Local and General

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 4, Issue 136, 1 August 1941, Page 4

Local and General

Lucky Investor. A local investor in an overseas lottery had the good fortune this week to be the holder of a ticket which drew a fifty pound prizo. Drainage Work. The Lands rind Survey Department (Thornton) at present has four dredges operating, two of these b«in.g engaged on the Tarawera river, while two are busy in keeping open the canals of the Rnngilaiki Plains. Birth Rate Up. With 21.19 births for each 1000 of mean population, New Zealand's birth rate in 1940 was the highest since 1925. Births totalled 32,771. The death rate, at 9.25 a 1000, compared with 9.2 in 1939. There were 14,282 deaths. The Boys' Band. In response to requests of residents of both town and district the officials of the Whakatane Boys' Band are calling a public meeting to bo held on Tuesday next. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss ways and means of maintaining the band, which through lack of finance is in danger of having to cease its activities.

"Veterans" and Boys' Band. A group of experienced bandsmen, some with associations with the Whakatane Citizens' Band since its inception, naturally gravitated to the vicinity of the Boys Band, when it gave selections at the Gymkhana. These "veteran players" conversed in an enthusiastic manner regarding the way the boys had mastered their instruments and w T ere carrying on the old traditions. To an old brass bandsman nothing sounds as good as a brass band—not even "twa pipe bands." Man at the "Mike."

Some world-famous radio commcntors would have felt the need for "looking to their laurels" had they heard the many complimentary remarks passed by patrons of the Whakatane Gymkhana regarding the parf played. by the Rev Wharetini Rang: as the voice behind the microphone of the public address system. Although the public were provided with "all the fun of the fair" for th^

admission charge of 2/-, many people will agree that Mr Rangi's. announcements, merry quips: and witty sallies were the star turn. More Work for Horses, One result of about 200 Rangitaiki Plains dairy farmers being asked to change over from butter to cheesc supply will be that more work will fall to the lot of farm horses. At present most of these farmers take their cream cans to the road on some form of wheelbarrow drawn by manpower. With the change over to cheese supply it will bo necessary, for "Old Dobbin" to be caught and harnessed in a dray to take 20-gallon milk cans from milking shed to roadside milk stand. Milk for a cheese factory is approximately ten times as bulky as cream from the same herd for a butter factory. Horses from the South. Readers of advertisements on the J front page of the Beacon will have noted that 25 broken-in draught horses from the South Island <u*e' among the 200 horses listed for sale at the forthcoming Whakatane Spring Horse Fair. Every year a number of South Island horses are offered for sale at Whakatane. One reason is that tractors and other molorised equipment are year by year replacing horses in the graingrowing districts of Canterbury, Otago, where the breeding of draught horses has always been a side line of farming. By way of contrast, the intensively developed dairy farms of the Bay of Plenty require annual reinforcements of handy farm horses which seem to hold, their own against the more exj)ensive tractors and " trucks. Taking a Tumble. Residents of the town near the band room are on several nights a ; week lulled into drowsiness as they listen to the Boys Band practicing. A different type of noise has recently been issuing from that building and thumps, bumps and panting sounds issue forth as Messrs Dixon and Mollison put their . 'team of young gymnasts through their pac»s in preparation for the display which < is to be given at the concert at the ■ King Street Hall on Friday and Sat- 1 ui-day of next week. This team was 1 seen in action at the Gymkhana and 1 was so popular that the concert 1 committee prevailed upon them to I again "take a tumble." On this nexl < occasion the team will be augmented ; with another acrobat from Rotorua 1