Local and General

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 4, Issue 135, 30 July 1941, Page 4

Local and General

Coming On. The work of excavation for the Ohope Children's Swimming Pool, is proceeding satisfactorily. The voluntary labour in this connection though somewhat limited in numbers is achieving all that was hoped of it, and should later on assist very materially towards limi'ting the cost. Slips on Ohope Road. The two slips which occurred on the Ohope Road during the recent Storm, are now cleared away; after two days work by the County staff. The worst slip occurred about ha!lj? way to the beach and its size nVdc it necessary to institute one-way traffic for a period. Saddle Cloths for Mounteds. Many remarks on the neatness of the Whakatanc Mounted Home Guardsmen were made by spectators at last Saturday's Gymkhana. The saddle cloths in particular were all uniform and were branded with a stencilled 'W to denote the troop. These cloths were donated by: Mr H. A. Horrocks, managing director of the Whakatane Paper Mills, and went a long way towards lending effectiveness to the display. W.W.S.A. Appreciation. At the conclusion of last instruction night to the Waimana W.W.S.A on the stabjedt of First Aid, Mrs H. A. Wardlaw presented the instruct tor, Mr G. A. Carling of Whakatanc, with a wall'et and Mrs: Carling with a cup and saucer. Both presentations were made in appreciation of Mr Carling's tuition and the time and trouble he had devoted towards the training of the Waimana students.

Primary School Reps. Primary school! Rugby players are training for the forthcoming representative matches for the Tai Mitchell Shield and trials are to be played at Whakatane this month. Drunks Fined. Before Messrs C. G. Lucas and J. G. Mulholland, J's.P. at the local court on Monday morning bail of 10s was estreated when Kelly Keepa was charged with having been drunk in a public place on Saturday. Another offender, Taiehu Tuhimata. who it was stated had been very objectionable was penalised £1. Stretcher Drill Display. An interesting display by members of the local Medical) Platoon of the Home Guard was a further item In last Saturday's Gymkhana which drew considerable comment. Th« event was devoted to 'stretcher drill' and was carried out most efficiently by a selected group from the platoon under Mr G. A. Carl'ing. The Display reflected considerable credit upon the men who have all received their training since the movement was initiated. Factory Directorate. Nominations to fill three vacancies on the directorate of the Opou<> iao Dairy Company close at 5 p.m. to-day. One of the nominees at least must be a representative of the Maori race. The vacancies are caused by the retirement in rotation of Messrs A. F. McGougan, T. Davies and T. Tawera all of whom are elig ihle for re-election. If more than three nominations are received for the vacancies an election will be held at the annual meeting of *he company which is to be held at Tan* eatua on Wednesday, August 20.

Te Puke Man Missing. Amongs't those men reported as missing and also wounded is the name of Pte. Hector R. Jones, of Te Puke. First World War. Next Monday will be August 4, the '27th anniversary of the outbreak of the 1914-18 World War between Britain and Germany. Plains Dairy Company. The directors of the Rangitaiki Plains Dairy Company retiring by rotation this j r ear are Messrs Charles F. Eivers, lan B. Gow, Wm. A.. McCracken and John Riini. These directors are eligible and have offers ed themselves for re-election. Nominations close on Thursday, August 7. Correction. In the list of awards published las't Monday in connection with the Home Guard Gymkhana events Nos. 5 and 10 (Platoon drill) were credited erroniously to Paroa which platoon was cited as coming second. This was incorrect, the second award going to Rotorua. We have inserted this correction in deference to a request from the committee, which is anxious to compile an official prize list for its records. Good Runners'. "During the retreat, fighting one rearguard action after the other we used the bayonet and the German has no stomach for this type of fighting. We could not catch them— I hey ran too fast and they threw nway guns and pistols galore. No, next time you read about some Nazis sneering about us running, its good to remember that Boche crack troops, if all that is said about their training is true, must have been trained in running too,'' says Pte. J. li. in a letter to his parents at Manawahe.

Single Men on Farms. "There are some people who are simply confining their search for labour to single men. They ought to know that relatively few single me;i are available at the present time," i-.aid Mr F. F. Reid, S.M., who presided at a sitting of the Christchurch Appeal Board, after several statements had been made by appellants about difficulty in obtaining suitable farm labour. "We cannot," Mr Reid added, "keep on holding single men back for farmers who make.no effort whatever to obtain available labour." Oh Yeah ! "The says he could not get work," but we know the farmers are crying out for it." Thus is quoted a Police officer by a Bay of Plenty paper, when a young man before the court stated that he had tried to obtain work in the Bay. We are still puzzled as to whether the reporter took the speaker the wrong way or the officer really meant that the Bay farmers are wrath because they haven't enough to keep them occupied. We often hear farmers growling—but, believe us, never about not having enough work. (Who'd growl, about that anyhow.) Realistic Action. When members! of the Waihi fTome Guard went into '"action" on a recent Sunday the tactical exercises were carried out and a fullscale attack was made on a known enemy position on the Waihi Plains. The men were not only armed wiui rilles and blank cartridges, but they also had a number of machine-guns, which made a realistic noise.. These were turned out at the Martha's 1 . '*arsenaV as were a number of Mills bombs of approximately the same size and weight as the real j Smoke screens were used and stretcher work was carried out bringing in the wounded. Not Sporting ! "They look rather awe inspiring, at first sight those parachutists,, but when you start to fire you find/ how helpless they are," states Pte. J. H Erskine, in a letter to his parents ? Mr and Mrs V. Erskine, Manawahe. "The noise of 'the big lumbering planes was terrible—its all part of the big show designed to scare ytm while the parachutists get down. However, they made a mistake and trie.i to land right in our lines, so ivc created' a grand little Hell of our own and killed nearly all of them. & few tha't were lucky enough to pet down made no bones about putting their hands up. The rifle fire was absolutely deadly—l have never seen such shooting. We had a fjjw prisoners and from some of them were amusing tales. The most popular is of one Hun who was taken with a bullet wound in his leg. He had come down shooting with his Tommy gun and then 'went rude' saying thslt New Zealanders were not sportsmen because they shot him while he was in the air!"