Word: first
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...government corporation had plenty of excuses. First there were heavy rains, then a severe drought. The bush in the Kongwa district had "proved unduly obstinate"; it took eight hours to clear one acre instead of the estimated two. Kongwa soil hardens until it becomes "like a tennis court." Tractors had been mishandled by native labor. Even African animals turned saboteurs. Wild pigs made a goober feast of one experimental farm, and telephone lines were constantly broken by mild but shortsighted giraffes who got entangled in the wires...
...that they were "unable to report that in our opinion proper books of accounts have been kept by the corporation." But Sir Leslie Arthur ("Dick") Plummer, the corporation's chairman and Labor's vice president in charge of groundnuts, also had some excuse for this. In the first year (1947-48), the scheme had been run by a subsidiary of the empire-wide business colossus, Unilever. Plummer claimed that when his corporation took over a year ago, the books were already in chaos. This did not satisfy one Tory M.P., who exploded: "Damned if any shareholders...
This week Moscow's hordes of subway-riding white-collar workers and bureaucrats were full of stir as workmen put the finishing touches on a new subway line. It is the first segment of a Great Circle line that will intersect the present three spokelike crosstown lines (see map). When the Great Circle is completed, the center of Moscow will have a fine system: a passenger will be able to get from almost anywhere to almost anywhere in the city by changing trains only once...
Most trains consist of six cars; the first car has a roped-off section for children, invalids and pregnant women. Seats, which run down the side of the cars, are upholstered with brown leather. There is no straphanging: standing passengers hold on to bars. The cars are bright, clean and semi-soundproofed, so that conversation is possible. But there are no wall ads to entertain or annoy the traveler...
...strongest outpost in North America's Atlantic defense. Nearly $400 million was pumped into Newfoundland during the war years to build air and naval installations on the rugged island. In peacetime an average of $30 million a year continued to flow from Washington to keep the bases in first-rate shape and, incidentally, provide Newfoundland with the equivalent of an important industry...