Local and General

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 97, 6 December 1939, Page 4

Local and General

Overheard. Two women were viewing the display in a greengrocer's window. One of them, evidently not a resident of the Bay, said: "Call this the Bay of Plenty! Just look at the price of those carrots, and 1/5 for'that cauliflower!" More Cargoes. Messrs Parry Bros' auxiliary vessel Katie S arrived on Monday afternoon with a general cargo. She sailed again shortly after noon yesterday to load sand on the Coast for Auckland. The Vesper made port at one o'clock this morning with benzine and general goods, and aftei discharge will take in timber and benzine drums for Auckland. Another Sentry Who Dropped It. A story is going the rounds of the troops stationed on the North Shore concerning another sentry "who drop ped it." It happened one stormy night while the sentry, equipped with rifle and bayonet, and wrapped in a ground-sheet cape, 'was keeping watch and ward. With true sentrylike quickness of vision he "spotted" a "tin-hat" am decided that he would do things with true martial spirit. After the challenge and response he came to the first position for the "present." His bayonet caught in his , cape, tightened it round his neck and threw him off his balance. He dropped his rifle. What next? In a moment of panic he responded to misguided instinct and raised his hat

Amateur Gardeners Busy. For a fortnight or so the lawns and hedges surrounding homes hi Whakatane had to be left alone because of the weather. With the improvement in conditions amateur gardeners are out once more in the evenings with hedge-shears and lawn mowers. "Some" Flower! A spire of colour, approximately 15 feet high, at the side of the Tom Parker Fountain on the Marine Parade, Napier, recently represented the swan song of the fourcroya—a plant which iiowers once just before it dies. It takes the fourcroya anything from 10 to 15 years to make up its mind to blossom, and then it gives up the ghost, happy in the knowledge that the flower it did produce was "some" flower, anyhow, sight for Christmas.

Tennis. Advice has been received by the secretary of the Te Puke Lawn Tennis Club that the best available date for the completion of the Dunlop Shield match against Taneatua, which Avas postponed because of the inclemency of the Aveather during the Aveek-end, Is Sunday, December 17. Pohutukawas Bloom. The pohutuknAvas at Ohope are shoAving patches of blazing colour. The vivid red contrasts sharply Avith the green of the leaves and the darker colour of the cliff face, beautifying a place Avhich is rapidly becoming the mecca of hundreds of campers. The trees on the Wairere cliff are not so adA'anced but the dark* red of the lirst bloom promises a Yield to the Feet. There is something to be said for the extremely hot Aveather Ave have been experiencing lately, apart from the joy that the farmers will be feeling at the prospect of uninterrupted harvesting and the delight of bathers. The footpaths in the borough cannot stand the 90 in the shade, and become very soft, 3-ielding to the feet of pedestrians. Exhibition Novelties. Ham and eggs sizzling on a hot metal plate that floats in mid-air arc a feature of one trade exhibit at the NeAV Zealand Centennial Exhibition. This phenomenon is not an illusion, but is operated by specially directed magnetic rays and prepared metals. It is one of the many hundred fascinating displays in the exhibit courts arranged by electrical and engineering firms. In the electric poaver board display is a machine that is causing much amusement. It is housed in a cabinet, Avhich has a glass rod in the ccntre and a metal ring about its base. A button labelled "push" generally receives the attention of most A'isitors, and on pushing, the metal ring leaps gaily up the rod and slays there until the button is released. It is one of the many unusual in this display. A feature of more than one automobile exhibit is the use of ball bearing testing machines. There is ahvays a croAvd about them watching ballbearings bounce on steel ulates, thus testing their resiliency and spherical accuracy. In one demonstrating machine ball bearings bounce from one plate through a revolving disc on to a second plate and then disappear Avhence they came. Visitors stand for long periods waiting for a ball bearing to miss its bounce.