Local and General

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 7, Issue 92, 21 July 1944, Page 4

Local and General

To Beautify Our Town. It has been suggested to this paper that practical assistance to the work of the Beauitifying Society caa be given by private citizens each donating the value of a tree or ornamental shrub for planting on Arbour Day. Residents please note. "D" Day On August 3rd and 4th, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's latest newsreel, "The Invasion of Normandy" will be screened at the Regent Theatre. Air mailed to New Zealand straight from the fighting front # this the very latest action newsreel of the invasion and gives all details of the landing of Allied forces in Normandy on "D" Day. Donations Acknowledged Gifts, received at the Whakatane Hospital during June are acknowledged by the management as tinder: Lemons, Mrs Knight; Flowers, Whakatane Men's Club; Magazines, Mrs F. Hansen; Ice Can, Air Ring, Mrs Donaldson; Apples, Mr McGougan; Games and Books, Junior Red Gross; Lemons, and Persimons, Mr Pearce; Pumpkins, Mrs Le Lievre; Books and Magazines, Mrs G. Booth. Coal-cutting Machine An innovation in mining machinery in the Inangahua coalfield is an electric coal-cutting machine, which is now being operated in the New Pyramid Dip, in the Waitahu section of the field. Driven by a 5 h.p. electric motor, the machine will cut a 6ft shot hole in less than 10 minutes, and is capable of channelling to a width of. 12ft. Saving in Paper The saving in paper effect in the issue of the new Thames telephone directory can be gathered from the fact that the new directory contains 58 pages, comparexl with 74 in the December, 1941, directory, although the periow of three years, between the issue of directories has naturally seen an increase in the, number of telephone subscribers in the Thames postal district. Strange Find During boring operations at a well in "Sturgess Park, Otahuhu,. a strange find of some miro tree seeds was made. Aftc. r passing through a depth of peat and a 12ft layer of clay a few handfuls of the seeds were brought to the surface from a depth of about 35ft. Just how many years, thousands perhaps, these may have been buried none can say, but the find was a most interesting one. Prisoner's Thrill A thrill was experienced by a prisoner of. war in a Java camp when he picked up on. his birthday a broadcast message, from his wife, who is in Auckland. A postcard, which was among thfe first batch to be received in this country from Java, reached his wife this week. It was dated December 25 t The card stated that the writer was in excellent health and had been thrilled by the broadcast message. His wife had. sent it through Australia on the. off-chance he might hear it, but whether he picked it up himself or whether the camp authorities passed it on to him is not known. Canned 1 Stew Contract For the next six months a canning factory at Bluff will be engaged in fulfiling a large contract, for canned Army rations. The rations to be canned will be stew consisting of beef, potatoes, carrots, peas and onions. The contract calls for up to 3,000,000 lb. The canning factory, which has been closed since Christmas, will absorb approximately 300 tons of potatoes, 120 tons of carrots, 80 tons of peas, in addition to boned beef to be prepared at the Makerewa and Mataura freezing works. Disabled Soldiers "We have got to get away from the idea that, the only job the disabled serviceman can do is operating a lift" said the. Minister *of Rehabilitation, Major Skinner, to the N.Z.R.S.A. conference. He said there was not one disabled man who could not, with the necessary training, be fitted into some economic job. The Mayor of Wellington, Mr Appleton, had mentioned what his council was prepared to do, and already there had been conferences between the departmental and council officers to devise ways and means of training council employees* disabled on service, to carry out some other work in the corporation's organisation. Similar steps were being taken by some other large employers who were spending a lot of money to that end. The feeling of responsibility to the servicemen Was spreading.