The Opotiki News Friday. December 5, 1947. LOCAL & GENERAL

Opotiki News, Volume X, Issue 1052, 5 December 1947, Page 2

The Opotiki News Friday. December 5, 1947. LOCAL & GENERAL

M®eting Cancelled. Owing to the prevailing epidemic the December meeting of the Opotiki Women’s Institute has been cancelled. Food for Britain. Only one more entry is required for the garden competition for the Food for Britain campaign. Now who will be ini

Boy Scouts, Commissioner L. H. Jones advises that all Scout and Cub meetings are cancelled until further notice except in the case of the six senior scouts. The senior scouts will take the remaining two St. John lectures on Monday Bth and 15th December. Whakatane County Chairman. Mi'. J. L. Burnett was re-elected chairman of the Whakatane County Council at the annual meeting held last .Friday. The usual grant in lieu of travelling expenses (travelling expenses to. meetings additional) of TIUO was voted to the chairman for the coming year. Firemen’s Boots. At the present time firemen’s boots are practically unprocurable and brigades arc finding it difficult to provide replacements for the firemen. The United Fire Brigades’ Association is endeavouring to let a contract to cover the whole of the brigades in the Dominion on a standardised pattern ad it is hoped this will overcome the difficulty.

Christmas Party. At a meeting of the Fire Brigade (liold on Wednesday it was resolved to cancel the children’s Christinas party in the meantime. It was decide however that the Brigade, mounted on the fire engine would distribute toys, etc. to the children’s homes, commencing at 2.30 p.m. on Saturday the 20th. of December. Now boys and girls, watch for daddy with Father Christmas on that date. First Meeting of JJouncil. The newly-elected Borough Council held its first meeting on Tuesday night when the usual declarations were signed by ooucillors. Those present were: The Mayor (Mr. T. G, Johnson), C’rs. W. J. Inskip, S. N. Chatficld, W. J. Andrews, G. L. Day, F. H. Roe, T. Webb. Mr. W. H. Briggs (town clerk) and Mr. J. 11. Morcll (inspector) were also in attendance. The following committees were appointed: Works, the Mayor, Crs. Chatficld, In skip, Stitt, Webb. Finance, C’rs. Andrews, Day and Roe. A full report of the meeting will appear in next issue.

“Olympia” Receipts. The Food for Britain Fund benefittcd further us a result of the twoday screening of the film “Olympia” last week. Altogether 1,400 viewed the film and the gross takings amounted to £93 which sum went to the fund. Whakatane with double the population of Opotixi netted £ll9 4s 10 from the screenings in that town. Dominion total proceeds from the film up to November 22 had reached £12,052, all of which has teen donated to the fund by Kerridge-Odeon. The Government has waived the amusement tax, so that every penny can go to ;he cause.

Frogs M.-:.y Air Science. Two Wellingon men who recently paid a visit to South Africa brought back with them a number of African frogs, which arc now at the Wellington zoo. Some of these frogs are of the spur-toed variety, and are remarkable in that they have no tongues. The most interesting frogs in the consignment, however, are those which have been in use for about tile past 10 years by medical men for pregnancy tests. A Wellington medical authority said that experiments had Been carried out with these African frogs for some years on mice and rabbits, and it was interesting to know that these frogs were nowon hand in New Zealand for pregnancy tests.

Winged Thistle. An allegation that noxious weeds were coming into this arda in grass and other seeds from outside districts was made by Cr. L, W. Luxton at Friday’s meeting of the Whakatane County Council. He was referring in. particular to winged thistle., which, the chairman, Mr. J. L. Burnett, had said seemed likely to become a worse pest than ragwort. Reference was also made to the winged thistle at Tuesday night’s meeting of the O.potiki Borough Council when Inspector Morell presented his report. Or. F. H. Itoe drew attention to the growth of the thistle at and in the vicinity of the saleyards and said it required immediate attention. Inspector Morell saicl he bad already served notice on the stock companies to clear the noxious weeds and lie would again see into the matter. (Jr. Roe stated he had seen hundreds of acres of solid thistle in Hawke's I3a.v and it was likely to be a. worse problem than ragwort.

Social Security' Facilities. At the monthly meeting, of the Opotiki Chamber of Commerce, Mr. A. R. Stott urged the provision of better Social Security facilities in Opotiki. After some discussion he moved 'that the district agent from Whakatane be asked to make a visit one or two days a -week in addition to the usual visits from the registrar from Rotorua*. The motion was seconded by; Mr. E. W. Oswald and carried. Pensions For Parliamentarians. Strong criticism, of what" he claimed was on attempt on the part of the Government to grant themselves pensions out of all proportion to services rendered was levelled at the recent meeting of the Opotiki Chamber of Commerce by Mr. C. Gordon. He drew a comparison between the £8 per week Parliamentarians would receive on retiring after nine years service as against the £2 5s received by pensioners. Public servants paid in for 40 years 5 per cent of their income and got nothing like £8 per week. Mr. Gordon moved that a protest be lodged through the Associated Chambers of Commerce. The motion was seconded by Mr. E. W. Oswald and carried.