THE OPOTIKI NEWS Monday, September 18, 1939. LOCAL AND GENERAL

Opotiki News, Volume II, Issue 235, 18 September 1939, Page 2

THE OPOTIKI NEWS Monday, September 18, 1939. LOCAL AND GENERAL

Summer Tims Starting. Summer time will commence at.2 a. m. on-Sunday. September 24, and continue until 2 a.m. on Sunday. April ;2S. 1940. The time will, therefore, be advanced 30 minutes as from 2' a.m. on Sunday next. Snow cn Gisborna’Hills. The storm which passed over the Bay of Plenty and Gisborne districts last week, left a heavy coating of snow on theTiaukumara. Range, where it lay thickly from AVhatatutu northwards. The snow did not reach the low hills in the district. Heavy Hail on Hills. The cold snap on Thursday . afternoon last resulted .in an exceptionally heavy fall of hail on some erf the hills in the Otara district. In some places the hills gave the appearance of having received a heavy fall of snow, and even after an hour and a-iiall of sunshine, the ground was still white with hail. Temperatures. North Island temperatures at 9 a.m. on Saturday were: Auckland and Cape Maria 55 degrees. Gisborne 53, Opotiki and FJa«t Cape 52, .Napier and Castle point 50. and Cape Pal User and AVellington 4!) degrees. On 4 l iday at ’'the same hour Auckland topped the list with 50 degrees, while Opotiki recorded only 4'3 degrees, following a sha/p ■frost. Theft of Benzine. Some time ago a larmer in r l auranga Countv had a quantity ol benzine taken from a drum on his property. Following the theft the drum was emptied and a. large quantity of wafer was pelired into it. in due course the drum was raided again at night, and in the morning it was ascertained that a motor vehicle- was lound halted on the roadside not far from the farm.

Huge Plato Class. The hugest plate-glass windows ever constructed in Now Zealand arc an architectural feature of tin.' Australian pavilion at- the Centennial Inhibition. The plate glass over the main doorway has an area of 1125 square feet. This is exceeded, however, in the fa-* cade of the composite window at the nortii endl of the building. The glass in this structure totals 2520 square feet. Inside the facade a spiral staircase leading from the main floor to the cultural exhibit- can. be seen from the outside- of the building. Potatoes Stolen. During the height of the recent flood in the YVhirokino district, Fojctou, Chinese market gardeners wliol were forced to leave their gardens by the rising flood waters, placed 30 tons of certified seed! potatoes on the flood bank for safety. With the garden under several feet of water the potatoes wore safe —from the water but net from the light-fingered. Two flatbottomed boats were taken rip toWhiroki.no from the vicinity of Foxton. the rowers making use of the slack water in the main and diagonal drains to take them well upstream. Then they pulled! in, loaded a ton of potatoes, and rapidly sped downstream again on the full run of the flood.