Local and General

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 5, Issue 62, 8 June 1942, Page 4

Local and General

Battle of 'Knobbly HilP We refer ardent Home Guardsmen to a special article on page 2, entitled the 'Battle oJ' Knobbly Ilill.' We are .sure they will read its contents with a zest. Br-r-r-r Frosly mornings have followed the period of threatening cloudy weather which terminated last week. On Saturday ami Sunday morning the white hoar frost which blanketed .the countryside was the heaviest experienced this year. There were 6 and 4 degrees of frost registered on each day respectively. Water Control Taps A correspondent has; written drawing our attention to the difficulty experienced by the average householder in locating the control cocks to the individual water supply to houses' in the Borough. He states that he noticed recently a plumber looking vainly for one such tap which took him an hour ot locate. Another had to pick up the; pavement to discover the tap, the owner admitting that it had not been touched for 17 years. Perhaps; a tip from the Beacon, he writes, would' have the desired effect. Old Gramophone—a Novelty A resident of Kopeopeo in conversation with a Beacon representative last Saturday stated that by way of a little diversion ho unearthed a fifteen year old portable gramophone and some records which had been stored away for some years' prior to his marriage. His young family were absolutely spellbound, with fascination as each record played a new song or selection. He then realised with something of a start that his sturdy; six and seven year olds had never seen a gramophone and had merely taken radio music for granted. Time surely marches on. Not Bad Fellows "The Germans fight as long as they can and when they have to surrender they continue the fight by means of propaganda. They say in effect: 'You are good fellows: and we are good fellows, so Avhy should we be fighting one another?' The result is that some of our men come back with the idea that the Huns are not bad fellows after all," said, Lieuten-ant-Colonel J. R. Page, D.5.0., in an interview at Invercargill. During his carccr as a soldier in the Middle East, Lieutenant-Colonel Page had an opportunity of studying- both the Italians and the Germans.. Art Union Prize Illustrating the amount which was going out of the country annually on Consultation Art Unions in Australia, the Mayor of Rotorua, when discussing this method as a means of offsetting hospital costs at last Thursday's local body conference, said that from the Borough office in Rotorua alone the sum of £100 went overseas every year. If this sum could be retained in New Zealand for our own hospital institutions he said, the financing would be greatly assisted. ,In the Irish Sweepstake he understood the whole of the Irish hospital system benefitted. Blbckeiteers-! Professor Copland, Australian Price Controller, lias described evaders of price control orders as "blacltetecrs." He said that small businesses:—many controlled by foreigners —were the worst offenders, but substantial fines and the power of magistrates to order gaol were having the desired effect. It was much easier to check and prevent profiteering by large concerns by aa examination of their financial records. The aim was not to inquire into prices of individual products or articles sold by large firms, but to control their margins of profit and leave actual prices for their own determination. Paper Control The Paper (General) Control Notice came into force last month. The principal provisions affecting commercial houses are restrictions on typing and duplicating of business letters to the smallest suitable paper, when both sides are used; the requirements that the typing should be singlc-spaccd; and a restriction on the size of envelopes used, to six inches by three and a half inches, except when enclosures make it absolutely necessary for larger envelopes to be used. We find it necessary to publish the above in view of the widespread number of enquiries by el'ents avlio in the past have had jobbing work done at the Beacon officc.