NEWS AND NOTES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 April 1938, Page 9

NEWS AND NOTES

VARIOUS ITEMS OF INTEREST. Accurate Tunnelling. An interesting stage in the construction of the Waikokopu-Gisborne section of the East Coast Main Trunk railway was reached a few days ago when the bottom heads driven from each portal of the coast tunnel opened into one another. This was the first meeting of parties working on any one of the three main tunnelling jobs on the line, and the event had been looked forward to for some time by the co-operative gangs working in the tunnel. The coast tunnel is the smallest of the three major tunnels on the Waikokopu-Gisborne section, having a total length of 46 chains. The other portal is located within the Tikiwhata Valley, and the tunnel will lead the line through a spur of sandstone formation almost directly under the site of the Tikiwhata camp. The centre-line of the two bottom heads of this tunnel came within an inch of dead accuracy. When the last of the rack was cleared away and comparisons were made the floor levels corresponded exactly.

’Plane Almost Stationary. A ’plane poised almost stationary above the hangar was an unusual sight to many visitors to the New Plymouth airport recently. It was Mr J. W. Franklyn’s Taylor Cub and the small machine was flying into a strong wind. Practically the only motion was a sideways drift due to the wind.

Unusual Mishap. While Mr W. Reid, Tataraimaka, was pumping up a tyre on his motor-lorry the rim burst and he suffered severe injuries to the forehead and arms. First-aid was given by the. manager of the Patua Dairy Company. Mr Reid was then taken to New Plymouth, where he received medical attention. His condition is reported to be satisfactory.

Spectre of the Brocken. During the last two or three weeks the Spectre of the Brocken has been a fairly common sight on Mt. Egmont and there was another instance the other day. Climbers and trampers have seen their reflection- vaguely outlined in a circular rainbow on a neighbouring ridge against the mist. Waves of the hands or other movements have been clearly seen. Football Team Stranded. After going to Wanganui to find it was too wet to play football a team of Albion club colts from New Plymouth found itself stranded in the rain between Eltham and Hawera early on a recent mornling. Their car, driven by Mr J. Cameron, was disabled when the right rear tyre blew out. That was at 2 o’clock and it was not until 8 o’clock that they entered a taxi to resume the journey to New Plymouth. Trapped Between Slips. To be trapped between two slips on Strathmore Road was the unenviable experience of a party of Eltham Alpine Club members the other day. Leaving Eltham at 5.30 a.m. for Ruapehu via Tangarakau Gorge, the party had to clear a slip just past the Strathmore saddle. Two more cars joined the convoy at this point, and all went well for a mile until another slip, which completely blocked the way, was encountered. The party then had to turn back, and on reaching the vicinity of the first slip found another and larger fall had occurred. Fortunately two cars which had joined the party had passed before the latter fall and were able to communicate with the county council at Stratford, which sent a road-clearing gang, and the party was eventually able to return to Eltham. Undaunted by the experience, the party passed through Hawera later in the afternoon en route to the Chateau via Marton, as the Parapara Road from Wanganui to Raetihi was temporarily blocked by slips.

Record Bowling Score. The lowest winning score ever recorded in a bowling match in Taranaki decided a tie for second place in a one-day tournament recently when Whiting beat Beaven by one to nil. It was too dark to play more than one head, and even too dark for that. "Hi, there! She’s left,” was the customary cry as a bowl was delivered. “Well, she hasn’t arrived yet,” was the response from an unseen skip. And presently the bowl would appear out of the gloom.

Earthquake Exhibit. Graphic photographs of the effects of the Hawke’s Bay earthquake in 1931, with diagrams and maps prepared by the Dominion Observatory to show the recording of the tremors by the seismograph at Takaka, Nelson, are included in a Carnegie exchange exhibit from the Hawke's Bay Art Gallery and Museum displayed in the New Plymouth museum. One map shows the earthquake zones of the world with New Zealand in the centre of the major zone, and a diagram shows the location of 17 destructive earthquakes in New Zealand since the European settlement. The photographs will be shown at seven New Zealand museums, each exhibition being for two months. Dairy Cow Production. The total number of cows in milk in the Dominion at January 31. 1937, was 1,805,405, and the average butterfat yield was 245.05. The number of cows under test was 269,317 or only 14.9 per cent of the total number in milk.