Local and General

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 5, Issue 94, 21 August 1942, Page 4

Local and General

Flunkeit Society Benefit The committee in charge of selling tickets lor the Picture Benefit next Wednesday evening report that sales are extremely brisk. It is pleasing to note that the public are supporting this worthy cause. The advice given to young mothers is especially welcome in war time as so many fathers are away in the | lighting forces. Anyone who 'has not been given an opportunity of purchasing a ticket is asked to ring GIM when arrangements will be made to have a ticket sent. ;

£500 Contribution A contribution of £500 to the patriotic appeal at present being conducted was made by the Bit ham Cooperative. Dairy Factory Company, Ltd., at tiie annual' meeting, following an address by .Air C. A. Wilkinson, M.PBeacon in Canada We have received a photograph of Pilot Officer Ron Stewart, which was taken in a Canadian Hospital where he was a patient for a short time. The most important feature as the writer points out is the fact that he is reading the 'Beacon,' the caption of which is plainly discernable; 1

Unusual Mishap . An unusual mishap occurred in the business area of Somme Parade, Aramoho, Wanganui, when a rear tyre of a heavy power grader burst with a loud report and snapped a steel rim, which shot across the street, shattering a plats glass window. Pedestrians in the street near the premises where the window was shattered were fortuntcly not struck by the missile, which came to rest in the back ol' the shop. Generous Maoris The organisation of the Ngaruawaliia Maori Red Cross Sub-centre is unique, and has been of material assistance, states the monthly bulletin of tlie New Zealand Red Gross Society. Under the patronage of King Koroki and the presidency of Princess Tc Puea Herangi, the subcentre has a membership of 2860. It passes on all the funds iti raises in generous grants to various Red Cro-sw activities, the income for the past 12 months being £561. The money is raised by concerts, growing vegetables, members' subscriptions and donations. Size of Pears Hundreds of cases of pears were thrown away this year as a result of the stipulation that the minimum size should be 1 l-Bin, said the Hawke's Bay Fruitgrowers' Association, in a note to a remit considered at. the annual conference of the New Zealand Fruitgrowers' Federation in Wellington. These pears, the assocition added, were a total loss to the growers, as well as the Internal Marketing Division, as they would have realised, in Coles and Nelis, from 12s t® 14s a case. The Director of Horticulture, Mr W. K. Dallas, said that in future pears of 2 l-16in would be accepted. Culprit Shot A local resident who lias been much troubled lately by having dozens of sweet oranges eaten out each night, determined to deal drastically witli the offender. Waking a night or two ago .he heard a strange noise coming from an orange tree close to the bedroom window. Going outside he managed to find a shotgun and a cartridge and then returned to the house and awakened his wife and began to look for the marauder with the torch. It was discovered: tliat the noises were now coming from a tree further away. The torchlight was directed to the top of the orange tree and there an opossum was located. Getting his wife to step back some distance with the torch the resident took hurried aim and blew a hole clean through the opossum's body.. First hanging on to a branch by its hind legs and then its tail, the opossum finally let go and fell dead to the ground. The opossums are very destructive to citrus fruit and already quite a few district residents have had considerable fruit losses.—Opotiki News*