Local and General

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 181, 3 July 1940, Page 4

Local and General

Clear Watejr . Tfre* aibsejirsre of rain, with the consequent- absence of any disturbances of the- hgtrtwHtr bed through currents, means that there is no silt being; wasft<j*r down the river and the ;water in. she harbour" when the |!is- full i's crystal clear. At the wharf Ht is possible to make out ~ objects|on the- harbour bed at full Winter Feed Position. Reports from various parts, of the district indicate that the winter i'eed position, generally, is very- satisfactory. More hay, ensilage-, ami! root crops" have been prepared 1 this year than last and, in -addition, the growth of grass, though natUiFadl-y affected by the winter ctwl'itions; Is considered good for this, ti'me of the year. Earthquake Shocks. The first earth tremors for some time were felt throughout the Whakatane district on Monday and Tuesday nights. The major 'quake occurred last night at 10.54 p.m., coming from an easterly direction and being of a particularly sharp nature. The previous shock was also severe enough to awaken many residents and occurred towards midnight. School Concert. A concert arranged by the Prim- 1 ary division of the Whakatan? School will be staged in the King Street Hall this evening. The programme includes choral speaking, singing, dancing, folk dancing, char acter sketches and plays. The presentation will be under the direction of Miss M, Whiteside, with Mesdames TP. Lysaght and K. Arm}'strong and Mr A. Seebeelc as pianists. Proceeds are to be devoted to Red Cross funds. < A Narrow Escape. Riding down the Strand yesterday, a young Maori, had a narrow escape from serious injury when the handle-bars of his bicycle sud > denly broke away from the standard and precipitated him on to the roadway. An oncoming motor car missed him by inches, but the Maori j amused the onlookers by treating j the incident in a very matterf-of-! fact manner, merely clamping the j bars on again and riding off whist- j ling nonchalantly. J What a Ship! The commander of a British patrol vessel flattered himself on his ■ French. When ordered to take over escort from a French patrol vessel he , decided, on making contact, to use that language. Slowly his semaphore message to the French commander Avas spelt out. There was, no answer. It was repeated. Again no answer. Finally the commander signalled in English, 'What ship?and was immediately informed. His previous messages had been ignored because the French commander, con scious that his vessel was small and lacked distinction, detected irony in the previous signals!. These ran: "Quel vaisseau'' (what a .ship!). ; Dogs. Whakatane seems to be suffering from an invasion of dogdom at the present time. On Monday the numfcber of the canine species in the streets was particularly noticeable. Perhaps the most celebrated of the visitors was a shaggy-looking mon-i grel with the,features of half a dozen breeds struggling for recognition in liis face, who decided a cer*~ tain pile of empty oil drums at the rear entrance of a well-known business establishment shielded an un-» offending rat. The crash of the drums as they collapsed on the tawny body was nothing to the wild yel<ps of dismay which characterised his exit and marked his progress down the Strand. Stocks of Iron. There is still an acute shortage of corrugated and flat galvanised irqn ' in New Zealand, two small shipjinents that recently arrived from England affording little relief to the situation, while further impending supplies from the same source' will be not nearly enough for require- ' ments. The effects of the Australian ; coal strike are such that no shipments of galvanised iron or galvanised piping have arrived Cilice the mining trouble dislocated industry in Australia. Although galvanised piping has been coming to hand in sufficient quantities from Great Britain, importers are not hopeful about the future of. iron supplies ' from the Mother Country by virtue ' of the immense armaments drive. Lose fat quickly with Bonlcora. Safe, quick reducing treatment! Try Bonkora to-day. F. G. Macklow, Chemist, Whakatane. ;