LOCAL AND GENERAL

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 64, Issue 4533, 6 February 1942, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

When cutting wood, Athol Adrian Prendergast, aged 18, of Te Pahu, lacerated his hand. He was admitted to the Waikato Hospital.

Otorohanga District High School re-opened on Monday last, after the term holidays, with a roll number of 804. The new entrants include infants 45, primary 20, and secondary 94. All available space is now taken up.

With the completion yesterday of eleven rounds of section play in the annual rinks tournament of the Rotorua Bowling Club, seventeen teams qualified for inter-section play. The Te Awamutu rink, skipped by Mr R. Noonan, failed to qualify.

The only duel that has taken place on Mount Egmont was fought during the period of the Maori wars. Two men, one of foreign origin, decided to settle a difference between them, so they went up on to the slopes of the mountain and fought a duel in true military fashion. Only one returned.

Speaking at Ashburton on Wednesday, the Minister of Agriculture (the Hon. J. G. Barclay) said that he thought most farmers were fair in regard to the use of petrol, but he significantly added that it wanted only a small percentage to take advantage of it to break down the whole system.

All church committees in Hamilton have been notified by the Mayor and Chief Warden of Hamilton, Mr H. D. Cairo, that, in accordance with the decision reached by the Emergency Precautions Executive, the use of sirens, steam whistles and church bells must be discontinued except in the case of an emergency.

In the course of an address at Te Kuiti the Rev. W. T. Brabyn, in referring to the moving population of Te Kuiti, said ministers themselves were no exception; no less than 24 ministers had moved from Te Kuiti, Otorohanga, and Pio Pio during the six and a half years of his ministry in Te Kuiti..

A number of young men are now being selected from Territorial units for appointment to the New Zealand Temporary Staff as Army instructors. Because of their age, those selected will have some time to go before they are eligible for overseas service. They will be specially trained for instructional duties and then allocated to Army district schools and areas.

The smallest reservist examined by a medical board in Auckland so far weighed only five stone, and was foul feet six inches in height. The largest was a youth of twenty years who weighed twenty-three stone. The minimum requirements of size for military service are: Height, 5 feet 2 inches; weight, 8 stone; chest, 34J inches, inflated, with a 2-inch range. These measurements are not, however, hard and fast, and a reservist will not necessarily be rejected if he falls short of some of these requirements.

Considerable activity is being shown in the work of training members of the Te Awamutu company of the Waipa Home Guard Battalion. A syllabus covering three months’ training has been drawn up increasing the hours of parade. In addition, there will be night parades for platoons for the purpose of giving sections individual instruction in weapon training. There will be two evening parades for “Tommy” gun training and two for grenade work. The day parades will give alternative weapon training and field work. Recruits are urgently required.

In the Supreme Court at Hamilton yesterday, in fining a man £2O on a charge of what he described as “a technical forgery”—i.e., signing for petrol for another man—the Chief Justice (Sir Michael Myers) said:— “The prosecution will have served a useful purpose in that it will bring home to service station proprietors and the users of petrol the importance of strict observance of the petrol regulations. If a petrol station proprietor were permitted to sign the names of licensees to receipts for petrol, the door would be opened to the possibility of various kinds of abuses.”

Having been found guilty of obtaining a motor-car valued at £lOO and cheques and cash to the value of £l7B 4s from Alfred Henry Derby, of Mangapehi, at Hangatiki on or about April 20, 1940, with intention to defraud, by falsely representing that the car sold by him to Derby was his own property and free from encumbrance, Victor Edward Montague Hulton-Harrop, storeman, aged 28, of Hamilton, appeared before the Chief Justice, Sir Michael Myers, in the Supreme Court, Hamilton, yesterday, for sentence. Harrop was ordered to pay costs amounting to £l7 0s 4d and admitted to probation for 18 months, or until the costs have been paid.

The period for enrolment in the E.P.S. has been extended for, fourteen days from to-day. Enrolment forms are available at the county offices in Te Awamutu and Otorohanga. Notwithstanding regulations requiring compulsory enrolment in the Emergency Reserve Corps, it is still open to individuals who wish to do so to enrol with the Home Guard. However, they must join up with one or other of these organisations. The county office at Te Awamutu yesterday was besieged by men seeking enrolment. The county office at Otorohanga has been similarly busy. In both instances the clerks have had to temporarily place their county work aside while attending to these enrolments.

In a letter written less than a fortnight ago, a New Zealand officer serving with the Royal New Zealand Air Force in Malaya wrote: “One feels annoyed with the more or less serious news put over the air about Malaya. We do not feel as though things are as bad as said, and feel sure that the Japs are in for a nasty spot of trouble.” He describes an air raid which was profitable for the New Zealanders, for many bombs fell into the sea and a plentiful supply of fish was the result. “Our cookie made a great job of the fish, the best we have had since we left home. We have secured a tin hat for him and painted Cookie No. 1 on it, which has cheered him up quite a bit during raids,” wrote the officer.