LOCAL AND GENERAL

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 64, Issue 4535, 11 February 1942, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

A further batch of local men have been mobilised with the National Military Reserve, and will leave Te Awamutu for camp on Monday morning next.

The Postmaster-General, the Hon. P. C. Webb, announced at Wellington last night that mail consisting of letters, newspapers and parcels from Canada was lost by enemy action. The dates of posting were approximately November 10 to 26 inclusive. It is also probable that some mail from the United States was lost at the same time.

“There are still many farmers who from ignorance, neglect, or the lack of labour have not yet made any attempt to clear the ragwort from their properties,” reported Mr A. A. Woodward, the county engineer, at a meeting of the Waikato County Council at Hamilton yesterday. “Unless prompt action is taken before plants seed, a much larger crop of plants will have to be dealt with next year.”

Among twelve Methodist ministers who enrolled at the same time in the Emergency Precautions Services in Christchurch were several more than 70 years of age, and one more than 80. Some of the older members of the group expressed willingness to perform any duties that might be allotted to them, within the limits of their ‘■trength. Compulsory enrolment does not apply to men more than 66 years of age.

A Maori mere, beautifully fashioned from whalebone, and in perfect preservation, was exhibited at an Invercargill Rotary Club luncheon. Mr F. G. Hall-Jones said he had gone into the history of the relic and had found that on the shore of Lake Te Anau, where it was unearthed, a battle had taken place about T 785. The mere came into the possession of Mr E. C. Govan, Te Anau, some 20 years ago, and he had now lent it to the Southland Museum.

The world’s uniuckiest bird must have been the one which came to an untimely end during a match on the Talavera Municipal Tennis Club’s courts at Wellington during the weekend. One player had just served and the receiver was preparing to return the oncoming ball when, with a soft thud, the progress of the ball was arrested and two objects fell to the ground instead of one. The incredible had happened. A small bird, a silvereye, darting across above the coiirt, had been struck in mid-air and killed.

A bright interlude occurred in a case in the Magistrate’s Court at Hastings when, in reply to a question by Mr J. Miller, S.M., whether the defendant had obtained a solicitor’s advice, the latter, who was conducting his own defence, replied: “I obtained the advice of a number of capable and honest solicitors—outside this town!” Members of the profession heartily enjoyed the joke, while counsel-defendant hastily made endeavours to protest his innocence of innuendo.

An incident believed to be unique in the history of New Zealand courts occurred at Hawera a few days ago, when a Maori, who was deaf and dumb and unable to read or write, appeared in the police court on a charge of drunkenness. He had a companion who used a sign language to convey to him the nature of the proceedings, but whether he understood the charge or the verdict will never be known. It sufficed the course of justice that the offender be convicted and dicharged.

The protection of the maintenance staffs of electric-power boards during emergency conditions is the subject of a communication from the Power Boards’ Association to its associated bodies, including the Te Awamutu one. The Association stated that men working on electric-power lines, if not in uniform, were liable to be treated as guerillas by the enemy or as saboteurs by the defending forces, until their identity was established. It was suggested that local power authorities should discuss the question of putting into uniform any personnel concerned.

A confident note is struck in a New Year message in the “BritishAmerican Co-operator,” the organ of the New Zealand section of the British-American Co-operation Movement. “Our earliest hopes of a year ago have been more than fulfilled,” states the message. “The establishment and policy of the movement have been fully endorsed. Our vision has already partially materialised —26 nations drawn together by a common danger have signed the pact. They represent four-fifths of the human race. Complete and successful termination of hostilities is assured.”

“The Colonel in charge of the hospital was formerly a Harley Street man, and was once in attendance on King George V,” writes Gunner Allan Anderson to his parents in Dunedin concerning his treatment in a British hospital to which he was admitted after being wounded at Sidi Rezegh. There were all types in hospital, he said—British, South Africans (white and black), Cypriots, Palestinians, Jews, Arabs, Greeks, and Italian and German prisoners. It was a strange kind of war at times, commented Gunner Anderson, with friend and foe all mixed up. He had spoken to chaps who were prisoners of war for a while —taken prisoner one day and freed the next, taken prisoner again, and so on. The German general, Rommel, had treated New Zealand prisoners with respect and told them they were good soldiers, but on the “wrong side.”

“I thought at one stage of the battle that I was going to spend Christmas behind the wire in Italy or Germany, as we fell into German hands,” said a soldier in the Middle East Forces, writing on Boxing Day to a friend in Christchurch. The soldier was taken prisoner by the Germans, but was rescued by a British patrol. He had been several days out with a unit, which had several wounded men, when advice was received that an enemy column was advancing. Volunteers to stay with the wounded were called for, and practically every man stepped forward. The writer was one of 18 men selected. The unit moved out in the afternoon, and next morning the German tanks came up with it. The Germans did not molest the New Zealanders, and the soldier stated that they respected the Red Cross and did everything possible to help the unit during the period of its captivity.