THE OPOTIKI NEWS Friday, January 6, 1939. LOCAL AND GENERAL

Opotiki News, Volume II, Issue 130, 6 January 1939, Page 2

THE OPOTIKI NEWS Friday, January 6, 1939. LOCAL AND GENERAL

Shipping. The m.s. Waiotahi arrived at Opotiki shortly after 6 o’clock this morning. The vessel will resume, the usual time-table next week. Street Sanding. , One result of the spell of hot weather has been that tar .has been melting on the sealed roads, causing the tar tp flow to. the surface. Borough ■workmen were "busily engaged yesterday sanding the sticky parts of the roads, to prevent the tar being picked Tip by vehicles. H igher Temperatures. 'With the exception of Wellington,, where overcast conditions prevailed in the morning, blue skies were again general throughout the North Island yesterday. Temperatures at 9 o’clock were: 'Auckland and -East Cape 66 degrees, Tauranga 71. Opotiki 70, Gisborne 76, Napier 68, and Wellington 38. A Fine High Jump. A visitor, to Gisborn?, drone -Auckland, N. Thoiii, Was in fine fcfnt at a recent sports meeting, and ip the junior high jump, cleared sft. 81-in., a junior record for Gisborne.. ♦Small in build, Tlioin uses a very short run up to the bar and it is his springy action that gets him up so high. Five feof seven inches in height, he won the secondary school ehampionsip this year, at Auckland, at oft. 7in., which was liis best effort prior to his performance at Gisborne. Sheep Movements. Several large mobs of sheep from the Gisborne district have passed through Opotiki during .the past week, hut the movement of store sheep to the Waikptoi and other districts has not yet reached the proportions of previous: years. There is a fair amount of feed available for stock on all roads, while as a result of the wet spell in December, there is an ample supply of water for some time.

Visiting Tourists. Tourists have been seen on the Opotiki district roads during tlie spell of fine weather, in considerable numbers'. The new coastal highway is being well patronised and camps can be seen right along the coast, the Waikanae beach near Te Kalia proving a very popular spot. Since the quick rise in the ltaukokore river at Christmas, the streams on the road have given no trouble, although motorists are still advised to make use of the bullock team in making this crossing. Pohutukawias on Strike. A disappointment to motorists who traversed the East Coast scenic road this summer was the almost completo absence of. pohutukawa flowers, an experience that is without precedent in the memory. of local residents. Normally, the pohutukawas are at, their best just before; Christmas, and when the trees had not blossomed at the usual' time it was at first 'thought that it was merely due to the lateness of the season. , As the days passed with' only an odd patch of colour, however, it was realised that most of the trees were not going to flower at all. Evidence of the poorness of the display was the fact that between Waihau Bay and Oruaiti Beach, which is generally'a mass of bloom on roadside and hillside., there were bhlv about a dozen trees which showed any sign of colour. Gisborne’s Water Shortage. Gisborne is facing a serious problem in regard to a shortage of water, and (this is expected to be intensified during the next few days with the resumption of industry following tho holiday period. During the past few days of absolute restrictions on the use of hoses the level at- the Waingake headvvorks has just been holding its own. with no overflow at all. That was during the holiday period when industries were at a standstill and many people were out of town. With a resumption of most industries on Wednesday and the return of a large proportion of the families who were on holiday during the Christmas and New Year period, a greatly increased draw-off is expected. fljlie level at Waingake is expected to fall rapidly, and other means of supplementing the Waingake supply will be necessary.

Summer’s Highest Temperature. The highest shade temperature in .Gisborne for the summer to date was recorded on Wednesday,- w-lien the thermometer reached 80.2 degrees at the aerodrome and 83.5 degrees at the Waikanae Beach. Previously the temperature at the aerodrbnie had not risen higher than 78.6 degrees, although on at least two occasions 82.5 degrees had been attained at the Waikanae Beach. Last summer readr ings of over 80 degrees were common at both places, and January 4, 1938, contributed the peak temperature of 97 degrees at the Waikanae and 91.3 degrees at the, aerodrome..

Stingray Encountered. While walking along the bank of file Waiawa river during the holidays a Waiawa resident came upon a stingray basking in the sun c/ut- on the sand about one hundred yards from the mouth of the river. The stingray was an exceptionally large one being a.lxmt two feet across the back. It was not known at first what the fish was and it was polked with a stick and instantly became very active. When bigger sticks were found and an attempt made to kill the stingray, it ipade its way to the water, becoming very vicious. As soon as the stingray entered the water it made off at a fast rate and quickly disappeared. It is stated that . the stingray often leaves the. water to. bask in the sun, and being the same colour as the sand, is not very noticeable and it would be quite easy to step on one.

Shark in Tauranga Harbour. A large shark was seen, by an Opotiki resident during the holidays at Tauranga and the Miount. The shark could be seen beiow the surface at first but slowly came to the surface and went into shallow water, moving along slowly with the fin wall above the surface. The fish was estimated to be about ten feet long and caused considerable interest. After being disturbed the shark made off passing closely to the ferry boat. Another party df Opotiki residents saw the shark during the day and on this occasion an attempt was being made by some residents to shoot the shark with a pea-rifle. Busy Shoppers. After the spell of 4 days with closed business premises, Opotiki presented a busy, appearance yesterday. Because the holiday period was a fairly lengthy one, many householders found themselves short of many requirements by yesterday morning, with the result that there whs unusual activity in the shops. The crowd of shoppers in town during the forenoon was larger than for an ordinary week day, and business was- sustained throughout the greater part of the day. Tourists were also anxious to secure stocks of foodstuffs, some not anticipating the closing of shops in Opotiki for the three-day period.

Fishermen’s Good Haul. Fishermen who made their headquarters at Waihau Bay during the holidays experienced tlie run of inch that is usual on that pan: ol the coast, fair catches being made every day from the rocks or from a boat A particularly good haul was made oil Monday by a. party which fished the hapuka. grounds off Cape Runaway.' Within an hour 31 hapuka ranging up to nearly -601 b. in weight had been landed, with three - -lines, in addition toi several sharks and other fish, and operations then had to be suspended as the boat was fully loaded. The party included l one Gisborne fisherman. Mr. N. H. Bull, who previously figured in a. remarkaole catch in t.lie same locality. v>

Car Drivers in Hot Weather. The practice of motorists driving with their elbows and arms out of the side of their cars during hot weather was commented upon by a Gisborne resident. He said it was difficult to distinguish from a regulation stop signal when drivers cooled themselves by having their arms out of cars and holding on to the edge of. the hoed. He had mentioned the matter to several other motorists, who had remarked that they had experienced the same indecision about the' intended movement of vehicles in front of them on account of this practice. In some cases they had been compelled to follow a ear for some distance until they realised that a man who had his elbow protruding well out from the side of his vehicle liad no* intention of changing the direction of his ear. Some drivers have a habit of holding their arm well out of the side window while they remove cigarette ash in a leisurely manner and unless overtaking traffic can see the. cigarette the action is usually taken for a signal and causes considerable annoyance and confusion.