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Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20827, 10 April 1933, Page 4

"It is with extreme reluctance that I am paying your county rates in full," wrote a Mangaiti Riding settler when forwarding a cheque for £64 17s 5d to the Ohinemuri County Council, "mainly because I consider that it is most unjust that farm lands should continue to be saddled with this rate when the wear and attrition of the county roads is due to motor traffic." The writer concluded by asking the council to take steps to bring about the derating of farm lands. The chairman said that the writer should be informed that the council was strongly of the opinion that the user should pay for the roads. Described by experts as one of the finest gems found during the past 10 years, a magnificent ruby has come into the possession of a dealer in Hatton Garden, London. The ruby weighed nearly 20 carats in the rough and came from Burma, where it was found by two natives. It is stated that two years ago an offer of £15,000 for it was refused. It has now been cut down to 7$ carats, and is said by experts to be of the much-prized pigeon's-blood colour.