THE OPOTIKI NEWS Wednesday, May 10, 1939. LOCAL AND GENERAL

Opotiki News, Volume II, Issue 180, 10 May 1939, Page 2

THE OPOTIKI NEWS Wednesday, May 10, 1939. LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dear Eggs at Napier. Eggs - sold in a Napier auction mart on Thursday last at prices up to 4s Cd a dozen. . This is believed to be a record level. Temperatures. Temperatures at 7 o’clock yesterday morning at various places in the North Island "were: Auckland, Gisborne and Wellington 56 degrees, Tauranga 52, Opotiki 54, East- Cape 54, and Napier 58. Driest on Record 1 . Constituting the driest period since records were kept, the total rainfall, in AA'aipukurau for the first four months of the year amounts to 3.38 in., compared with 14.16 in. for the JanuaryApril period last year. Eggs Thrown at Town Clock. Three young men who on a recent night threw eggs at the post office clock and about Queen Street were charged in the Magistrate’s Court, Mastertou, - with behaving in a disorderly manner. They were each fined £2 and costs. V Doctor’s Bags Stolen. Two bags, containing surgical and medical appliances were stolen from a car owned by Dr. 11. M. Gunn when lid parked it in Rangi Street, Gisborne, on Friday night. Dr. Gunn first became aware of his loss when some boys brought him some of the instruments and told him they had found them in the AVaikaliae Creek nearby. Dr. Gunn went to the creek and found other instruments there. One bag, which contained medical appliances, is stiil missing. Australia After Drought. “Contrary to .all expectations about the disastrous effects the drought might have caused in Austraiii. J ■found that country looking better than. 1. have ever seen it.” said a frequent visitor to the Commonwealth, . Air. R. T Reid, of Hamilton, who has returned' from a 'six weeks’ holiday, accompanied by Mrs. Reid. He said l:e visited many racing stud farms in the -west, where the pastures wore a picture. Bumper wheat crops were also promised. Cycling Tour Abandoned. Suffering a recurrence of the. leg trouble which had hindered him in the early stages of his tour, the Ngaruawahia cyclist, R. A. Walker,' who arrived at Napier on Saturday afternoon in the course of a proposed round-the-North-Island cycling tour, abandoned liis ride at AAGiipukurau. AValker, who left Auckland at 10.15 p.in. on Tuesday last, journeyed to Napier via Hamilton, Rotorua, Opotiki, and Gisborne; hoped to continue on to Wairarapa. AVellington, New Plymouth and 'Auckland, completing the trip in a little over nine days. In June (>G last year he completed a similar topr in 11 days 5 hours. Heaviest Frost in Two Years. (Yesterday morning’s frost of S.'3 degrees was the heaviest recorded at the Gisborne aerodrome meteorological station for almost two years. The severest frost for the whole of last winter was (5/3 degrees, recorded on July 10, while in 1937 the maximum frost was one of 12 degrees recorded ou June 6. Ihe first frost recorded in Gisborne hist year was on Jn.net 27. Yesterday morning’s frost was the fourth in succession, the figures for the other days being: Saturday 5.3 degrees, Sunday 5 degrees, Monday 4.3 degrees. No frosts have been recorded near Opotiki this season, but in the Nukuhou district light frosts have been registered. Drinking at Football Matches. Strong comment was made by members of the management committee of the Otago Rugby Union regarding the practice of sonic spectators at football matches at Oarisbrook openly consuming drink and making themselves objectionable to more respectable members of the community. Incidents were mentioned in which the.conduct of the spectators in question was highly undesirable. and one member of the committee stated that he had never before seen so much drink being consumed “on the bank” as. ho had seen-last Saturday. The committee, in an endeavour to combat the nuisance, decided to enlist the services of the police.

" V"'” Shipping.The m.s. Waiotahi arrived at'Opotiki at noon to-day and will leave Opotiki for Auckland -at neon to-morrow. Football Practice. A football practice' for Old Boys’ juniors will be held at the reserve, tonight. City third grade players will practise to-morrow night at 7 o’clock at the reserve. Plane Delayed. The Union Airways’ ’plane which left Auckland for Gisborne this morning found it necessary to return to Me. ngare some time after taking off, owing to a faulty instrument. The ’plane left Auckland again at noon and arrived at Opotiki at 1.23 p.m., the actual travelling time from Auckland to Opotiki being 1 hour 10 minutes. Lucky Tauranga Barrister. Welcome news reached Mr. J. K. Lusk, Tauranga, a barrister engaged in an important case before Mr. Justice Reed, in, the Supreme Court, Hamilton, this week. He received word that he had won £2OOO in an overseas consultation. “Bound Harid and Foot.’’ “The farmer has taken man,- <bi,k ir gs, and he can take them, but in tlie past he has always had his hands and feet free and lias been able ..o swum out,” said Mr. H. E. Frederick, R»e-til-.i. when opposing guaranteed, prues for meat and wool, at a meeting of farmers in Wanganui. “If we go in for this guaranteed price we will bo bound hand and foot.” Taken for Granted. J Advertising in the “Dost and Found” column of a Christchurch newspaper a few days ago for a purse —containing a considerable sum of money, a cheque which could not have been cashed, and private papers—which she had lost, the owner received the purse through the post that afternoon. Its contents were intact — except for £1; and enclosed was a scrap of paper on which was printed in block letters: “Helped myself to reward. Ain’t you lucky.” Mussolini’s Nickname. The nickname for Signor Mussolini in England is “Juliet,” because he appears so often, upon the balcony. This was mentioned by Mr. F. Maurice Clarke, general manager of Union Airways. at the monthly luncheon of the AVellington Returned Soldiers’ Association. Air. Clarke said he had heard 11 Duce address a gathering in Rome during the recent crisis. There had been no cheering when Mussolini was referring to wliat Italy would do if war broke out, but the crowd had cheered enthusiastically when il Duce later, after conferring with the Fascist Council, had stated that he would use every endeavour to preserve peace. Childish Barbarism. .V streak; of barbarism lies not far below the surface in many small boys. Usually it is kept in check, but from time to time striking cases of its manifestations are reported). Recently a case was reported in Dunedin of a hoy who had been caught pushing pins through a cat’s tail. A further example has come to the notice of the Animal Protection Society in Christchurch. The victim is a kitten on which a boy had operated with a lcnife. He mutilated the animal’s legs and then sawed off the tail close to. the roots. The Animal Protection Society usually confines its ministrations to-dogs, but the plight of the kitten could not he ignored. The animal was rescued,, and with care andattention has recovered. . I. . Increased R.S.A. Subscription. After a lengthy debate, members of the Gisborne Returned Association decided at the annual "meeting held recently, to increase.the annual subscription of members, to the association from 5s to lOsi The mover, Mr. R. AY. J. Edwards, urged that the increase in subscription would benefit the funds of the association and solve the financial problems of the Gisborne branch. The social committee should not be asliedl to do all the work in raising extra finances and. in view of the honour conferred on Diggers in being members of the R.S. A., they should not baulk at an increase in subscriptions. In seconding the motion, Mr. G. Dunn said the subscription was perhaps the lowest for any R.S.A. in New Zealand, and as the Diggers became older they required more looking after. This would bring more work for the secretary, and members should .see that he was given adequate remuneration for his services.