Local and General

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 5, Issue 1, 9 January 1942, Page 4

Local and General

Gathering Ergot Three boys who spent a day out j in the swamp lands of the "VVaiari j returned home very disappointed. Their total for the day consisted of about a teaspoonful of ergot. No Black-out A local resident who visited an inland town over the holidays was surprised to lind the streets and shops ablaze of light, a distinct change l'rom our own sombre surroundings. Father's Record Beaten Sergeant R. Stephenson, aged 27, a Royal Air Force cook stationed in Cornwall, has beaten his father's national record in corn sheaf pitching. He pitched 23 acres in a day, against the 21 acres record of his father a worker on a farm at Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire.

Haymaking Interrupted Rain on Tuesday night put a stop to haymaking work which had been in full swing on Whakatane district farms for the-previous week. However, gardens and pastures will benelit by the rain which was welcome after a rather long spell of dry Aveather. Paddocks from which hay has been cut can now be expected to shocit away and provide fresh feed. Galatea Races in 1892 Days of a race meeting at Galatea and a sanatorium at O'koroire are recalled by two news items from a Bay of Plenty newspaper in January, 1892: "Gkorcdre sanatorium is now in new hands, Mr Shirley having been appointed manager, and will doubtless, by his excellent aptitude in management, materially tend to the success of the place." The other states: "Our Maori Constable Hingawaka, made a clever capture at the Galatea races of a prisoner wanted for nearly two years for housebreaking at Taupo."

From a Rubbish Heap Potato peelings which had beer thrown on to a rubbish heap ic Wairoa have produced a fine crop ol four potatoes each weighing lib. They were discovered in his garden recently by Mr Oscar Johnson, Marine Parade, who, as a gardener, is new inclined to take the view that there is a certain amount of lucli in horticulture, whatever the experts might say. The Old Dog for the Hard Roadi An old age pensioner who lives just over 100 miles from Auckland is in the habit of spending the festive season with a married daughter in the Queen City. When he applied at his local railway station for a ticket to travel he was met with a stern refusal. But that did not worry him. He remembered that he had relatives in Hamilton. He trato Hamilton, spent an enjoyable evening in the Waikato town and went on to Auckland next day. ".Finest Bait'ta'lion in Field" "Senior officers have tcild the Government that the Maori Battalion is the finest that we have in the field," stated the Hon. H. G. R. Mason. acting-Native Minister, when replying to the welcome of the Arawa Trust Board on Tuesday.* "I do not say this for the sake of giving praise but because we believe it to be 1 the truth," added the Minister. Several incidents during • engagements in which the Maoris displayed theii prowess were referred to by Mi Mason. Special Maize Seed In an effort to add to the self-suf-ficiency of the Dominion,, the Nativf Department has planted an area o] 60 acres near Te Kaha in the eastern Bay of Plenty with white maize from which cornflour is made. Thi: variety of maize has previously beer grown in New Zealand., but it ha: be'en necessary to procure fresl seed each year from Australia to en sure that the seed has not beei crossed with the common yellov maize. The area where the whiti maize is being grown is separate* by the sea and by bush from an? other maize growing, so that th< seed produced should be unhybridis ed. It is hoped that the total see< requirements of the Dominion wil be produced there. Home Guard Test Approximately 200 men, armei and equipped, acted as guards at pet rol stations throughout the distric when a test emergency call was sen out from No. 2A Home Guard head quarters at Rotorua. Officers stat that the trial proved most success ful and only in one or two locali ties a man was missing through ac cident. The whole group, embodying Rotorua, Taupo, Galatea, Te Whait; Opotiki, Tauranga, Te Puke, Whaka tane, Rangitaiki and Tokaanu, wa Included in the test, with order to guard petrol stations from 7 p.m and report to headquarters by 7.3 1 p.m. By 7.20 all messages had beei received and recorded, giving proo of the efficiency of the Home Guar< members. -