LOCAL AND GENERAL

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 65, Issue 5493, 3 July 1942, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Attention is drawn to the fact that on Sunday next there is to be an allday cutting off of the power throughout a large part of the Te Awamutu Board’s area. Details of the hours and circuits concerned are advertised.

A report of an early lambing in the Te Awamutu district is to hand from Te Mawhai, where twin lambs were born on Mr J. Short’s farm last Sunday. Since the lambing season commences normally this month flockowners will from now on be keeping a close watch on their breeding ewes.

In connection with the proposed in-, stallation of a lead pipe at the Te Awamutu swimming baths to assure a reserve water supply in an emergency, the E.P.S. at its last meeting decided to institute enquiries regarding whether such work would qualify for a subsidy.

Following a report by Mr L. Mather for the decontamination squad, the E.P.S., at its meeting on Tuesday, decided to communicate with the Director of National Service with a view to obtaining on loan one or two respirators and clothing for demonstration purposes. It was said that 250 respirators had recently arrived at Wellington.

Up to yesterday only £69 5s had been invested in National Savings at Te Awamutu. This is well short of the district’s quota of £483, a goal that, unfortunately, has not been reached for some weeks now. It is to be hoped that the public will make an early effort to subscribe the required weekly amount and again enable the pennant to be flown on the Post Office.

“ The Glorious Fourth,” or Independence Day, falls to-morrow. United States citizens the world over will take cognizance v of this, but President Roosevelt has asked that this year it be not observed as a holiday because of the war. In ordinary circumstances, a spirit of carnival takes possession of United States subjects on Independence Day. Public and private celebrations are the order of the day, and displays of fireworks are a regular part of the proceedings.

The maximum price at which chewing gum may legally be sold retail is 1d a packet. Several local retailers in recent weeks have been charging lid a packet, or 2id for two. An official of the Price Tribunal stated that price order No. 32, issued on May 19, 1941, fixed the price at Id a packet of not fewer than four tablets. That order still remained in force. He also said that retailers must display prominently in their shops a copy of the price order relating to the goods they sold, or must keep a file of price orders available to customers on request.

A pair of magpies in the Rakaia district have been busy scrap-metal collectors, according to information sent by a correspondent to the Christchurch Press. When a tree was felled a nest securely wired to one of the branches was examined. It was composed of 125 yards 8 inches of fencing, netting, and insulated wire in 197 separate pieces, a skipping rope, several yards of string, and the frame of an old pair of spectacles. The writer says she considers the birds had captured something of the spirit of the mechanical age and had displayed a sense of humour.

A warning that action would be taken against motorists who had not fixed the relicensing stickers to the windscreens of their cars was given by the Commissioner of Transport, Mr Laurenson. He said it had been noted that fully one-third of the vehicles on the road were without stickers. In previous years, when motorists had been put to the trouble of fixing new number plates, some latitude had been allowed if the new plates were carried in the car, but the present procedure was so simple that it was not considered there was any excuse.

At a sitting of the No. 1 Armed Forces Appeal Board at Hamilton on Wednesday, G. L. Daniell, farmer, Te Mawhai, a sergeant in the forces, asked for release from camp to attend to his farm and herd of 110 cows, besides 300 ewes. The work was too much for a man and boy of 17 years. He added that he had entered camp as a volunteer to do three months’ training. It was stated that the Army authorities regarded Daniell as a valuable man and asked that he be not released unless for work that was very essential. The board decided to recommend release from camp.

Recent inquiries had shown 1 some doubt about the correct method of sending tobacco and cigarettes to members of the Armed Forces overseas, said Mr E. F. Willcox (secretary of the Christchurch Returned Services’ Association). The position was, he said, that the National Patriotic Council had appointed as agents various tobacconists who took orders and sent the orders and money on to the Council, which would in turn send the parcels forward. The tobacco and cigarettes were supplied at low prices and were free of duty, the tobacconists issuing receipts on payment of the money. The concession did not, however, apply for prisoners of war. The minimum which could be sent was 200 cigarettes or 16 ounces of tobacco.

To see that patrons observe the law, which prohibits ths. taking of alcoholic liquor into a dance hall, one Wellington cabaret has instituted a searching procedure. An attendant stands at the door and lightly runs his hands over the pockets of each customer as he enters. If he finds a bottle the possessor is barred till he disposes of it elsewhere. Sometimes a suspicious bulge in a woman’s handbag has proved to be caused by more than a powder puff. Most customers submit to the “frisking” with good humour, servicemen usually holding up their arms to facilitate the operation. On one occasion, however, the attendant provoked something of a storm when he failed to distinguish the uniform of a highranking naval officer and exercise the necessary tact.