Local and General

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 231, 30 October 1940, Page 4

Local and General

The Rainfall. Considerably more rain fell for the 24 hours ending 9 a.m. yesterday than had fallen for the rest ol the month, according to figures supplied by Mr H Muscutt, King Street. 1.85 inches were recorded, the total Cor the month being 3.31 inches and that for the year to date 36.99 inches More About Cats. Must OhoDe claim all cat records? A resident of. that suburb has four cats to guard his strawberry patch and the birds have already forgotten their love of strawberries from that particular garden. The guardians, life-isize, are cut from metal and suspended from stakes in such a manner as to allow a good swing Sn all directions. The gardener is at present experimenting with a mechanical 'meow.' The Best Yet. ; Mr Doidge has given the best story yet. He has read that the first picture to be stolen by the Germans from the Louvre in Paris was Michelangelo's "Moses," the most valuable picture in the Gallery. It was taken straight to Hitler in Berlin, and the story is that every night Hitler kneels before the picture and prays, "Please Moses, do tell me how you got your people across that narrow strip of sea." A Spot of Bidding. At an auction sale in Whakatane on Saturday two women found themselves very much out of their depth with bids for a carpet square. As they explained afterwards, they thought the bidding was in shillings and added to each other's price as the auctioneer joyfully noted their nods. The women raised the value of the carpet until it; was knocked down- to one at £51 after the other had gone to £50. Following their explanation the carpet was put up again and sold for £10. For the 'Boys.' The visit to this office Qn Friday of an elderly gentleman with a small gift for the 'boys' was another reminder that much is done for thi troops under the cover of anonymity and without permanent record on subscription- lists. Our visitor was not making his first appearance in the BE?ACON precints. Every month, on pension day, he calls in : to hand over os for. an express "purpose. "This is to buy tobacco for the boys." A fine gesture worthy of wide emulation. "I Too, Am a Corporal." A novel and someAvhat ingenious method of stopping the war by making a direct and personal appeal to Hitler, was suggested by Tuoro Pango when welcoming the officers of the First Field Regiment, New Zealand Artillery, at the banquet accorded them by the Maori Musical Society at Rotorua. He expressed the hope that Lieutenant-Colonel F. G. Soar would make an appeal to the Minister of Defence to permit him to go overseas with the Expeditionary Force so that when he met Hitler., he would.'be. assured of a welcome. "It is well known," he stated, "that anyone of a higher rank would meet with scant courtesy at Hitler's hands, but. I could tell him that I too, was a corporal. We could then find some means of coming to terms."