Tuesday, June 3, 1941. LOCAL AND GENERAL

Opotiki News, Volume IV, Issue 293, 3 June 1941, Page 2

Tuesday, June 3, 1941. LOCAL AND GENERAL

Promotion. Included in the latest list of Royal New Zealand Air Force men as officers announced by the GovernorGeneral, Sir Cycril Newall, is that of William Papillion Kemp, of Opotiki, who* has been granted a temporary commission in the rank of Pilot Officer. Sharp Frosts. Heavy frosts were experienced in Opotiki district on Saturday and Sunday mornings, the flats being covered with a white mantle, while surface water -had a good coating of ice. The frost at Gisborne on Saturdayi morning was particularly heavy the minimum temperature on the grass being 21.8 degrees. Snow Near Gisborne. The first fall of snow this year near Gisborne fell on Friday night, and on Saturday morning the snow could be seen from Gisborne on the hills behind Muriwai. Although the fall was light and soon melted away as the sun became stronger, the snow came down fairly low on the hills, there even being a powdering on Young Nick’s Head early on Saturday morning. Rifle; Collection. Only a few rifles of .303 in. calibre remain outstanding in Gisborne as a result of the impressment regulation, and the police are making further inquiries regarding those arms. In the Gisborne police dis-. trict 100 rifles have not been handed in, but of that number about 80 are registered in the names of residents of the Taneatua, Whakatane and Opotiki districts. “Forty Thousand Horsemen”. “Forty Thousand Horsemen,” coming to the Regent' Theatre on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, is a picture which nobody with the true Australian spirit can afford to" miss. A story you will never forget, it glorifies the unconquerable spirit of the Light Horse —that dauntless heroism that rose above crushing odds, dangers, and catastrophies to finally win imperishable lustre in the annals of Empire. Safe In Their Hands. “I am probably one of the few soldiers of the last war who is still lit and in good health. 1 have just returned from a three months’ Territorial camp and will shortly be entering camp to go overseas again, and I want to say: that I came out of that Territorial camp with a very different opinion of the youth of to-day from what I had when I went in,” said Mr. J. 11. Winter at the Farmers’ Union conference in Hastings. Mr. Winter added that he found the younger generation of to-day courteous and considerate, apart from being good soldiers, and he felt sure that the future was safe in their hands.

Stalemate in China. “Are the Japanese winning the war in China ?” was a question that Miss Barbara. Joyce Collins was often asked, she said, when speaking at the Gisborne Rotary Club’s luncheon recently. Miss Collins, who spent 10 years doing diplomatic work in Shanghai, returned to New Zealand three months ago. She said her answer to the question was definitely, “No.” The position was a stalmeate at present. The Japanese could advance no further and could not retreat without loss of face. Guerilla warfare had been successful in cutting the communications of the Japanese forces, and although the Japaneso were in occupation of certain towns and areas they could do little else. They were, however, carrying out an effective blockade of China. Problems of Farmers’ Wives. “You people in the town have no idea whatever of {he trouble we have to get labour in the country,” said a farmer in evidence before the Christchurch Man-Power Committee. - “Farmers’ wives and daughters have problems to contend with which would net be tackled by the women of the towns. They have to put up with all types of men, who may go away at the week-end and come back drunk and demand meals at all hours. They have to be treated as one of the family or they will not stay. In some cases the conditions country womenfolk have to put up with are shocking. There is no other industry so important in the country, where such long hours are worked for such small j>ay. All the best men prefer to work in town on a 40-hour week while we do 70.”

Hospital Finance. “You may have noticed that the Minister has after many years seen daylight at last,” said Cir. H. C. McCready at last week’s meetingof the Whakatane County Council, when referring to the Minister’s statement that some other method of hospital finance was required. “I hope we get better results than we did from the Social ‘lnsecurity’ —we expected a loaf and it turned out to be 09 per cent, cement. I have more fears than hopes in the light of the Government’s past record,” he concluded. —Beacon. Food for the Wax-Eye®. The sight of a flock cf wax-eyes fighting over a meat bone tied to a tree provided much amusement for some Christchurch residents who had put it there. These little wax-eyes, sometimes called blight birds, live almost entirely on insects, and now the leaves have fallen from the trees, there is very little food for them. Last wintei hundreds of these birds were found dying and exhausted for the want of food. The wax-eyes are Australian native birds, many of whom were possibly blown across the sea to New Zealand by a strong gale in 1856. Their Maori name is tauhou —visitor. Patriotic Funds. In the Bay of Plenty Patriotic area (Zone G) up to May 28 Whakatane obtained the best results in patriotic, collections collecting well over the quota. Por comparison the respective counties and boroughs in the area were taken jointly and the figures were as follows with the quota shown in parenthesis Whakatane £5498 (£3159), Tauranga £5016 (£4935), Opotiki £1405 (£1995), states the Whakatane Beacon. Acording to the sum given to the Opotiki Committee the above figure for Opotiki is incorrect as the committee was notified that Opotiki’s allocation was £I4OO and the committee decided to aim at £ISOO. It is understood that the latter figure will be comfortably exceeded. Noi Distinciton. , “His attitude appears to be that because he is in business in a big way he is entitled to exemption. That is by no means the case. This board makes no distinction between a man in a big way- of business and a man in a small way.” These comments were made by Mr. F. F. Eeid, S.M., chairman of the Armed Forces Appeal Board, Christchurch, in announcing the board’s decision on an appeal by John Leonard Wilkins, a building contractor, on the grounds of public interest and undue hardship. Wilkins, whose age is 29, gave evidence that he had contracts on hand totalling approximately £200,090, most of them for the Government. The appeal is to lie reviewed in three months. “The evidence discloses that the appellant is a contractor in a large way on his own account,” Mr. Reid said. “On the other hand, he is a young man, fit, and of military age. Ho is engaged at present on large Government contracts, and he entered these with his eyes open to his. military obligations. We view with considerable displeasure that Wilkins, in the last few weeks, has entered into other contracts, not large ones, certainly, but still contracts. His contracts must be completed in the public interest, but whether ho can get someone do it, we do not know.”