THE OPOTIKI NEWS Friday, December 30, 1938. LOCAL AND GENERAL

Opotiki News, Volume I, Issue 128, 30 December 1938, Page 2

THE OPOTIKI NEWS Friday, December 30, 1938. LOCAL AND GENERAL

Now Year Holidays. An M'ondny next will bo observed ns a statutory liolitlu.v, the Opotiki News will unit lie published on Unit <l'u,y.. Temperatures. Teinpefntores .yesl,er<lay throughout the North Island were higher, running to 75 decrees at Napier, 71 degrees lit Gisborne, mnl (17 decrees at Cape Mnria. and Opotiki, with other stations ranging down to tiO at Wellington. Shipping. The m.s, Otimai left Opotiki at ahunt 10 o’clock yesterday morning. Owing to the .New Year holidays, Auckland .warehouses will not. reopen until January 4th. and the Waiolahi will not leave lor Opotiki until 4 p.iu. on Wednesday. December Probatca. * Included in the list el’ estates lor which probate or letters ol' administration have been granted! ill the Auckland Supreme Court during the month of December is (hat of Diehard Vniistone, Opotiki, retired fanner. The estate valuation is given at C 17,000Prolonged Earthquake. An earthquake shock, which lasted over a minute, was Celt in Opotiki al 2,25 ii.iii, to-day. The centre of the disturbance was yvidentL some hundreds oil miles distant as •there was an absence ol jerk, the movements being smooth, causing lights to joggle and swing in an erratic manner. The shake was the longest IVIt in Opoti'ri since the Napier earthquake. Pukcko Eggs. “Apart from lucking red and making custard pink, pukcko eggs taste just like lieu eggs,” said Mrs. S. G. Whit tall. Wanganui, whose aviary of about 2(10 birds includes a tame pukeku, known In I lie family as Rajah, itiijah lays her daily egg with regularity and nests just outside the kilclu a window. She is a most n I feet imm !e bird and when called she runs with the inquisitive gait peculiar In pukekns from any part, part ol the garden to her mistress or master.

Year's Heaviest Frost. Weather conditions in (Jishorne nl Inle have heen marked hy unusually low {rniss temporal lires, iu curding In nhservalions Inken 111 the (iisliorno aerodrome meteorological ■'■lst inn. •stnt.-s the IMS. Ileial.l. This meriting ( W'edni'sdny) n Ims I n>l (i.M degrees wits recorded, while on I'ridtiv hist the it re ss temperature Wits I'vm colder with it Irnsl, nl' 7.:$ decrees. These figure's are surprising when it is cntisnlered that (Jishorne's seven si Irnsl (Inline the winter was one ol <>.:t <horees, recorded on .inly It'. Ihe Irnsl on Dereniher -T is the heaviest the nerodnnne weather station has recorded I'nr the year In date. Phonomonal Pea Crop. Some hundreds <1 men,' women, hoys and girls Inisily picking peas in a. 7<l-aei'e field alongside I'nplar tlmee. I'nkowhni, have provided an unusual sight loir passers-hy in recent days. The peas, which were grown hy Mr. A. Hull I'nr a Hastings canning fartnrv, were plantisl in land which was silted over during the April llcod Irom j,. depth ni a lew inches to as mm h as ‘ill. (iin., and they have yielded a phenomenal crop. An average nl In Inns o| peas is now being picked each da.' . As the peas an' picked they are hurried nil' In the canning factory, where alter lining shelled hy an ingenious machine, they are canned immediately. 'l'he lime between picking and canning is often nul\ a lew hours.