the she Per of the'r home either to school or to the field of work in the world (as we call it) do they not fo"sce evil and danger? ! and warn them? Of course they do. | Do we not a.ll forewarn them against : the subtle devices of temptation and p'-ppare them against the inevitab'e pitfalls which lie in each path? Of course we do. And shall we not find it equally incumbent upon, us ; to t a ; n our y*> th in the national 1 aspect from the inev table aggres- . sioji of greed and avarice, nationally? Sn~e T v- none answer ''No" V 1 co os ess of his re- j

POOR CLUBS ''The clubs ar e very poor" the Rev W, Rangi (RuatoUi) at l'l- - of the Whakatane Sub-Un-ion, executive at Whakatane on Friday night. Mr Rangi asked that the percentages of gates allotted to the outside clubs should be increased bv five per cent. It was eventually decided that when games are played! on the Ruatoki, Taneatua and Wuimana grounds the clubs should be allotted 30 per cent of the takings, 70 per cent to go tc the sub-union. PROMPT STARTING An effort is to be made to start senior Rugby games promptly this season. This was made clear at Friday night's meeting of the Whakatane Rugby Sub.Union executive. It was pointed out that alter a quar. ter of an grace a team which was ready to take the field could kick off and claim the match, ?.nd| the impression was that this would be done in certain circumstances, ''ft only needs one or two lessons' like that and the lesson will be learned'' said a member. OUR RESPONSIBILITY "We in New Zealand i"habit tne farthest outpost of the British Commonwealth of and we must surely recogn'se the fact that we stand or fall with that Empire. Should the Motherland ever be engaged in a life and death struggle, the least she can expect from New Zealand is that she will —as far as humanly possible—become responsible for her own defence," said Captain H. J. Gillmore at the Territorial Association meeting in Whakatane. "But effective defence is impossible without adequate preparation, and every citizen who is possessed with a degree of patriot, ism would surely be failing -in"his duty to his country if he failed to V>ln *i-> e means of deferdin - * j that j; nm n-'l ■'«•* • -st -tVhirr ;

POST OFFICE STORE Good progress is being made with " the erection, of the garage and line stor ebuilding in Toroa Street, Whakatane, for the Post and Telegraph Department. The building is a single - storey one in reinforced concrete and is to cost £17,'t8. It should com pleted in May by the contractors, Messrs Boon, Sullivan,, Luke Ltd. HALF A- DOZEN HAKAS ' Just how dangerous it is to usa strange terms of speech or writing is well demonstrated by an extract from a letter received by a Haweta resident from a pen friend overseas. After writing that he was disappointed to hear, from the corres. pondent's last letter, that the Maoris never gathered at the wharves to farewell ships—with the singing of "Aloha'" I—the1—the correspondent went on to make the startling remark that he had also been looking forward to having half a dozen halias hung round his neck. NO TELEPHONE FOR OHOPE Stating that an investigation shows that there would be an appreciable annual loss on the working of the facility, the Hon F« Jones, Postmaster.General, has written to Mr A. G. Hultquist M.P. regretting that the request for a slot telephond 'J&t Ohope Beach cannot be acceded to. It is stated that the number of permanently occupied dwellings in easy reach is very substantially bolow that known to be necessary to make a slot telephone selLsupporting_ and that the cleaning and maintenance of the facility would be unduly expensive. It is stated also that the present public telephone meets the needs of the district. NEW POST OFiFICE Cynical comments by councillors and the public should be silenced when it is known that, there is some 'activity on the post office front. Test boring has been done for tho foundations of the new building itvhich is to replace the present wooden and it is expected that a start may be made on the work late in June, when the Whaka. tane Winter Show will have been held and the show building will b«? ava'lable for the post office.. All departments will move there with the exception of the telephone exchange which will remain in its pre_ sent quarters while a new exchange is built at the rear of the section. When that portion of the building is completed the exchange Avill movo into it and its old home will be demolished j *1