NINETY-MILE BEACH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21111, 19 February 1932, Page 11

NINETY-MILE BEACH.

THE POSITION UNCHANGED.

WORLD'S FIVE-MILE RECORD.

EARLY ATTEMPT ANTICIPATED.

[BY TELEGRAPH. —SPECIAL REPORTER.] IvAITAIA, Thursday.

Indications for a break in the exceptionally long spell of calm weather which has been experienced at Ninety-Mile Beach since the beginning of January were apparent to-day. There was next to no wind but the sky was heavily overcast throughout tho day, and tho atmosphere very oppressive.

There was littlo change in the condition of the beach, which was still good in some places but. bumpy in others. The surfaco continues to show signs of drying out, however. Places that were very wet at low tide yesterday were noticeably drier to-day. The stretch of 28 miles between tlie Waipapakauri turn-off and the Bluff is still littered with thousands of dead loheroas. In some places the tide has into heaps several inches deep and 20 or 30 yards long, it being impossible to avoid them at certain slates of tlie tide.

A large number of fish has been stranded on the beach during the last few days, and a small whale came ashore near Ahipara recently. Mr. Norman Smith is confident, however, that high spring tides which are due to commence on Saturday, will carry away the considerable amount of flotsam that has accumulated during tho prolonged calm spell. . Mechanics put the finishing touches on tho cowl for the smaller radiator to-day, spraying it with gold-coloured lacquer to match the bodywork of the Stewart Enterprise. It is expected that to-morrow Mr. Kelvin Cu/f will fit to the racer the special electric windscreen wiper he designed and made at Mr. Smith's request. Other members of the party will be engaged in extending the runway from the garage to the hard sand, over which the racing car is towed each time it. is taken out.

This afternoon Mr. Smith drove 80 miles to Otiria Junction to pick up Sir George Fuller, Mr. H. Kirkpatrick and Mr. M. Brown, later bringing them to Waipapakauri. Mr. Smith's party at the beach, which was reduced to three while Mr. Smith himself was in Auckland recently, is now almost complete. Officials wili arrive from various parts of the country between now and Saturday so that everything will be in readiness as soon after then as the beach permits Mr. Smith to take the car from the garage again. He will almost certainly attack first the world's five-mile record, at present held by Sir Malcolm Campbell.