Local & General

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 71, 25 August 1947, Page 4

Local & General

A Dangerous Habit A number of motorists have complained about the growing habit of cyclists in this town riding three and even more, abreast. The main trouble in this connection according to most drivers occurs in Commerce Street, where the traffic is always congested, especialy between 8 and S a.m. and 5 and 6 p.m. A recent near accident occurred halfway down the straight when three young girls collided withm each other and were thrown, luckily without any serious hurt. Cyclists are asked to co-operate in this connection by riding singly or at the most, in pairs.

N.Z. Gift Shield

A shield presented by the New Zealand Government to the National Smallbore Rifle Association of England in 1906 and competed for annually at the Bisley meeting, was destroyed in a blitz in May, 1941, and is being replaced. The new shield is a handsome specimen of inlay work, using a number of New Zealand woods, paua shell, and New Zealand silver for the plate carrying the inscription.

Production Of Apples New Zealand could produce and market 5,000,000 cases of apples a year, said the president of the New Zealand Fruitgrowers’ Federation, Mr A. G. Congdon, at a conference of the federation. He said that -the price was the governing factor and the job of the federation was to see that the price set was one which would lead to increased production. He added that he hoped provision would be made this year to export 1,000,000 cases.

Damage By Bird How a little bird carrying a wisp of hay back to its nest caused hundreds of pounds’ worth of damage is a story told amid the statistics in the annual report of the State Hydro-electric Department, tabled in the House of Representatives. Hay carrie’d by a bird into the 50 kilo-volt transmission line between Henderson and Takapuna, Auckland, resulted in a flashover, and the subsequent reclosing of the circuit started a fire which destroyed 1000 bales, states the report.

“The Australian Journal” The romance, drama and humour of Australian life in all its variety are brightly reflected in this month’s “Australian Journal.” Among a dozen of so stories its’s hard to pick the best, but “The Big Caisson,” R. G. Perry’s tale of bridgebuilding in North Queensland, and “Kalgoorlie Gold,” Ben Nigel’s yarn of the West Australian goldfields, both strike a vividly picturesque note. Colourful, also, is “So Long Charlie!” a reminiscence of the droving days, by Frank Walford. Lighter stories are contributed by a number of popular women writers, while the main feature is the second instalment of “The Yearling,” the Pulitzer Prize novel by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, on which the well known film was based. At sixpence, “The Australian Journal” gives plenty for the money, but the quality is as surprising as the quantity.