Local and General

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 7, Issue 83, 20 June 1944, Page 4

Local and General

Ngatiawa Patriotic Sports Raffle The winner of the main competition conducted by the Ngatiawa Sports Committee, which was run two. weeks ago Avere as under: Ist prize Master Peter Chamberlain 263; 2nd prize. 'Chat' Pakatahi 480; 3rd prize John M. Riini, Te Rahui 463. The winner of the groceries competition was Mr Jjer Tominika. A New Star Discovered A new double star weighing possibly 100 times as. much as the sun, is announced by Dr. Daniel M. Popper in the Astrophysical Journal. Each member of the pair is a star 23 times as massive, as the sun, and each revolves around the other in slightly over four days. The present estimated distance of the binary system is 3500 light years from the sun. Girls in the Army "Why not release some of the girls in the camps?" asked a witness before the Industrial Manpower Appeal Committee at Dunedin, when supporting an appeal against • the direction of a female employee to work in Wellington, states- the O'tago Daily Times. The chairman, Mr M. W. Grantham, replied that the committee's worries would be greatly alleviated if that were done. At. present, he added, there were over 1600 vacancies for workers in Wellington and Lower Hutt. Queer Perch It is true that cats appear to enjoy walking and squatting in strange and apparently inaccessible places, but a somewhat novel one was chosen on Friday by a grey tabby. Apparently the top of a bike stand at the lower end of the Strand appealed

to it for it was perched precariously on ,the rail at the top, sound asleep. Although traffic roared past and bikes were bumped in and out of the stand, the cat slept serenely on apparently unaware of t.he amusing appearance it presented to the. public at large. Roller Trouble A spot of difficulty was encountered by the Borough Council on Thursday with their steam roller on the patch of reclaimed ground at the rear of the Borough Council buildings. Apparently the roller had encroached on a piece of soft ground and was sinking swiftly. A truck was endeavouring to tow it out without much success. However. ' after much concentrated thought on the part of everyone and much concentrated effort on the part of few, the steam roller was dragged forth with a sucking sound, and rolled happily on. Care of Children "Prevention is better than cure, and many of the illnesses adults suffer from can be traced to a beginning in their childhood days. There is much minor illhealth, such as headaches, indigestion and constipation, which might have been prevented by more intelligent care of the. child,, and this illhealth affects the general life of the community and means that these people cannot make the best of life and of their opportunities," said Dr. Helen Deem in an address given during the Community Week programme at Temuka. Encroaching Slips It has been noticed with alarm that the slips which occurred to the Maraetotara Gorge road as a result of the recent floods are, further encroaching and eating into the roadway . Directly the flood had subsid-

eel, those corners where the road had been undermined by the Maraetotara stream were fenced off, but the slips have so much increased that in some cases the fences are actually swinging. If something is not done to remedy this situation within a short time, there is a very real danger of the whole road falling away in places, and the whole stretch having to be closed. I Tyres for Agricultural Purposes tyres and tubes for agricultural purtqres and tubes for agricultural purposes have been handed to the Primary Production Council by the Oil Fuel Controller. These have evidently ben held back owing to the district quota of new tyres being insufficient to meet all demands, or given priority over farmers vehicles given priority over farmer vehicles. It is the intention of the authorities to now use this department to review these cases and give some guidance to the controller in. the distribution, but. any approvals are not to exceed past allocations made by the controller.