THE OPOTIKI NEWS Monday, December 5, 1938. LOCAL AND GENERAL

Opotiki News, Volume I, Issue 118, 5 December 1938, Page 2

THE OPOTIKI NEWS Monday, December 5, 1938. LOCAL AND GENERAL

Temperatures. Temperatures at 0 a.m. on Saturday throughout centres in the North Island, were as follows:—Auckland and Tauranga 04 degrees, Opotiki and East Cape Go, Gisborne and Napier 08, and Wellington. 59. Bobby Calves. The New Zealand Co-operative Pig Marketing Association, in announcing that the season for bobby calves has (,dosed, take the opportunity to thank the farmers of the district lor their support throughout the season. Waiotahi Valley Bridge. Four steel girders for the Waiotahi Valley bridge which is to be erected near Messrs. Looney Bros, property were removed from the wharf today by the County Council truck and taken to the site of the new structure. Tlu* contract is being undertaken by Mr. F. G. Mjaliyi

Fall From Tree. Severe concussion and hemorrhage, was suffered by, Bartley Bridget', aged ten, son of Mr. F. W. Bridget', lord Street, when he fell from a cabbage tree in Mr. J. D. Clark’s grounds yesterday, striking a. concrete lootpath. t The injured boy was admitted to the Opotiki hospital where he is reported to be making satisfactory progress. Bridges on Coast. Good progress is being made with the erection of tho llaukokore and Keren bridges on the Opotikj-Tc Araroa main highway and it is expected that the, Keren bridge will be in use at. Christmas. All the piles for the Baukokore bridge have been completed while nine out of the 10 spans have been completed. It is expected that the Kaukbkore bridge will be in use by the end.of February. Marram Crass. Although marram grass was planted oil several sandy patches skirting the main highway at the WaidfaTu:, beach in July la«t, very little difference in the plants can he noticed at present. The long dry spells at first hampered the growth of the plants and when rain came the plants sprouted several inches. However the large numbers of cattle which have been driven over the road lately have eaten the iresh shoots oil' the plants and unless the patches are fenced off there seems little likelihood that the plants will make any further progress.

Pakihiroa Rainfall. Although Pakihiroa station, on the low slopes of .Mount Hikurnngi, experienced 14 days with rain in Ncvemher, the. total for the month was only I ,(j()in.. whereas 5).69 was recorded lor 12 rain days in the corresponding month last year. On November 2,62 in. of rain was gauged, this being the heaviest day’s' rain lor the period. The recorder reported that the country was still very dry and rain was much needed. For the II months of the year to date Pakihiroa has had a total of l‘dl.(Ksin. o| rain, compared with~92.B2in. in 1967. Price of Butter. A message from Wellington states that a published report that some grocers weir* intending to charge Is Tcl a pound for butter over the counter was brought under the notice ol the Minister of .Marketing, who described this price as altogether too high and unlair when compared with the rise in the wholesale rates. Air. Nash pointed out* that the Ciovernmeut had power to fix the price to the consumer as well as the'.wholesale price, hut lie added that up to the moment it had not contemplated any action.

Increased' Rail Traffic. A considerable l increase in traffic on the Gisborne section ol the railway lias taken place recently, and a two-engined train was run .from Gisliorne to’ Motuhorn on Wednesday to cope with the large amount ol trallic offering that day.. It was the first two-engined train on the Gisborne section tor some years, and was run hack to Gisborne as two specials carrying a total ol 500 tons. In all. more than 1000 tons ol goods wort 1 moved on Wednesday by the. specials and the* ordinary, trains. Metal, timber, wool and firewood were tin* principal freights, metal for reads an.l railway construction making up a large proportion of the total.

Boys From India. "*' At a meeting of the Feilding branch of the Farmers’. Union, a letter was received frdln the provincial secretary stating that nine Eurasian boys were coming to New Zealand from India to seek positions on farms to learn farming. :‘t ■■■■ r' ‘ London’s Courteous Drivers. “The most surprising thing about London is that yon never bear a mot-or-horn/’ said Mr. ,R, L* Grant, of Wellington, who has returned after a six-jnoutlis’ trip abroad. “You go all over the rest od: the world and your nerves are just about shattered by motor-horns, but not in London,” he said. “The drivers there are very courteous. They wait in queues lor indefinite periods without anybody; getting annoyed, but 1 did, sitting in a taxi. They.get along just as fast in the long run, 1 suppose, and it is much better for the nerves.”

Germans and Jew-baiting. “The Germans will approach Jews a.nd do anything to provoke them, two 1 saw having their noses broken for no apparent reason,” said -Mr. S. Tnit, Whatatutu, when interviewed regarding his recent tour of Europe. He said that ,tho conditions lor the Jews were appalling, and that, they dare not show any sign of retaliating for fear of greater insult or harm being done them and their families. While he was in Vienna lie saw another incident which showed how the Jew was down-trodden. A non-Aryan was standing on a street corner opposite Mr. Tait when a troop of German soldiers marched past) Apparently the Jew failed 'to give the Nazi salute—the Gisborne visitor saw nothing else that might have been offensive—because the lieutenant in command of the troops stepped over to the Jew and dealt him a hard slap on the face.

Rescued from the Dole. Three men in Christchurch,, now employed as licensed wiremon, have to thank the Soldiers’ Re-establish-ment League for their rescue tram the dole level. During the depression, the league arranged for their acceptance- by the Christchurch Municipal Electricity Department as adult apprentices, and prevailed on the lnemployment Board to subsidise their earnings to the relief-scale rate. Alter tlireu years, each sab for the electrical wire men’s examination and passed. One, indeed, topped the. Now Zealand examination list, and received the gold medal which that success qualified him for. 1 hi* three men are in permanent jobs as fully-quali-fied wiremen.

New Zealand Butter Unprocurable. It is almost impossible to huy Now Zealand l butter in London. 'I lint, at all events, is the conclusion reached by Dr. A. JL O'Brien, who lias returned to Christchurch from a trip to ICurone. .He was so concerned about the absence, except in rare instances, of stocks ol; the Dominion’s butter branded as such, and the almost universal sale of “i’jinpiro butter.” that he approached the High Commissioner, Air. W. J. Jordan. -Mr. Jordan told him that so long a.s Britain bought New Zealand butter the Dominion was not concerned about how it, was sold. This answer did not satisfy Dr. O’Brien, who said that New Zealand butter was the best sold' in Britain, but that under the present system it was impossible to distinguish it.

Deficient Postage. Many hundreds ol New Zealand admirers ol film stars who have contributed to the big “fan mail are doomed to disappointment- because • they omitted to place the proper postage of ‘2id on their letters to the Doited States of America. At least 500 of these letters to film studies \vere returned by tho last inward American mail all marked “Belused.” because the intended recipients were not prepared to pay the deficiency surcharge ol Jo on a letter posted in New Zealand with a Id stamp. The New Zealand Bust 'Office will endeavour to return all these letters to their senders and collect- the deficiency charge of 3d as some compensation for a double trip across tlid J’hciiic.