Local and General

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 5, Issue 2, 12 January 1942, Page 4

Local and General

Twenty Deaths Reported Since the opening of the Libyan campaign there have been no less than twenty deaths in action by men drawn from this district. Men of the Maori Battalion accounted for some 60 per cent of this number. Eight Races for £57 The extent to which horse racing has become a business rather than a sport, is indicated by an announcement of a race meeting at Katikati 50 years ago when the jockey club there advertised eight events with a total prize money of £57. "We have received the programme from the Katikati Jockey Club's race meeting to be held on Thursday, February 4, 1892, under the Auckland Racing Club rules. The total prizes amount to £57 and there are eight events on the programme. The cup is for £20, and. the Handicap Hurdles £10."

Women More Bomb-Proof "Women are less prone to bomb shock than men. The ratio is 18 women to 30 men," writes the medical correspondent of the Spectator. "It may be true that women are more emotional than men in romance, but they are less so in air raids. Their protective instinct for those they love is actually a shield against the nerve-shattering effects of warfare noises. They perform the job in hand with calmer deliberation than men. Men get through the job alright, but they work in a state of mental excitement —often conspiciously suppressed—which in time, takes its toll. Women also recover under psychological treatment more quickly than men. Part of the treatment is the retelling of their experiences, and it lias been found that women can recall details with greater ease than men and are more willing to talk about them. Repetition in this way invariably tends to rob the experience of its initial horror, which is an important aid to complete recovery of normal selfcontrol."

Schoolboy Diggers "Dig your trench for half a crown, madam?" Four boys eager to collect pocket money, arriving with shovels and spades, are making the rounds of one New Plymouth suburb, soliciting business and getting plenty of it. Support, Not Information "I have heard it said," said Mr G. M. Keys, when addressing the Technical College Board of Governors in Christchurch, "that the use of statistics is the same as the udfe of a telegraph pole to a drunken man— for support and not for information" Schools Re-open as Usual Schools will re-open as usual in the first wek in February unless some unforeseen circumstances occur stated the Minister of Education, the Hon H. G. R. Mason, when replying to a deputation from the Tauianga District High School Committee last week. The chairman, Mr W. J. Stevens, had referred to the doubt in many minds whether the 1 war situation would affect the return of the children. The protection of school children from possible air raids was discussed and as a result the chairman will interview the executive of the' Auckland Education Board to make final arrangements before the schools re-open. Cat Sits on"Eggs A Whakatane resident who visited the BEACON office yesterday declared that he owned a cat, which has joined a sitting clucky hen, and is now engaged in the joint work of hatching out a batch of fourteen eggs. The hen apparently tolerates the intrusion, both the bird and the animal lying together side by side for hours during the day and night. What will happen when the chicks are hatched, is of coursc another tale, for we cannot imagine the' cat clucking about the yard followed by a clutch of chickens, neither can we see the hen licking fondly and feeding a brood of kittens which, incidentally are alsoi in the offing. No News- —But not Good

One hardy bushman from an cut-, post in the King Country received a shock when he arrived in New Plymouth for the Christmas vacation. Miles away from any township, with no sources of news, the bus'hman found cut in town for the first time that Russia and America were allied with Britain in the present war and that Japan had become an enemy country. When he last came from his retreat in the hinterland, the Western Front campaign had hardly ended and such campaigns as those in Greece and Crete were undreamed of.