Local and General

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 39, 15 January 1943, Page 4

Local and General

Growth of the Kauri Having studied the growth of the kauri for many years, Mr A. Macandrew, of Titirangi, is of the opinion that it is one of the fastest growing of the natives. On his property is a tall sapling, which had a circumference (4ft from the ground) of 21 y 2 inches in 1935. Since then this measurement has increased by 7%in. The tree established itself naturally, and, its root system must be Lntangled with those of a number of other tiees growing around it. "Don't" For Bathers A series of "don't" for bathers, issued, by the Health Department, includes: Don't bathe after a meal; wait at least two hours. Don't dive into water of unknown or Uncertain depth. Don't swim out to sea; you can have, just as much enjoyment closer in. Don't enter the water when over-heated and don't stay in when feeling numb or cold. Don't allow children to play with rubber floats and similar appliances; they are dangerous. Don't bathe in unfrequented places or away from a crowd; there's safety in numbers. Coast Highway Following an agitation in Opotiki for improvements to the East Coast Highway, Mr W. Sullivan, M.P., has. informed the Opotiki press that he had been over the road, recently and when he saw the condition that the road was in he got in touch with the District. Engineer at Tauranga. He was informed by the engineer that no funds, were available for maintenance work on the road. Mr Sullivan then took the matter up with the Main Highways Board, and has since been notified that £3000' has been made available for work on the Coast, highway. It was stated that an early start would be made on the work of repairing the road provided the necessary labour is forthcoming. Better Than A Fish Yarn

Someone shouid have stopped him when the bartender asked, this sailor what the Navy was doing. "I don't know what the battle wagons are doing, but if the Heinies don't get wise, there won't be any subs, left to Avorry 'em. This destroyer I'm on is in the Green Paint Division. We carry a deck load of green paint and whenever we detect the presence of a sub. we immediately circle the suspected zone, pouring the. paint all over the surface. The Nazi, hearing our motors, comes up for a look. When his periscope comes out ol the water it gets a film of. green paint on it; they don't know they arc. breaking the surface so the -sub. keeps right on rising. just wait until it is about 4(JO' feet in the air and knock it down with our antiaircraft guns!" Maori Ingenuity Wartime conditions have imposed on the knitter restrictions that have been overcome in divers ways. One Whangarei resident travelling north lias leported a method which for ingenuity seems to surpass all others. Seated beside a Maori woman he. noticed she was knitting and. saw with inteiest that she had no ball of wool but was using avool from a bag beside her. The avool however. Avas Uoii the spun and dyed variroty as most people know. Wool as it is taken from the sheep Avas stuffed in the bag and as the woman knitted she pulled out the avool and twisted it quickly Avith her fingers into a yarn. She did this continually without breaking the thread. She was not using bought knitting needles. but pieces of fencing Avire Avith sharpened points. Commerce St. South Improvements

Reporting to the Borough Council at its last meeting the chairman of the AVorks Committee, Mr S. S. Shapley, stated that irtenibers of the committee had inspected the drain at Commerce Street South the subject of a communication from Messrs Donaldson and Haynes. The estimated. cost of kerbing and channelling from here to link with that bv the residence of Mr A. Hall was £78, and it would appear that the laying of kerbing and channelling would be the only effective solution of the problem. The council resolved that this section of kerbing and -channelling be now constructed, and the Commerce Street inlet of the. covered drain be closed.

10,000 Tons of Scrap Rubber The Dominion objective for scrap rubber is from (>OOO to 10,000 tons to be reached within the next few months, states a bulletin from the National Council for the Reclamation of Waste, which sets out the policy for rubber collections throughout New Zealand. Sign in an Aeroplane Factory According to the theory of aerodynamics and as may be readily demonstrated through wind tunnel experiments, the bumblebee is unable to fly. This is because the size, weight and shape of his. body in relation to the total wingspread make flying impossible—But the bumblebee, being ignorant of these: scientific truths, goes ahead and flies anyway, and makes a little honey every day. Service for Others "11 we are to have a contented country, and a contented society, then we must lead lives according to Christian principles,'' said the Governor-General (Sir Cyril Newall) in an address; to scouts at the scouts' camp at RainclifT, South Canterbury. "If you arc good scouts and learn, all that scouting means, you will realise that it is: not "only for oneself that one should live. Unless you learn the value of sern vice tor others 3*ou will never be happy. If you groAv up with your only" aim in life being to get an easy job with high pay, then you will not find happiness/' said His Excellency. Horso- Racing and the Maori A passage in a judgment issued by the Native Appellate Court contains 1 a little dry humour. The judgment relates in part to an area of former mudflat now above tide level and claimed to be "native' customary land.'" "The fact that the land was used for horse, racing seems to be relied on largely by the claimants/' states the court, "'but we, do not think it could be suggested that horse racing could be part of Maori custom or usage, and at the best it relates to modern times, as the Maori had no horses."

"Dobbin Steak" A butcher's shop devoted exclusively to horse meat has been opened at Summit,, New Jersey, says a cable. The proprietor insisted that "'dobbin steak" was as good as, any other. The Mayor of New York (Mr La Guardia) admitted a critical meat shortage, but issued a warning to butchers that if they insisted on selling horsemeat. he would force them to erect a sign 12 feet high with a picturc of a horse on it. He added that horsemeat was degrading. Tipping Habit Again A typically overseas custom that has been only slightly developed m New Zealand, that of tipping, has been a distinct impetus by visiting American servicemen since their arrival. A survey shows that the Americans have carried the tipping habit in some cases to extremes of generosity, apparently knowing but ignoring the unwritten rule that a tip should be 10) per cent., of the bill. Hoiw to Live Rent Free How to live rent free was described in an interview by Private Rita K. McCarthy, Hastings, who has been invalided home after service overseas. She said that when

she saw for .the first tyne- old native Cairo, with its bazaars, she thought it. had. been bombed, as the roofs of tile, native houses were broken and open to the sky. and pieces of masonry were lying in the streets. She Avondered why these conditions were allowed to continue, till she. was told 'that as long as a part of a roof was open to the sky, a native may live in a house r/cfn,t free. Unusual War Trophy An unusual trophy is in the possession of a Hamilton man. It is the. lead horn of an enemy mine that, was washed up on the West Coast a iew weeks ago and destro3 rcd by an expert from Auckland. Jhe horn is iiin long and an inch in diameter. Before the shell of the mine was blown to smithereens one of Die ' horns A vas detached, for the Hamilton man, who has had it mounted on a rimu plinth and enclosed in glass to make a table, or mantel ornament.

Picnic for Sparrows In these davs when wrapping paper is at a premium a local man who bought a loaf of bread placed it on top of the. hood of his car while he went off on other business. Several sparrows were quickly on the job,-swooping in dive-bombing style from all points of the compass Ere long the loaf showed unmistakable signs of disintegration. Importer's Misfortune Misfortune lias dogged the path of a New Plymouth business man, who many months ago ordered from England a case of crochet silk containing 312 boxes, each the size of a 21b chocolate box. The order, valued at £130, was sunk en route to New Zealand, was then repeated, and in due course arrived at New Plymouth. Relieved that the silk had at last arrived, safely, the business man opened one box~, only to find that it. was empty. He opened several more with the sanle result and then discovered, that every box in the case, was empty. The goods apparently had been pillaged at some stage on their long journey. Bones of Extinct Bird l Found Several bones of an extinct New Zealand bird known as the giant land rail (Aptornis defossor) have been received at the Southland. Museum from Mr A. Maker, Hedgehope. This bird was of the rail family. It was flightless. and stood about three feet. Its bones were first discovered near Oaraaru in 1863. Since then additional .bones of the bird have been discovered in other parts of New Zealand, generally in association with moa bones, thus showing that the bi.r<l was a contemporary of the moa. Stocking Problem The stocking problem for many women in Britain always remains unsolved. Artificial silk stockings are not always hardwearing stockings, and silk is practically unobtainable. But it seems America has found a good substitute for silk hosiery. The new "wood" stockings are said to be slowly replacing silk ones in the United States. These are made of a solution of wood pulp, and are said to look better and wear better than silk. They are in finer mesh and seldom ladder. Their normal life, is three

months or more. Though they must be washed each time they are taken off, they dry completely in two minutes, High-Priced Blankets A striking illustration of the wide margin between the prices ruling in the softgoods trade in London and those on the New Zealand market is given in a recent issue of the Drapers' Record, a trade journal published in London. The journal quotes the case, of a draper who was fined £10 and £11 5s respectively with costs on two charges of selling double-bed white blankets at £8 Bs, the authorised price being £7 15s 6d. The pre-war price, for the same grade of blankets Avas £1 lGs 9d. It may be added that the price for the best quality blankets on the New Zealand market is about £4.