Local and General

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 3, Issue 296, 21 April 1941, Page 4

Local and General

Home Guard. The parade of the special platoon arranged for Thursday night has been altered to to-morrow night (Tuesday) at 1830 hours. N.C.O.'s class parades at 1900 hours. Badminton. Badminton fans are to gather tonight at a general meeting to discuss the prospects for the forthcoming season. The meeting is to be held in the King Street Hall at 7.30 p.m. Progressive Whakatane. "I am surprised to find your town as large as :.t is. The business are area is excellent and the shopping facilities a great deal better than many towns with a greater population," stated a resident of Tauranga who visited Whakatane on Friday. Married Quarters on Farms. A Government official Avas busy at a recent Canterbury sheep fair explaining a scheme of providing on farms, married quarters which may be hired by the farmer from the State Advances Department. The scheme commended itself to a number of the farmers of the district. The Government undertakes to erect on the property a cottage of two bedrooms, a large living room and kitchen combined, and n washhouse and bathroom combined. The rent is 5s a week, and the agreement will run for the duration of the war and for one season afterwards. • Ring No. 10 for that next Printing order. Beacon Box 7.

Red Cross Work. The Edgecumbe cub-centre of the Reel Cross Society commences lectures on Home Nursing to-morrow. The classes are to be conducted in the Presbyterian Hall commencing at 7 p.m. High Pressure Salesmanship. A soldier on leave from camp, who for the second, time in his life is in khaki, proved himself a slick salesman on Friday when he assisted with the evening's sale of poppies. Altogether he collected £6 for the fund, which represented, the sale of 120 poppies. School Swimming Bath. The construction of a school swimming bath is a question causing considerable public interest at present. Speaking to a BEACON representative Mr Cl. C. Southey, headmaster, states that the question ox whether or not baths be built is not the one holding up progress with the project, but rather one of water supply. It is impossible, he states, to proceed with the matter further until it is ascertained from the Borough Council whether or not water for a bath can be supplied.

Sale at Te Teko. On Monday next the N.Z. Loan and Mercantile Agency Co. Ltd. is to offer 350 head of cattle at T*_ Teko. Particulars are advertised. Edgecumbe Dance. To-morrow should find the Edgecuriibc Hall Ave 11 crowded when dancing is to he indulged in to the music of the Gaiety Boys' Orchestra. Sho-oting Season. No official notification has been received by the local Post Office a& yet as to when the shooting season ; s to open. Neither has the Office received the licenses. However, au enthusiastic local sportsman expects that the season will open during the first week-end in May. Fewer Tarpaulins for Railways. The production of only 775 tarpaulins in 10 months of the current I year, compared with an average annual production of 5250 sheets over the last four years, was, the Minister for Railways (the Hon. R. Scmple), said recently, causing the Railways Department some difficulty in handling the increased volume of goods traffic. The scarcity of suitable canvas from overseas mills wa„7. blamed for the short production. The department was making the most of its existing stock of 24,000 covers by promptly renovating all that became defective. Renovations since April 1 last totalled 21,596 tarpaulins, compared with the four-year annual average of 15,574. The turnover of tarpaulins and also of railway wagons would be greatly increased and traffic expedited if prompt delivery was taken of consignments. A Fair Dinkum Aussie. Two pressmen were standing in the sunshine waiting for an accident to happen or some other item of news to come to light when along came a middle-aged soldier. The uniformed one wrathfully (in the Australian language) stated that some qualified "cocky" in the pub had contested his right to wear his ribbons and his uniform. The ribbons it was noted included Gallipoli and the Mercantile Marine, while Private "Wallaby" added that he had served both under and over the water, exhibiting without embarrassment a bald patch which, he claimed, Avas the result of submarine diesel oil. The conversation was one-sided with laughter on the other when the lad from over the Tasman said just what he would do '"if that so and so came out of the "pub." "I clipped him one —not very hard —and told him that there would be no second prize if he came outside." As. his wrath died the product of the land of the Kangaroo suddenly broke off the tirade and in a flash changed the sub-, jeet with "Say Skipper could you let a soldier have a "bob." A scratch down deep was made and one "bob" and a florin appeared. "Thanks boys a "bob" each—Oil give me the other too," said the dinkum Aussie pocketing the price of a half a dozen and making a rapid, but not too steady pace, hotelwards.