The Opotiki News Monday, September 30, 1940. LOCAL AND GENERAL

Opotiki News, Volume III, Issue 317, 30 September 1940, Page 2

The Opotiki News Monday, September 30, 1940. LOCAL AND GENERAL

Temperatures. North Island temperatures at 9 a.m. on Saturday, were as follows: Tauranga, 62 degrees; Gisborne, 60 ; Auckland, Opotiki, East Cape, Napier and Wellington, 58. Whiteba't. > ■ Following the spell of bad weather and the resultant d.rty water in the local rivers, the conditions for some days have been'very favourable for the netting of whitebait and some goods hauls have been secured of this seasonal delicacy. Successful Cure for Lepers. Forty-three lepers who have been patients at Makogai Island, are free to return to their homes as a result of an examination just completed by the medical board. Dr. C. J. Austin, medical superintendent at Makogai, expressed gratitude for the help given by people in New Zealand and said that this had kept the patients in a cheerful and hopeful frame of mind, and had contributed towards the cure.

Britain’s Food

The British public is. now eating less meat and sugar than before the war according to Dr. E. B. Gunson, who'has returned to Auckland from England. Rationing, he said, provided everyone with enough food to sustain health. The restrictions were not due to any difficulty in obtaining supplies, even although foodstuffs could no longer be imported from Europe. The purpose was to conserve shipping tonnage and to bring no more ships than necessary into the danger zone. A movement was being made toward “standard bread”, which probably would be brought into use gradually. It would have none of the defects of the bread sold under the same name in the last war.

Newspaper Costs. The Whakatane Beacon in an an-

nouncement to advertisers, states that the soaring price of newsprint has forced the management very reluctantly to follow the lead of other newspapers in raising the cost of casual advertising rates. The paper goes on to point out to readers and advertisers that newsprint to-day i s 150 per cent, dearer than in prewar days. The cost of the last shipment received by the “Beacon” was £53 per ton against £22 per ton a year ago. European suppliers arc practically cut off and American and Canadian commodities are being rationed. The, announcement concludes by stating that the step was withheld as long as it was possible to do so.

Reply to “Eggsactly”. In a letter to the editor of the Gisborne Herald, “Hencore” says: ‘‘Sir, —‘Eggsactly’s’ humorously composed views rc the exploitation of the egg market make good reading, and the hen now desires to make her ewnmentf. After having hendured, owing to the winter, an henforced hen’s holiday, we are now hendeayouring to henehant our owners by displaying renewed henergy in henfruit product.on. Our hendeavour henceforth is to lienhance and henoble ourselves by hengaging in producing henormously henlarged results. We enter this sphere with henthusiasm, and minus henmity, with the hendeavour of henr-uring henough eggs for all, and lientreat henterprising exploiters not to hensnare, henthrall or hencumber our effort.”

What ‘‘Stick” of Bombs Means

A “stick” has nothing to do with a piece of wood or some similar apparatus to which, it might be supposed, bombs are affixed before the aircraft lets them go. Nor does it mean a specific number of bombs. It is a technical term relating to the way the bombs —two, three, four, or any chosen number —are intended to fall on the target.' The number selected by the bomb-aimer depends on the nature of the target, the calibre of the )numbs on board the aircraft, its height over the objective, and so on. The “stick” comes into being when the aimer visualises his plan of attack, continues when the bombs are on thenway down and is completed when they strike the objective. The essence of a “stick” is that the bombs are distributed along the target (not dropped in a cluster) at rapid and regular intervals, so that they are laid in a line, thud—thud—thud — thud—, covering the building, bridge, or whatever it is, from end to end, 1