Local & General

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 60, 25 June 1948, Page 4

Local & General

New Club Opened The recently formed Cosmopolitan Club at Mount Maunganui was officially opened last week, when members were entertained at a smoke concert in the Peter Pah Hall. First Short-Wave Station New Zealand’s first short-wave station, which will transmit programmes from Titahi Bay, will be' opened shortly. Overseas reports on the reception of test broadcasts have been encouraging. Proposed Catchment District A decision not to offer any ob- - jections to the finding of the Local Government Commission on the proposed Bay of Plenty Catchment District, was reached at the monthly meeting of the Tauranga Borough Council. Model School Shop A model school shop is to be used in connection with number work and general number problems in the infant department of the Paeroa District High School. The sum of £2 for the purchase of plastic toys and other materials was made available to the infant mistress, Miss Gwilliam, at the June meeting of the school committee. Citrus Conference The venue of the next conference of the New Zealand Citrus Council will be Tauranga. This decision was reached at the annual conference held at Gisborne last week. The election of officers resulted: President, Mr N. P. Gibson (Tauranga); vice-president, Mr F. Firth; secre-tary-treasurer, Mr S. M. Conway; auditor, Mr W. J. Rodger. World’s Loneliest Farm “The loneliest farm in the world,” is the description given by a Dumfrieshire man, Mr Edward McMurdo, Janefield, to the holding he managed for the Eastern Telegraph Company on the top of Ascension Island. The island is of volcanic origin, and is sterile for a' thousand feet up, .but beyond that the land can be cultivated, and a herd of cattle is kept. The nearest farm is on St. Helena, 700 miles away. Footballers Iri Collision Returning from Whakatane on Saturday evening, the Tauranga senior Rugby representatives were. involved in an accident when the bus in which they were travelling collided with a car the other side y\ of Te Puke at about 8.45. None of the passengers was injured. The front, right wheel and mudguard of the car was damaged. After a short stop the Tauranga ivas able to continue on its journey. High Speed Shearing A team of six blade shearers on'* Mount Peel Station, South Canterbury, wasted no time in handling a large mob of high country sheep this season, disposing of as many as 960 in one day. The “ringer” was 24-year-old Bert Loffhagen, of Leithfield, who put through 230 sheep in 8 hours and 40 minutes’ working time, this being the highest tally ever put up on the station by a blade shearer and possibly a record further afield. At the same time, 66-year-old Alex Ferguson removed 120 fleeces, though this was not his best tally, for at another district shed earlier in the season he shore 150 sheep* on a normal working day.