ITEMS OF INTEREST

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 5, Issue 29, 16 March 1942, Page 2

ITEMS OF INTEREST

Eggs for British Hospitals

The annual report of the Internal Marketing Division for the year ended March 31, 1941, reveals that, of the 33,000 dozen eggs exported to Britain in that year, no fewer than 1909 dozen eggs were donated by members of the Women's. Institute and the Women's Division of the Farmers' Union in the North Island. The eggs were donated specially for distribution among hospitals in Bx*itain. "Due Precautions" A maxim, coined in the heat of battle, was quoted in a letter from a Lyttelton soldier in the Middle East. The soldier wrote: "The only original 1940 officer at the Christmas dinner was a padre, Captain Spence, a very popular officer and the instigator of a good maxim when he said, during a bombing and ma-chine-gun raid in Crete: 'It is a great thing to have faitli and confidence in the Creator, but one must take due precautions,' and forthwith dived into a slit trench." Discs For Children

The advisability of parents equipping their children with improvised means of identificaton to save possible confusion in the event of a raid during school hours was stressed recently by the Minister of Education, Mr Mason. "A general Government arrangement is being made with regard to identification discs," he said, "and this will be announced shortly. In the meantime parents have been advised in some areas either to hang around their children's necks cardboard or other labels, containing name and address, or to sew tabs into the clothing at the back of the neck. A number of schools have already made arrangements for this, and it would be a wise precaution in all cases." The danger of an air raid in Whakatane is perhaps not as great as that faced by the cities, and as yet no steps have been taken to provide the children Avith discs.

Japan's Militarists The military party in Japan is in n minority, and yet it holds and exerts terrific power, stated Miss D. Trott, "who arrived in New Zealand last June after teaching English in a Japanese l Government school for the last 30 years. The military party had risen to power by playing on the feelings of the people with its pretence of protecting the Emperor (who is strongly pro-British), whereas, in fact, he was held a virtual prisoner. Tn Japan there was no trial by jury, and the military police used methods tantamount to the "third degree" of the United States. Miss Trott said that one man she knew of had not been allowed to sleep for a week, and two persons on the boat coming to New Zealand had been in the hands of the police and were then in a state of nervous collapse. Miss Trott said she would be sorry to say what would happen to the people of New Zealand if the Japanese military party gained control in this country.