Local and General.

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 7, Issue 1, 24 August 1943, Page 4

Local and General.

Freak Calf Another freak calf was horn in Hikutaia last Avee'k, on the farm of Mr A. Duncan. The calf had three eyes, one of which was in the centre of the. forehead, and also two nostrils and two mouths, one mouth and one nostril being very small. The description of the animal Avas that 'it Avas. a frightful looking object. Dictatorship of Democracy "The coming election is going to be one of the most critical in the history of this country." said Mr Boddie, in opening the meeting at Oparuru. "It will determine Avhethcr the State is to be a virtual dictatorship or Avhether it is to be the servant of the. people. The latter is what Democracy is based on. Until we get a just and suitable Government, we Avill be socialised from the crown of our heads to the soles of our feet." New Post Office Proposal The necessity for a iicav Post Office at Whakatane Avas stressed by Mr W. Sullivan, M.P. for Bay of Plenty Avhen speaking on the Estimates in the House of Representatives. Mr Sullivan said he hoped the erection of a new post office at Whakatane Avould be gone on Avith at the earliest possible moment on the ne.AV site now purchased. It was almost impossible to do business in the. present building because of congestion, and the staff was working under serious difficulties. Meaning of Bernard' "It is a strang'e. coincidence that those two great .soldiers, General Sir Bernard Montgomery and Lieu ten-ant-General Sir Bernard Freyberg, should both ha\'c the same Christian name," said Mr W. Aitchison in proposing a toast to the guests of the evening at the civic concert given ,i'or returned servicemen of the present war in Invercargill. Mr Aitchison said he had looked up the meaning of Bernard, and had found it was "having the resolution of a bear." Borderline Prices An American .scr\*ieeinan comments that though New Zealanders find it difficult to procure cigarettes, they at least have a standard price for them. He told of the time he passed through Texarkana, a town on the border between Texas and Arkansas. He bought a packet of cigarettes and paid 2'.i cents. The proprietor laughed at him and mention that had he bought them across the street they Avould have only cost 15 cents. The explanation is that the State border runs through the main street, making half the toAvn 'in Texas and the other half in Ar-

kansas. In Italian Prison Camp "In our few glimpses of the outside world avc found that the civilian population was very friendly towards us," said Driver B. W. Russell, Whangarci, who,, after nearly two years in Italian prison camps, has been repatriated under the protected personnel scheme. "The attitude of some of the guards was in marked contrast. They would not let us. sing or whistle in the camp. Even if a concert, was in progress and the National Anthem, or, for that matter, any patriotic song, was being sung, the officers, who regarded themselves as censors, would .stop us." Odours on Egyptian Trains In Whangarci on furlough after three years with the Railway Construction Unit, in the Middle. East, Private E. G. Box tells, of the odours on an Egyptian leave train. "Returning from a Icav days of pleasant civilisation and relief from the smelly heat, you find yourself merging once more into the normal state of Egyptian life. Re-entering desert country, the train gathers its quota of the struggling, stinking mass of Egyptian humanity and its scores of vendors of peanuts, gazzoza (ginger beer), 'eggs-a-cook,' 'breads-a-fresh,' bootblacks and newspaper sellers, many of whom clamber along the roofs of carriages, normal communication being impossible owing to the crush. As the train reels oft' the miles, so the odours- gather in strength and variety."

Too Busy Death adders in hundreds scurried past 100 men fighting a bush lire in Queensland. The men were too busy to kill them—and the snakes Avere too bus}- to hi to. any of the men. Keen to Serve Rejected when he offered to enlist for military service, a Brisbane mi'.lkman went home and hanged himself. Another reject jumped from a tram and was seriously injured. Hard Winter in Alps The winter in West land is report' cd to be the severest for many years. One opossum trapper, whe has trapped in the high country foi the past 22 years, reports that th< snow is very deep to a low level or the mountains. The mountain rats birds and even the opossums hav< left the ranges for the 'low coun try. The trappers, in order to gel round the traps:, have had to resor' to snowshocs. < Bronte—and Nelson . News of the capture of Bronte bj the Eighth Army in the course o the Sicilian campaign serves as j reminder that it is 144 y r ears thi: month since the dukedom of Bront< was conferred upon Lord Nelson Nelson played a prominent part ii assisting Ferdinand IV of Naple: in repressing a rebellion in his king dom of the Two Sicilies. The duke dom, with a small estate near Bronte was the. reward for Nelson's services Men for the Air Force With the falling-off in the. de mand for Army personnel, there ha: been an almost corresponding in crease in the demand for men fo the Air Force, and to that oik selection committees have been en gaged for some time past on be, half of the Air Force in redrafting suitable men from the Army intjf the Air Force. Men so drafted com pulsorily are for the ground staf only. Air crew personnel are select ed from volunteers, and there is no thing to prevent anyone from of fering for service in the air. Shortage of Liquorice Many sufferers from winter cold: have become acutely conscious o the shortage of liquorice, which ha: almost disappeared from the marke in Auckland. One chemist in Qucei Street said it A\as only when liquor ice disappeared from the marke that he realised how much it wai used for cough mixtures. Hundred: of mothers had. asked for it lately Noav some of them mixed honej with boiled linseed and also addet the juice of lemon, but the liquor ice AAas lire-eminent. A Deadly Pick-Me-Up Six members of the crew of ar overseas, ship, shortly after sailing from an Australian port, were tak en il'l suffering from poisoning. They had gone aboard after a drinking bout ashore and finished it off bj drinking a pick-me-up which they mixed Avith pineapple juice. The i-cssel put to sea, but the mastei felt compelled to return as the sic! men failed to respond to the treatment of the master. Soon after arrival back in port, the men were sent to hospital, where one of them, in American, died from noisonim*.

More Population Substantial immigration on a long-range plan, with organised settlement of the newcomers was urged by Mr A. Leigh Hunt at a meeting of the Dominion Settlement Association when consideration was given to the need for more population in New Zealand. The meeting carried a motion urging the Government to set up a Royal Commission to explore the economic resources of the Dominion, and also to form an estimate of what population coukl and should be carried, Mr J. S. Barton presided. Absence From School The Otago Education Board, while not prepared to associate itseM' unreserved, y with the Auckland Board on the question of child delinquency, expressed its belief that the problem may begin in irregular school attendance, Avhieh has shown an increase since. 19.'M. In that year 6.2 children were absent every day. Last year the average reached 11.5, representing a daily absenteeism of 1966 children. The board was prepared to appoint a part-time attendance officer to make early investigation of such cases to prevent children drifting to delinquency.

Grenade in Luggage Crate The discovery by railway employees of a Mills hand grenade in a luggage, crate which had been unloaded from the ferry steamer at Lyttclton one morning recently caused some excitement and speculation in the port until Army officers identified it as a harmless practice bomb. The grenade is. similar to the "real thing" in all respects except' that it has no explosive charge in it. Councillors Nonplusstedi A Latin "tag" to a letter from a settler nonplussed members at a meeting of the Whangamomona County Council, states the Taranaki Daily News. None of the members could interpret it and business was interrupted until a translation was obtained. The letter asked that urgent repair work be done, concluding with the expression "Fiat justitia mat colcum" ("Let justice be done though the heavens should fall"). The Birth Rate Earlier marriage was put forward by speakers at the Wellington diocesan synod, as a counter to sexual laxity. With few dissentient voices the synod expressed alarm at the present tendency to late marriage, and the falling birth rate, urged, ail members of the Church, for both moral and national reasons, to do all in their power to encourage early matrimony, and requested the provincial committee for public and social affairs to consider possible action in the matter. Value of Simplification An example of the value of simplification is given in the annual report of the New Zealand Standards Council. Citing glass containers, it remarks that the simplification of these is an example of the extensive economics gained from the application of this principle. Responsible trade interests estimate that the specifications of the simplified practice for glass containers reduces the number of types and sizes! from over 500 to some 250, or by approximately 50 per cent. Proposal for War Risk Funds The proposal that as a gesture, war risk funds held by the Government at the end of the war be. paid over as a gift for British propertyowners who had suffered severe losses, and made terrible sacrifices, was made at the Dominion conference of the New Zealand Farmers' Union in Wellington when consideration was being given to a Southland remit that urgent representation be made, to the Government for the cessation forthwith of the levy on property for war risk insurance. -