BUMPS ON THE BEACH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21086, 21 January 1932, Page 10

BUMPS ON THE BEACH.

MR. SMITH DISAPPOINTED. IMPROVEMENT LATER IN DAY. OFFICIALS RETURN AT WEEK-END. [BY TELEGRAPn.—SPECIAL REPORTER. ] , KAITAIA, Wednesdny. A disappointment awaited Mr. Norman Smith on his arrival at tho Ninety-Mile Beach this morning, when he found bumps beginning to form in several places that were perfectly smooth yesterday. Tho wind, which for some days has been south-westerly, changed during last night to a south-easterly, quickly causing mounds to form near high water mark. The beach was still fit for racing ou to-day, but a repetition of any easterly wind at the present stage would be disastrous. Tho wind continued steady from tho south-east throughout to-day, but slackened in the afternoon to such an extent that the anemometer left at tho beach by Dr. C. E. Adams, Dominion astronomer, was not registering at all for several hours. At sunset the wind changed again without warning, blowing steadily from the south-west for several hours, and later dying away altogether. Even in the few hours that the wind was from the south-west much of the damage caused by the south-east breeze during to-day and last night was repaired, the beach being much smoother when the party returned from the garage this evening than when they went out in the morning. Tho wet weather of yesterday gave place to finer conditions to-day, and, although there were one or two slight showers, they were not enough to prevent the beach from drying at low tide. Advice was received this evening by Mr. Smith that two of the officials, Mr. W. Grove, tyio expert, and Mr. T. Fa hey, representing General Motors (N.Z.), Limited, will return on Friday, while the remainder, including Mr. H. C. Butcher, chairman of tho Auckland Automobile Racing Club, Limited, Mr. G. P. Robertson, technical engineer of tl.io Auckland Automobile Association, Mr. Kelvin Cuff, timing expert, and two assistants, will arrive at the beach on Saturday. Mr. Cuff will bring from Auckland the chronometer for the timing gear and will pick up tho chronograph from tho bank at Kaitaia on his way through. Tho lengthy preliminaries necessary when tho officials first arrived at the beach will not havo to bo repeated, as everything will be ready for tho first attempt as soon as tho spring tides occur. The second revolution counter sent from Sydney arrived at Kaitaia from Auckland this evening, and was collected by Mr. Smith. It will be fitted to-mor-row under Mi\ Smith's supervision. Tho driver will probably sit in the cockpit of the Stewart Enterprise to superintend tho mounting and tho angle at which tho instrument is set, as ho wishes to have it directly in bis lino of vision if possible, yet not sufficiently high as to affect in any way the streamlining of the car. The instrument is, however, quite small and should bo mounted without unduo difficulty.