Local and General

Chronicle (Levin), 23 March 1949, Page 4

Local and General

Large Shot In Quarry

About 325,000 tons of limestone, were brought down in a quarry at' Portland, near Whangarei, by a' i blast of 32 tons of explosive. Similar shots are fired every 18 months. ■ The limestone is mecha'nically loaded on trucks and taken to the ' cement works. ! Two-up School Raided | Twenty-two persons, including four women, were arreSted in a nolice raid on a two-up .school at Freeman's Bay, Auckland, -on Mon-; day night. In the police court yes-: terday Francis George Zimmerman, aged 27, a contraetor,. was sent to gaol for one month on a common gaminghouse charge., and William Joseph Ge'e, aged 45,- a..wh'arf labourer and occupier of the prexn- • ises, was sentencedito two months' 1 imprisonment. The: other 20 persons were fined from £2 to £5. Geyser's New Mooa t. V .r.hf„ o,A( New Zealand's tallest geyser, which is in the Wairakei Valiey, is developing a new characteristic. It used to play to a heignt. of.98 ft. every 10 to 13 hours. For. some time it has been having occasional false starts in which its bowl has

been fillingj reducing the pressure j and only allowing play of a heignt, j much below the usual. Sometimes I the real play has begun three hours ; later, but soihetimes it has not, and I guides at Wairakei are keeping a j close watch to discover if this new "whim" is likely to be permanent. j Antarctic Research A weather ship, sponsored by I Norway, Sweden and Britain comj bined, will operate in the Antarctic Ocean this autumn and winter. A ! landing party of" British and Scanj .dihavian scientists will undertake i research on Ci'own Princess Astrid Land. The ship is a former Ger- ! man troopship, the Svalbard, 5000 tons, now flying. the Norwegian | colours. Leader of the expeditioh is General Hilmar Liiser-Larsen, \ who was chief of the Norwegian Air ! Force, Professor H. W. Ahlmann, of | Stoclcholm University, is in charge of scientific planning. The expedition may call at New Zealand.