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Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 231, 28 August 1933, Page 6

A slight earthquake was experienced at Palmerston North, Shannon and other places along the Manawatu line at about 10.30 a.m. yesterday. A donation of from £2OOO to £SOOO has been conditionally offered to the Egmont A. and P. Association by Mr W. J. Arundell, of New Plymouth, and provided public support is forthcoming to supplement the sum in accordance with the terms of the offer, the association’s lreavy mortgage liability will be wiped out in the very near future.

A phenomenal “run” of young cels from the west coast at Port Waikato up the Waikato River commenced on Sunday week and is continuing. These embryo eels resemble whitebait, and would be “taken” by those inexperienced for whitebait, but aio not ncailv so palatable. In the past week millions of these little fish have found new homes in the river. It is the experience of whitcbaiters that when the eels start to “run,” whitebait becomes scarce, owing perhaps to the fact that the whitebait runs further out from the banks of the river. It is also reported that kahawai arc extremely plentiful near the mouth of the river, this being attributable to the presenco of eels, on which the kahawai feeds. It is expected that when the “run” ceases whitebait will become more plentiful.

Imprisoned in an automatic lift after a meeting on Thursday evening, about a dozen people who had been - attending the annual meeting of the New Zealand League lor the Hard of Hearing at Auckland owed their escape to the mechanical knowledge of a young woman (says the Star). Descending from the third floor, the lift went about a foot below the level of the ground floor, and the outer door couid not be opened, while the lift refused to move. The position seemed to be hopolcss, but the young woman had been in a like predicament before, and pointed out that if a small lever on the insido of the lift well were lilted, the lock would be released. No one was keen on the experiment, for fear of an electric shock, but the young lady rolled up her copy of the “Report and Statement of Accounts,” and, explaining that paper was a non-conductor of electricity, easily lifted the lever, and held it up while the door was opened.

Woods’ Great Peppermint Cure—First aid for coughs, colds, influenza. —Advt.

A reduction of 45 per cent., amounting to £101,399, has been made in the unimproved value of the borough of Morrinsville. The valuation has been reduced by £122,491. At a sale of dairy stock at Frank ton last week no fewer than 11 cows were donated to two relief workers’ families who were recently placed by flic Waikato Social Welfare League on deserted fa.rms at Mamaku. The lino weather of the week-end up to yesterday morning had its effect on the Sunday excursion to Wellington, and when the train left at 8.20 a.m. yesterday it had over 200 passengers. That number was 00 to 70 above the usual.

Landing on Ward Island, Wellington harbour, on Saturday afternoon, members of a boating party found a sea leopard basking on a shingle spit. This unusual visitor in the harbour waters was a typical, lull grown specimen of its kind, lining upwards ol eight feet in length. During last week 03 applications were lodged with the Labour Department at Auckland for permits to build under No. 10 scheme ol the Unemployment Board, tile estimated value of the work being £II,BBO. Since the inception of the scheme 091 applications have been made in Auckland, the total cost of buildings and alterations being £293,331. The labour cost is estimated at £95,758 and the subsidy at £35,090.

Three local firms only tendered for the erection of the new Dunedin Rost Office, says a message from Dunedin, Many firms did not tender because of the lingo risk involved as the result of the uncertainty of to-day’s prices, which are affected by the conversion scheme and exchange inflation. As a result of this risk prices arc expected to ho higher than would ordinarily ho the case, and there would appear to he some justification for the belief held in some circle’s that the erection of the building will ho further postponed by the department. The possibility of an annual conference for exporters being arranged by the Fruit Export Board in the future was mentioned by Mr T. C. Brash, president of the New Zealand Fruitgrowers’ Federation, at the Wellington provincial conference, held in Palmerston North to-da.y. He stated that should such a conference Ik> instituted it might provide for representation on a caso basis, or the Government might stipulate that every exporter should have a vote. Subsequently a remit for the Dominion conference, that one day he set aside for a discussion of matters relating to the export trade of fruit, was approved.

The fact that the Government had been,offered an urban property in one centre in New Zealand for a penny, which was the value placed upon it by the owner, was mentioned by Hon. E. A. Ransom to a Timaru Borough Council deputation, to illustrate his contention that the provisions of section 45 of the Land Valuation Act were being abused by some landowners. The Minister said that the holder hoped to escajre payment of rates on the land by offering it to the Government at a nominal figure. In another instance, owners of a block of land behind Parliament Buildings had placed their own valuation on the property and offered it to the Government, thinking it would not be accepted. The offer was snapped up I A remarkable try was scored by a member of the Opotiki team in a competition match played at To Ivaha. The ball was placed by the Opotiki side for a kick-off, and most of the opposing team went to one side of their half, believing the ball was going to be kicked off in that direction. However, the Opotiki kicker decided otherwise, and kicked to the other side of the field. The ball beat the few opponents who were in the line of the kick, amd reached the Apanui full-back, who mishandled it and actually knocked it backwards without gaining possession. In the meantime, A. Kelly, a fast Opotiki forward, was streaking up the field, and, to the astonishment of players and spectators alike, secured the ball and scored a try within seven seconds of the kick-off.