LOCAL AND GENERAL

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 62, Issue 4429, 23 May 1941, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Three heavy frosts in succession have been experienced in the Te Awamutu district, Wednesday night being quite the coldest evening experienced locally for a long while. All three, giving us “the real winter touch” were succeeded by beautiful days. The Pokuru Women’s Welfare Committee held a very successful and well-attended meeting on Wednesday afternoon last. The bring-and-buy stall did good business, while a host of members occupied their time knitting and sowing garments for soldiers overseas. “I believe there were in some quarters in 1937 more glum faces after the_ Springbok defeat of New Zealand than there were last year after the Nazi successes against the British,” said the Rev. D. M. Mattanach, in the course of his address at Hastings recently when Emergency Precautions units were on parade. Mr Mattanach said there had been a tendency in the Dominion to lose all serise of proportion. Persons who have a habit of being late for appointments or engagements should get a stimulus from an inci dent reported by a physical welfare officer of the Department of Internal Affairs. “At Te Araroa members from East Cape rode 15 miles in pouring rain, fording three rivers,” he writes, “The class was set down for 11 a.m., and the men arrived at 11.10 a.m., and immediately apologised for being late!” The conference of the Auckland Provincial Farmers’ Union passed a remit urging the need for some safeguard for farmers who leave their property to serve overseas. It was considered that if the land or livestock of farmers depreciated because of their war service, they should be compensated for apparent and measurable - loss sustained. Another remit urged the provision of longterm table loans from the Reserve Bank for farmers, by advances on land and stock security. ' “We get constant daylight raids from Nazi planes in singles and pairs,” writes a Londoner to a friend in Auckland. “Last Friday a raider came over Regent street. The guns in Hyde Park got into action, and shells were bursting all round us. I was looking out of our office window, and although this schimozzle was going on overhead I could see the people in the street below walking about and stopping to look in shop windows as, though nothing was happening. The indifference of the people to daylight raids is amazing.” “I am very pleased to see the number of returned soldiers who are serving in the Home Guard and the National Military Reserve,” said Dr A. O. Owen-Johnston, president of the Invercargill Returned Soldiers’ Association on Saturday evening. “That shows that they realise their duty to their country, and I would like to see the spirit that animates the Returned Soldiers’ Association spread throughout the country as a whole. If we can get the right mental attitude,” Dr Owen-Johnston continued, “the same thing will happen here as happened in the Old Country, where things began to move when the people woke up.” The rock oyster season will open in Auckland on May 29. Picking of supplies for the State depot will start next week, and from appearances the oysters to be marketed should be excellent in size and quality. It is expected that the quantity to be sold will be about equal to that placed on the market last season. The chief supplies will eome from the Hauraki Gulf and the Bay of Islands, and supplementary stocks from Kaipara, Coromandel, and Whangarei. Oysters will be picked from some of the rock areas prepared by the Fisheries Department some years ago for oyster cultivation. “There is no 40-hour week in Australia,” said Mr M. G. C. McCaul, when speaking of Australia’s: war effort to the Wellington Junior Chamber of Commerce. “The people are putting their backs into it and everybody appears to be working hard. Of course they have their labour difficulties, but these are mostly regarded as insignificant compared with the great war job on hand. There is an air of determination in Australia that is inspiring. Everyone is anxious to help. Society women are working in munition factories, determined to do f something more than knit socks or make comforts for the soldiers.” Be prepared for Coughs, Colds--Woods’ Great Peppermint Cure, i