The Opotiki News Monday, January 9, 1939. LOCAL AND GENERAL

Opotiki News, Volume II, Issue 131, 9 January 1939, Page 2

The Opotiki News Monday, January 9, 1939. LOCAL AND GENERAL

Official Openihg of Garage. Messrs. M. O. Kidd, Ltd., announce that the official opening of their new garage and petrol station will take place ..to-morrow afternoon at 2 pan. Return to Dairying. There is every probability that in the coining season there will be a definite swing from sheepfarming to dairying in Taranaki. The trend during the last two or three years lias been the other way. Temperatures. The Bay of Plenty reported blueskies on Saturday but elsewhere in the. North Island overcast conditions prevailed. Temperatures at 9' o’clock were: Auckland 65, Tauranga and East- Cape 68, Opotiki 72, Gisborne 74, Napier 69. and Wellington 64. Statutory Holidays. \ Fallowing are the dates of statutory holidays to be observed this year : —Easter, April 7 to IQ (Friday to Monday inclusive) ; Anzac Day. Tuesday, April 25; King’s Birthday, Monday, June 5; Labour Day, Monday, October 23; Christmas Day, Monday, December 25: Boxing Day. Tuesday. December 26. Heat at "Hastings. With a shade temperature of more than 86deg. on Thursday, 'Hastings experienced the hottest day in two summers. The hottest day last summer was Christmas Day, when the temperature was Though a light south breeze blew, the heat at midday was very trying.

Hiking De Luxe. f 4» Two hikers who arc apparently hulking their way through the Hay of Plenty were seen near the Rotorua Lakes yesterday, employing a novel method of having their camping equipment carried. In front ot the hikers walked a donkey with a pack, while a small dog completed .the party. Young Farmers* Pig Club. Members of the Opotiki Young Farmers’ Pig Club, formed from members of the Opotiki Young Farmers’ Club, have carried on successfully during the.past 15 months, and have purchased a second sow. Ihe club had adopted the Devon breed from the stud of the Opotiki Dairy Association. The club is a very active one, and field clays are held as a regular practice. Members take a keen interest in. the club, the future of which seems assured.

Cerman People and War. Some indication oi : the atmosphere in Gerniaiiy during l the tense days of the September crisis is conveyed in personal letters now reaching Auckland. A Scottish girl student in Germany, who cannot speak too highly of the kindness shown her there, rerecords that her German host incessantly preached Nazi-ism, which he called “perfect Christianity.M f Her hostess in Hiunich, however, broke down whenever she spoke of war. and the daughter said, “If Hitler takes us into war that’s the end of him.” Struck by Axe. While watching dents in a damaged mudguard being beaten out with an axe after a small collision near the Alohaka rabbit bridge, a spectator ventured too close to the wiolder and was struck on the head with the blunt edge of the axe. He was rendered unconscious, but the serious nature of the accident was averted by his good-humoured remark on recovery that lie had only been knocked out once and it took' a man with an axe to do it'.

Record) Year for Rain. A total of 140.89'in. of rain for the past year is recorded from Pakihiroa station, near liuatoria. This is the highest total recorded at the station, the previous largest being in 1916, 1917. and 1918, the figures for those periods being 123.41 in.. 135.04 in., and 137.G7in. respectively. Last year the rainfall totalled; 99.53 in. Last month’s - total ’was 6.86 in. on 13 . days, the maximum fall being l.oßin. «n December 25. In December last year the rainfall totalled 6.71 in. on five /' days.