Local and General

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 4, Issue 128, 11 July 1941, Page 4

Local and General

Mokorua Golf Cluib. Tlie first round of the Carter Cup will be played on Saturday. The draw will he made at the club-house. Inmates of Hospital. At the meeting of the Whakatane Hospital Board held yesterday it was reported that the average number of beds) occupied during the quarter year was 56.43. Early Lambs.

Several early lambs have mad their appearance in this district, v find a rather chilly reception wit] the weather that has been prevail ing in recent weeks. Mounted Rifle Camp. Over eighty men of the E'as Coast Mounted Rifles -will be en camped at Taneatua this week-en< for training. These men will b from Whakatane and ether town throughout the Bay. Splendid Pastures. "Your country is certainly fai better than ours,'' said a Martoi farmer who visited Whakatane or Wednesday. "We do not have th< wonderful growth of grass you hav< liere, and t am very attracted bj what I have seen in my short visit, 1 Bobby Calf Trade. Although several batches of bobbj calves have already been despatchec to the works, the season commence! in earnest on Monday next, wher it is expected that the local pool will have a large consignment available. Maize Damaged. Skirting the Whakatane-Tauranga read can be seen patches of maize which has: been plucked, other areas as yet untouched, while in moia than one instance the crop is seen to have, not sustained the recen* variety of woather and the cob? rest cm the ground to represent a serious loss to the grower. "How Far is it to Papakura?" A company from Papakura mili' tary camp was on a 16-milei roulw march. After three hours'' marching the captain halted a farmer and nsked him: "How far is it to Papa kura?" "Oh, about seven miles," re plied the farmer. After another hour the captain stopped another Farmer and asked him the same question. "I should say about sieven miles," was the reply. The company continued on its way for anothei two hours, and then stopped a cyclist. "How far is it to Papakura?'' brought the reply: "Oh, about seven miles." "Well," cried the captain. "We're holding our own!'" Maize Plucking. The plucking of the maize crop in the Opotiki district ca-n now be said to be completed. From enquiries made there does not appear to have been any great shortage of labour in th£ district to pluck the crops. The work has taken longer than usual but this was expected in view of the greatly increased acreage. As soon as they completed their Opotiki contracts some of the local Maoris came to Whakatane to pluck maize in this district. The Opotiki crop has been one of the best on record and with the exception of the last few weeks, when adverse weather conditions was affecting the cobs, the crop has been of high quality. Scotch With a Vengeance. Thei story is retailed in a letter thist week received from overseas. Some of the local lads who have been in the thick of it weire addicted to blowing bagpipes. They blew these in Greece, fondly cared foi them in. the evacuation to Crete where more blowing was done. Then came the day when that island was to be left behind. A hurried and arduous, exit made it impossible to v ake all their personal belongings, but one canny New Zealand Scotchman was not to be outdone and so he wrapped his pipes, carefully and buried them. He says he will go back and dig them up after the Hun is beaten !