The Opotiki News Friday, October 25, 1940. LOCAL AND GENERAL

Opotiki News, Volume III, Issue 355, 25 October 1940, Page 2

The Opotiki News Friday, October 25, 1940. LOCAL AND GENERAL

Shipping. .. ' The m.v' Waiotahi left Opotiki for Auckland at 11 a.m. yesterday. She is expected to leave Auckland for Opotiki on "Tuesday night. T emperatures. North Island temperatures at 9 o'clock yesterday, were as follows: —Auckland, 59 degrees; Tauranga, 63; Opotiki, 58; East Cape, 60; Gisborne, 63; Napier, 61; and Wellington, 55. Mail Alteration. An alteration iias been made in the mail notice relating to the VVaihau Bay mails. Mails for Waihau Bay and private bags, per car, will dose on Mondays, Wednesdays and Friday at 11.30 a.m.. at'the Opotiki Post Office.

Golf Season Closes, The golf .season will close to-mor-row, the competition being a mixed foursome, over twelve holes'. The draw will be made at the clubhouse. Putting competitions will also be held. Dairy Production. A big increase in dairy production is reported in the Gisborno district. Mr. H.. P. Hamilton, secretary of the Okitu Co-operativo Dairy Company, Dimited, stated this week, that for the season up to the end of September, his company had an output of 33 1-3 per cent, higher than for the corresponding months last year. ' Maoris and Swans’ Eggs. • “It seems that they regard it as the exercise of their rights under the Treaty of Waitangi,” said Mr. 11. A. Young, appearing in the Magistrates’ Court, Christchurch, for a Maori charged with having swans’ eggs illegally in hi s possession. “It seems a bit different with Maoris,” Mr. Young told the magistrate, Mr. H. A. Young, when the case wsa called. “I was told by my client that by the Treaty of Waitangi swans’ eggs arc reserved for the Maoris.” He added that apparently some distinction was attached to eating three swans’ eggs, which his client was able to do.

Maoris in England. Lieutenant C. M. Mules, son of Dr. Mules of Woodvillc, who is now in England attached to the Maori Battalion, in a letter to relatives, wr.tes : “About’two weeks ago I was transferred to the Maori Battalion as medical officer. They are a great crowd of boys—care-free and happy, wonderful on parade. Their general physique is above the average and it .is a sight to see them stripped and ready for a swim. On the march and in 'buses the place rings with their singing—they sing and harmonise beautifully. Our church services on Sunday are in Maori—except for the sermon —so picture me on Sundays singing in our native tongue 1”

Disappointment for Troops. “If we could get ’em we would try a Bren gun on ’em.” A New Zealander serving in Egypt wrote those angry words, and he was not referring to Italians. They were meant for the person or persons that had rilled a large number of parcels that had been sent from friends and relatives in New Zealand. In a letter to his father, this man expressed the disappointment felt by many ol the troops on opening the parcels to find them as empty as the desert air. He said that an examination showed that only the top layers in a number of crates were intact, ali other parcels in lower layers having been opened, rifled and placed back in the crates.

The World is Small. When the Second Echelon of the N.Z.E.F. called at Capetown, ono Gisborne boy was entertained by an English resident there, and told of the hospitality in a ictter to his parents. His father, who fought in South Africa, wrote to the boy’s host acknowledging his good offices', and this letter prepared the situation for an incident which developed within a week or two. The Capetown Englishman was’ 'entertaining another group of war travellers from a transport, and one of the group was a nurse whose association with the Cook Hospital, Gisborne, was mentioned. The host remembered his Gisborne letter, and on a comparison of notes it was found that the nursing sister li»actually nursed the writer at the time of her selection as a member of the Army Nursing Service.