Local & General

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 14, 9 April 1947, Page 4

Local & General

Conserving Electricity At a general meeting of retailers > held last week it was decided, as a power conservation measure, to open premises at 8.30 a.m. and close at 8.30 p.m. on Fridays. This will come into operation on Friday, April 11. Details are advertised elsewhere in this issue. -.

Unreserved Sale

Of special interest to farmers will be the unreserved auction sale to be conducted by the F.A.C. at Awakaponga on Saturday. The sale will take place at the home of Mr Percy Rouse, Awaiti Road and the items for disposal include many useful articles which are usually hard to come by as well as numerous items indispensable to a handyman farmer.

Golf Club Opening Attention is drawn to the official opening of the Whakatane Golf Club (Inc.) to take place on Saturday, April 12 which is advertised elsewhere in this issue. The opening has always been a grand occasion and this year will be no exception. A cordial invitation to members of other clubs, visitors and intending members' is extended and ladies are asked to bring a plate.

Young Caledonians < Arrangements are well Ih hand for an evening to be Tield shortly under the auspices of the MacLeod Clan of the Whakatane Young Caledonians. It is understood that final details were settled at a meeting of the clan recently and that items for the evening are being rehearsed: A number of items by clan members should make the function a novel and enjoyable one for old and young alike. Safe In Port Fears for the safe arrival in port of the vessel Otimai expressed to a representative of the Beacon by Mr Hall of the Northern Steamship Company iast week appear to have been unfounded. A crowd assembled at the Heads to see the vessel come in, many doubtless expecting her to experience some difficulty in making the entrance in view of the fact that she was drawing 7 feet of water. To those on the. shore the ship appeared to have little or no difficulty. Accompanied by the harbour board launch she made her entrance and was soon tied up beside the wharf.

Noxious Weed Control

Referring to noxious* weed control the county engineer, Mr C H. Brebner, stated in his report at the-March meeting of the council that the; gangs had ceased operations for the 1946/47 season. Altogether they had cleared ragwort and blackberry on 4.705 acres, using 200 tons of sodium and lime for dusting. Cutting had to be done in some areas owing to the advanced state of the ragwort and the nature of the property, in some cases ti tree an fern country. It had been found necessary to engage labour to clear ragwort from two privately owned properties. Where Were the Methodists One of those sly digs which always go a long way towards enlivening the proceedings of any social gathering occurred at the farewell gathering tendered the Rev. and Mrs A. F. Attwood in the St John Hall last Wednesday ..evening. Mr F. Darvill referring to the fine work of Rev. Attwood in - visiting the local gaol, said that although there, were never any Methodists there it made no difference to Rev. Attwood who was just as friendly to \ the Anglicans and Presbyterians he invariably found there. The buck was neatly passed by Rev. J. . G. Laughton who in a subsequent .tribute reminded Mr Darvill that the reason why the Methodists were not in the Whakatane gaol was because they only took short-term prisoners there—the more serious offenders went to Mount Eden.

Corncerning Noxious Weeds The methods used by noxious weeds inspectors to induce delinquent farmers to go to work on ragwort plants on their properties are many and varied. Perhaps this little true story concerning an inspector in another district will raise a smile. After repeated efforts the farme% concerned had set to and done a good job. The inspector noticed this and called at the house to thank him. The farmer was not at home but growing in the back garden was a real "father" of the ragwort plant. The inspector pulled this up and left it with the following note on the offender's doorstop. "You have done a very good job but I have pulled up the one you were keeping for seedj" The farmer's feelings on his arival home are left to the reader's imagination.