Local and General

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 05, Issue 71, 29 June 1942, Page 4

Local and General

School Football and Basiketball A full report of the inter-school Football and Basketball competitions which took place last Saturday will appear in Wednesday's issue. Record Railways Revenue The Minister for Railways, the Hon. R. Semple, announced that the revenue earned by the Railways Department during May totalled £1,Ofil,;i 1 .'i, an increase of £136,987 over that in May of last year. This is the first time revenue has exceeded £1,000,000 in May. An Impossible Burden "At the commencement of the war, England set ou.t to pay for the war as it went. To-day the burden would equal 2(5/0 in the £ if she could keep pace with it. Tlyj result was that she was forced to make new credits and every person realised the impossibility of ever meeting the debts which were to-day being piled up. In New Zealand two-thirds of the country's taxation was devoted to the war." Mr Brian Dunningham at his recent address in Whakatane. Destructive Opossums I't was suggested by Mr R. D. Dymock at the annual conference of the Wairoa and Gisborne delegates of the Farmers' Union that the protection of opossums should be lift-, ed, as the animals were becoming a menace to production. This suggestion was supported by Mr T. W. G; Tomblescn, who said that the opossum was destroying bird life, one of the farmer's greatest friends. The meeting agreed to adopt the proposal. An Important Point People in New Zealand who have "dual nationality" Avill not in future be able to renounce their British nationality by making in New Zealand a declaration of alienage, according to the Alienage Emergency Regulations recently gazetted. For instance, a person whose father may be a citizen of a foreign country but who was born in New Zealand would be unable to renounce British citizenship in favour of citizenship of the country of which his father is a native. Canada's Beautiful Girls "The girls here seem very different from New Zealand girls," writes a New Zealand airman in Canada to his mother in Ghristchurch. "All the girls seem miature for their ages and on the whole they are much better looking than the New Zealand girls. Some New Zealand girls are good looking, others are plain, but in Canada they are good-look-ers. One girl I met yesterday Avas the prettiest girl I had ever seen, and even she was not much better looking than the average girl here." Expire To-morrow Motor drivers' licenses expire on Tuesday, June 30 (to-morrow) and renewals, which take effect from July 1, will be issued as from last Wednesday, June 24. Attention to these facts is drawn by two advertisements covering the Borough and the County which have recently appeared in the Beacon. It is also pointed out that applicants over 70 years of age and persons who wish to drive service cars, omnibuses and taxicabs must produce medical certificates. Long Hours Indicative of the extra burden imposed by the loss of manpower to the armed forces was a conversation between a housewife and a Hamilton grocer on his delivery round. This man's sons, partners in the business, are away on service (says the Waikato Times). When the housewife asked if he had icing sugar he replied- "Yes, I have. That was the last thing I packed for the round —at a quarter to two this morning/' Waiwherowhero Stream Reporting to the County Council last Tuesday, the Acting Engineer, Mr R. O. Tomkins, stated that in company with Cr MicGougan he made an inspection of the upper portion of the Waiwherowhero Stream. The stream had received very little attention for some years and the cross section of drain was obviously inadequate to. cope with any flooding. To widen and deepen the drain would however be a job of some magnitude. To remove obstructions such as willows, slips and weed, ease sharp corners and generally clean sides, and bottom would, undoubtedly afford relief and should be done as soon as possible. He understood that a petition from the ratepayers concerned would be presented in due course, requesting the assistance of the council in this work.