Local & General

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 90, 23 May 1949, Page 4

Local & General

Public Holiday The Post Office advises that all of its branches, with the exception of the telephone exchange, will be closed on the King’s Birthday holiday, June 6.

Magnetic Road Sweeper During recent days the Main Highways magnetic trailer outfit has been at work on Whakatane Borough and County roads. The variety of nails, tacks, bolts, pieces of wire and other metallic objects picked up is truly amazing, bearing vivid testimony to the need for a periodical check-up of this nature.

More Matches Expected Some relief for the present match shortage is expected towards the end of next month with the arrival of a shipment of English matches. Regular monthly shipments are expected to follow. New Zealand production of matches continues to be held up by the shortage of labour, it is stated, normal output being down by approximately one-third because of this factor.

Rehabilitation Service So that ex-servicemen might have the best possible chance to place their rehabilitation problems before the authorities, an officer of the Department now attends at the Borough Council Chambers, Whakatane, each Friday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. This is in addition to the service available at all times through the secretary of the Rehabilitation Committee, Mr H. D. London, at the Social Security office.

More Cycle Stands? Cycle stands provided at Whakatane by the Borough Council are always overtaxed by permanently parked machines, thus barring shoppers from using the stands, so the Borough Council has decided to ask the Chamber of Commerce to suggest to its members the provision of cycle stands or racks on their own business premises. The Council has already given permission to the Herd Improvement Association and the Maori Affairs Department to erect-stands in places approved by the Borough foreman. Miles of Reading

A slow reader will scan 300 words a minute; that is, he reads about as twice as fast he talks, and ten times as fast as he writes. At this rate a man may be said to read about ninety yards of tape in half an hour. As even the busiest man probably averages half an hour’s reading a day, every year he must cover a distance of between eighteen and nineteen miles in reading, or the respectable journey of nearly 1,000 miles in fifty years. This is a low and there are probably men who cover six times the distance.