Local and General

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 4, Issue 164, 6 October 1941, Page 4

Local and General

Harbour Board Finance. Accounts totalling £2839 14s 5d were passed for payment at Friday's meeting of the Whakatane Harbour Board. More Shipping. It is expected that shipping at the local port will increase by one more boat per week owing to the manufacture of cheese having commenced. Assistance to Home Guard. The Harbour Board has assisted the Home Guard in the equipping of its camp at Ohope by allowing it the use of some used sheets of iron which it had available. The camp is nearing readiness for use the Engineering Platoon having done excellent work. Prices Ri'se. A carrier in the local Court giving evidence to the Licensing Authority [astjveek emphasised his claim that costs had risen greatly by stating that a truck which cost him £700 previously now was priced at £1000, "chassis bare." Scarcity of Metal. In evidence at the sitting of the Licensing Authority last week it was stated that Opotiki was in a difficult position regarding a supply of river metal, having to depend on floods to bring shingle into accessible places. It was added that there had been no flood for six years and the shortage of metal had been critical and therefore made the price much higher than at Whakatane where a supply was readily available.

Tenders for Timber. As a result of demolishing an old wharf the Harbour Board had a quantity of timber for disposal. Tenders: were calle.d and that of Mr A. L. Luke, of £25 was accepted at Friday's meeting. Won't Be Long Now. "The drivers will own the businesses shortly," stated a witness before the Licensing Authority last week "when referring to the rise in wages in recent years. The same witness, an accountant, added that the only carriers holding their own at present rates were those who had cream cartage contracts. tt Just Depends. "How long does it take to load three yards of metal?" 1 was a question put to a carrier at the Licensing Authority sitting last week. "Oh it just depends on the men you have," was the reply. "Well strike a happy medium as you did with the proTits." suggested the Authority. "There's nothing happy about them," was the rejoinder. Would You? "It's strange but I have never met carrier "who will admit this," saiJl Mr A. C'- A. Sexton, representing farmers before the Licensing Authority last week, when quoting from Government statistics the details of which were supplied by the carriers themselves that over the whole Dominion the return on capital invested by carriers in 1939-40 was 11.C per cent. "Would you admit it if you were being asked about investments of your own," queries Mr E. J. Phelan, who presided.

Te Puke Rainfall. A total of 3.18 inches of rain was registered in Te Puke during September. This figure is considerably below the average September rainfall. Not Enough Support. "There are places where the Carriers' Association does not receive thfi support it should." commented Mr E. J. Phelan, Licensing Authority at the local Courthouse last week Kicked by Horse. During the week-end a boy aged 10, Frederick Ward, of Te Teko, was admitted to the local hospital having been kicked by a horse. Compound fractures of both bones in the forearm had been sustained. Local Man to Broadcast. In the farming notes on page 2 notice is given that on October 16 at 7.15 p.m. Mr N. W. Carter, ot the Bay of Plenty Pig Council, is to deliver an address from station IYA taking for his subject "Breeding programme to suit feed supply and sise of herd." Two Essentials. "There are two things a soldier always carries with him," said Mr S. S. Shapley of the Soldiers' Farewell Committee. "One is liis pay book and the other means of communicating with his folks at home." Mr Shapley made this statement in support of giving soldiers a parting gift of a wallet which was equipped to hold his pay book.

Four-Wheeled Variety. Fifty per cent of Australians were •members of the Church of England, but many of them were "four-wheel-ed members," Bishop Hilliard told the Parliamentary Select Committee on broadcasting in Sydney. "They come to church in a four-wheeled perambulator to be christened, ;n a four-wheeled taxi to 1 be married, and in a four-wheel hearse to be buried"* he said. The Local Touch. The thrill of receiving a parcel from one's home town when at the front was described by a returned soldier at a recent meeting. He Stated that in the last war parcels had been delivered to the trenches and his pleasure in receiving the gift was increased a hundredfold when a cjird revealed that the goods had been sent by a resident of his home town —Whakatane. Dubious ! "We need to get the Railways Department under the schedule," commented a witness at the Licensing Authority sitting last week. "They say they are keeping to it but I hae me doots," he added quoting figures which he claimed proved his claim. The railways representative objected to the statement and later stated that the Department adhered to the schedule and if a new one was introduced would still do so. Milk in Schools. "There is no argument about it, everywhere in the world where investigations have been undertaken as to the effect of a mi 1 k-^in-schools scheme there has been found a general improvements in the health condition of the children, if a sufficient amount of milk is given," said Dr. Duncan Cook, medical officer of health in Palmerston North, when a report about a desire by the Auckland School Committees' Association to have a definite scientific investigation on the matter was referred to him. Though no actual, experiments had been undertaken in his district, Dr. Cook said, they had been made elsewhere in New Zealand, and definite improvements in the health and weight of the children had been attributed to. the supply of milk. Such investigations were difficult to conduct, Dr. Cook commented, because the milk diet of the children had to be properly controlled and therefore practically the only place where such tests could be made was where children were resident at a school or in an institution.