LOCAL AND GENERAL

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 64, Issue 4527, 23 January 1942, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The flag at the Te Awamutu Post Office was flying at half-mast to-day on the occasion of the funeral of late R.H. the Duke of Connaught.

By getting her little finger caught in the block of a hay-stacker, Mrs R. M. Addison, of Ngahape, sustained painful injuries, the digit being almost severed. She received immediate medical attention and it is hoped to save the finger.

A nasty accident befel Stanley, the nine-year-old son of Mr B. F. Higgins, of Ohaupo, on Wednesday last, when he sustained injuries to the forehead through being kicked by a cow. He received medical attention at the Waikato Hospital, where he is progressing favourably.

For the third time lately, the blue flag was hoisted mast high at the Te Awamutu Post Office yesterday, denoting that the local quota of £483 a week in connection with the National Savings scheme had been reached. As a matter of fact on this, the latest occasion, the response was a splendid one, the sum of £786 being invested.

At a sitting of the Magistrate’s Court at Otorohanga on Wednesday, Messrs E. L. Strawbridge and C. Tucker were the presiding Justices of the Peace. After evidence had been given, Robert McLean Hughes pleaded guilty to a charge of indecent assault and was committed in the Supreme Court at Auckland on January 28 for sentence.

Over 350 teachers employed by the Auckland Education Board were serving overseas, said the chairman, Mr W. J. Campbell, at a meeting on Wednesday. Four had been killed in action since the previous meeting of the Board, bringing the total to 13. Since the beginning of the war seven had been reported wounded, two missing, two missing and believed prisoners of war, and six prisoners of war.

“I have had a number of inquiries from women who want to join the Home Guard. They are prepared to do anything, including fighting,” said Lieutenant-Colonel W. Bell, director of the Home Guard for the No. 12 group. “While I appreciate their courage and determination to take part in the defence of the country, I have had to tell them that it is impossible for them to join the Guard. Most of the women who have offered to join are young. They say that if we can’t get the men then they are prepared to join up.”

“County settlers must clearly understand that the restricted lighting and blackout apply to the whole of the community. The regulations apply to all and their observance is not just a matter of choice,” stated Cr R. Harding, chairman, at a meeting of the Hawke’s Bay County Council. Cr Harding pointed out that there was an impression in some people’s minds that the restrictions did not apply to sparsely settled areas. It was essential that all settlers should realise that the restricted lighting applied every night, while precautions had to be taken to provide a blackout room to accommodate the normal number of the household during an alarm.

Judging by the experiences of other countries, New Zealand has an invaluable food reserve in the ample supply of fresh milk. Its food value is now fully recognised at Home, and it has been stated that the production of milk is playing a vital part in sustaining the nation. During a debate in the House of Lords, Viscount Dawson of Penn, one of the leading medical authorities, stated that at no time had the people of Britain consumed so much milk, and he added that this was in no small measure responsible for their good health in spite of the rationing of staple foods and the wear and tear of war conditions on their constitutions. The speaker contended that milk should be as of equal importance with munitions.

When the British Cabinet was photographed in the garden at No. 10 Downing Street one day recently, the picture revealed Mr Churchill wearing zip-fashioned shoes. The shoes were noted by a columnist in the Daily Telegraph, and this brought a further note from a correspondent who recalled a “stir” on July 16, 1937, when it was recorded by the same columnist that Mr Churchill attended a House of Commons debate on the Spanish civil war wearing zipfashioned shoes.. The correspondent propounded the theory that Mr Churchill, like other people in England, had been led by coupons to go on a rummaging tour of his wardrobe. “Did he,” it is asked, “unearth the famous and possibly forgotten shoes and find them still serviceable?”

The number of people attending church in Russia has increased considerably since the great struggle against Germany began, according to a report quoted in the Presbyterian journal Outlook. News of a remarkable revival of religion in the Soviet Union was in part exaggerated, it was stated, but the churches were now enjoying greater liberty than before. The Russians, especially those of the older generation, remained attached to religion. Twenty-eight archbishops and bishops were at preent directing 30,000 parishes throughout the Union, and on July 1 last there were 4225 Catholic and Protestant churches open in Russia, Poland and the Baltic countries. There were also 1302 mosques, the great Armenian Church, and more than 1000 synagogues. •

Mention of the short bayonet with which the British Army is now being equipped has brought to the mind of a soldier who was on Gallipoli in 1915 the fact that on one occasion a New Zealand officer who was at death grips with a Turk in a trench during an attack settled the argument in his own favour by the effective use of a sheath knife which he happened to have in his belt. General Russell, who heard of the incident, was so impressed by it that next time the New Zealand Mounted Rifles were resting at Lemnos he issued a sheath knife to every officer and man for use in any future emergency. The quality of the steel was not all that could be desired, but some of the members of the regiment still find the knives useful addenda to the fishing outfit. It’ is not on record that any large number of Turks were seriously incommoded by the knives.