Local and General

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 6, 18 September 1942, Page 4

Local and General

Some Cuttings ! Overheard as one farmer visiting town yesterday passed the newlyerected road block at the entrance to the Strand and gazed with some awe at the giant pine trunks being lowered into position. "Those b things won't grow from cuttings, will they?'" Lack of Interest "I am surprised at the poor attendance here to-night," said Mr A. t T. Canning at the meeting of the Farewell Committee last Wednesday evening. "I should have thought that for an objective such as ours there would be half the town present." Mysteriious Telegrams ? One of the victims of Wednesday's ballot, who is something of a wit gravelj r informed us yesterday tliat he had been 'the recipient of two mysterious telegrams. The first one which bore an Australian mark read "Congratulations see you in a fortnight, General Mac Arthur!" and the second a Berlin impression and ran "How much do you want to pull out, Adolph Hitler!" Our informant said he was in a quandary | as to whether he should make himself a Avar hero, or accept the second offer and retire gracefully for life on a libera] bounty from the Fuehrer. What a Tornado Is A tornado is a definite type of atmospheric disturbance in which the air cireu'ates round i\ core of low pressure in a clockwise direction in the Southern Hemisphere. The diameter of such a disturbance seldom exceeds more than a few hundred feet, destruction thus being confined to a comparatively narrow path. The wind velocity round the central core may be as high as 200 miles an hour, hence the destructive effect of a tornado when it strikes buildings, haystacks, etc. A whirlwind is a smaller edition of a tornado. Such disturbances, ranging from small whirlwinds up to the more destructive tornado, are not infrequent in parts of New Zealand, Taranaki in particular and Wescland to a lesser degree being areas where they most often occur.