Local and General

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 4, Issue 170, 20 October 1941, Page 4

Local and General

Many Racegoers Many local residents journeyed to Rotorua on Saturday to attend the Rotorua and Bay of Plenty Hunt Club spring meeting. ' Large Growth of Grassl There is a splendid growth of grass on the Plains following the recent rains, and farmers in many cases are shutting paddocks which are to be reserved for hay. As a result of the good growth providing plentiful feed for the cows, an appreciable increase has been revealed in the milk supply. Definitely Not The interior of the Napier gaol is adorned with numerous philosophic inscriptions, scratched on the walls by prisoners, before their departure to other reformative institutions to fulfil sentence. The latest was left by a youth whom the magistrate sentenced lasit week to one year's detention at the Borstal Institution, [nvercargill. It reads: "Twelve months because of one night. Grime sure doesn't pay!" Children as> Poachers "A tremendous lot of fish are being taken illegally in this area, and it's the same at Taupo. They are even sending children out to< get them," stated Mr A. Kean, Conservator of Fish and Game, when addressing Mr W. H. Freeman, S.M., in the Magistrate's Court at Rotorua last week. Mr Kean felt that the natives were trading on the department's leniency, and the Magistrate announced that he had decided to increase the fine in future for this type of offence. Six Planets Visdble All the planets visible to the unaided eye are at present in the evening sky. Mtercury can be located in the last of the twilight glow in the western sky, with Venus a brilliant object slightly higher. Mars, which is in opposition to the sun, rises in the East at sunset and remains visible all night. Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus are all in the constellation Taurus, and can be seen above the north-eastern horizon about eleven o'clock. Saturn is about six degrees south of the Pleiades cluster, with Uranus lying about midway between the two. Jupiter is further east, below the prominent constellation of Orion.

New Class of Instruction A course of instruction in Hygiene and Sanitation is to be commenced by the local branch of the Red Cross Society shortly, and as this is not lengthy, consisting of 6 lectures only it is hoped to have candidates qualified before Christmas. Any prospective pupils: are asked to communicate with Mrs P'earse. "V" in Mididle East An Auckland officer who recently travelled many hundreds of miles through the Middle, East said that he was amazed at the spread of the victory sign. Where formerly the customary wayside greeting from all peoples in sympathy with the Allied cause was a raised thumb, in, the "thumbs up" sign, the usual signal was now given by two fingers held to shape a "V." Among the people who had used it during his travels were large numbers of the Jews in Palestine, many of whom were refugees from Germany and German* occupied countries. First Iron Ration Britain's civilian population has been provided with an iron, ration for the first time in history. Thousands of tons of it have been storedin depots l'rom one end of the country to the other. The ration is a dry wheaten biscuit, scientifically balanced, and it has been produced against the possibility of an invasion holding up the normal baking of bread. Bread stales rapidly because of its high moisture content. The iron ration biscuit has only 3Vo per cent of moisture and it keeps indefinitely. Its actual ingredients tire wholewheat, fat and sugar. Shortage of Houses. Speaking a the housing position in Wellington as "tragic," Mr Leslie Jones, at the annual meeting of the Real Estate Institute, said: "When the soldiers come back in numbers [ do- not know what will happen. It is difficult to supply the demand now,, and it will be a hundred times worse then. Also there are the civil servants who are being transferred In thousands to Wellington. They can't buy houses because they have left their homes in other centres let. They come to Wellington and spend more than they can afford in hotels and boarding houses. We hear a lot about State houses, but it appears to me that there is no possibility of the general public getting houses. They will have to be kept for the soldiers. If they are not, I wouldn't like to be in the shoes of the Minister of Housing.

To-morrow's Military Dance The local Territorial Company's funds are to benefit by a (lance to be held in the Edgecumbei Hall to-mor-row night, when it is anticipated a large number of couples will be present. The funds are to be used to assist the company in its training, and the committee has spared no effort to ensure the success of the function. New Butter Box Experiments are tQ be made for shipping New Zealand butter to England in a new type of box, says a London correspondent of the Waikato Times. It is a fibre-board onepiece container. A supply has been sent to New Zealand and will be used for trial shipments. Similar types of containers have been in regular use for packing margarine, canned goods and a large range of food and other products. They have given complete satisfaction in Great Britain, America and other countries. A saving of 10 per cent in weight and 15 per cent in space is made possible by the use of the new containers. Officer's Watch Returned. A wounded New Zealand officer who lost his watch on a beach in Greece had it returned in the Wellington Hospital recently through the remarkable coincidence that the finder occupied an adjacent bed. The officer lost his watch when an enemy bullet shattered his wrist Rnd severed the watch strap. It was later picked up by a New Zealand soldier who. was also wounded. Officer and soldier were repatriated to New Zealand and both entered the Wellington Hospital for treatment, occupying adjacent beds. Having no watch, a nurse borrowed one being worn by the soldier, who explained that it was not his as he had found it in Greece. Greatly to his surprise the officer recognised it as his own. Blood Bank in Australia. More than 46,000 donors in Australia are registered with the Red Cross Transfusion Service, which is building up a blood bank, and already holds 1900 gallons in liquid or powdered form. When all registered donors have been storage will be not less than 3500 gallons. Most donors give a pint, some more, but half-pints are con sidered sufficient in many cases, primarily designed to meet emergency conditions, the bank will be adapted for civilian needs. G'onsid* erable quantities of blood serum have been sent overseas to the fighting services. In N'ew South Wales 17,040 donors have registered since March 10, when the first appeal was made. Searching blood tests are conducted before a donor is accepted. Although most of the blood is preserved in liquid form in cold storage, much of it is now dried and packed in powder form. Stockings in U.S.A. American women are feeling the full effects of shortage of silk stockings. The National City Bank of New York attributes the famine to the shutting off of new supplies of Silk from Japan and the "freezing" o.f silk stocks in the United States for defence requirements—those Stocks at the time amounting to 50,000 bales. Hosiery mills then found themselves - left with only a few week's supply of partly-processed j silk. The industry was curtailed and 175,000 workers and plants worth 200,000,000 dollars were adversely affected. The readjustments of the industry to these conditions is described by the bank as "painful." Hopes of a substitute for silk in stocking manufacture are centred in nylon, a product of coal, from which a tough fibre has been successfully made since 1939 and first commercially sold in 1940.