LOCAL AND GENERAL

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 64, Issue 4536, 13 February 1942, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The new infectious diseases ward at the Waikato Hospital is expected to be ready for occupation in about a month’s time. The citizens of Te Aroha, like those of Te Awamutu, desire the erection of a subsidiary hospital in that town, and, in furtherance of a movement with that ■ end in view, will send a deputation to the next meeting of the Waikato Hospital Board. At the annual meeting of the Te Kuiti and District Winter Show Association it was decided to suspend the holding of the exhibition during the present crisis. A meeting of the executive will be held in November to consider the practicability of holding a show in 1943 i The opinion that the wages of nurses, especially probationers, were “ incredibly low,” and that some reform was necessary, was expressed in a resolution passed by the Greymouth branch of the Housewives’ Union. It was also decided to seek a reduction in the prices of fruit' and vegetables. A party of Hamilton entertainers visited the Waikeria Borstal Institution on Monday evening, when an appreciated programme of items was given. The artists were Mr and Mrs Harvy (songs and duets), Miss June Maisey (songs), Miss Daisy Gilmore (national dancing), Mr Trott (humorous songs), and Mr McLaren (magician). In view of the blackout trial in Te Awamutu on the evening of Sunday, 22nd February, the following report from Christchurch possesses an especial interest and significance: “ The lights of two Christchurch shops have been disconnected because of the failure of their occupiers to comply with the reduced lighting requirements. In one case a serious breach during a trial blackout was involved.” Writing to the Otorohanga Patriotic Committee, a Maori soldier, now serving in the Middle East with the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force, makes an unusual request. “ My dear people,,” he writes, “ I ask as a special favour, if at all possible, if someone would kindly write to my wife at Rotorua and help cheer her up for me, for I would very much like everyone to think of her as I do and to know that she is happy. It would make it so much easier for home-sick me. Thank you.” At a meeting of the Otorohanga District High School Parents’ Association criticism was expressed of the Auckland Education Board’s action in prohibiting country children from taking music lessons during school hours. Correspondence with the Board, the Department of Education, and Mr W. •J. Broadfoot, M.P., was read and adopted, A committee consisting of Mesdames Horneman (secretary), Clark, and Pepperell and Mr Hewlett was set up to prepare a full statement of the facts. This will be sent to the Education Board, the School Committee, and Mr W. I. Bowyer, district member of the Board. “We are all strategists now. In the district where I live the Home Guard has in its ranks rural workers, shepherds, gamekeepers and poachers, too —■ who, side by side and shoulder to shoulder, are working out the various problems of strategy. This is a war, not of great set pieces, but very largely of guerrilla warfare, and in the case of guerrilla warfare I would rather have on my side the gamekeepers and the poachers who know the district very well, and the sounds of the countryside, than all the brass-hat strategists in the world.”—Mr T. Sexton, M.P., in. the House of Commons. A Danish newsagent operating a kiosk on one of the busiest street corners in Nazi-occupied Copenhagen hung out an English text-book, “ English in Fifty Hours,” under a poster saying “ Learn English Before the Tommies Arrive ” The German military authorities objected strongly, insisting that he take the placard down, and after several requests the newsagent finally did. The next day, in the same place, he hung out a German text-book, “ German in Fifty Hours,” and a new sign saying, “ Learn German Before Our Friends the Germans Depart.” The sign is still up, and all Copenhagen is chuckling. From the 8.8. C. journal, “ London Calling.”