Worth their weight in gold?

The Co-operative Fruitgrowers of Otago (Ltd) reports the sale of a tray of the famous "Million Dollar" peaches, grown by Mr R. Kinnaird, of the Viola Orchard, Earnscleugh. The tray contains 28 peaches, and weighs 14 pounds, and fetched 1s 4d per lb. This peach has been lately introduced into Otago, and the lot sold yesterday is the first to reach the market. The fruit is well grown, of large size, and of a rich colour, with a tinge of red on the side. The grower is to be commended for introducing into the district a peach of such high-class quality. Samples of the peaches are being exhibited in the windows of the shops of Messrs Sagar and Co (Princes street) and A.E. Brown (George street).

Otago sprinter first equal

A remarkable judging feat in deciding the places in a closely-contested race occurred at Wanganui in the final of the 220 yards for the New Zealand amateur championship. Five judges were appointed, and on consultation after the race was over they were agreeably surprised to find that every one was definitely satisfied that Tracy (Wellington) and Morgan (Otago) had dead-heated for first place, with Paris (of Wellington) third. Considering the extreme closeness of the finish it would not have been surprising if one or more of the judges had thought that the race had been definitely won by any one of the three placed men, but their unanimity on the point should be convincing proof that there was a dead-heat for first place.

All Blacks marooned

The home-coming of the All Blacks has been interrupted by a storm at Rarotonga, the severity of which prevented the RMS Tahiti, by which the footballers are returning, from remaining at the port yesterday. The vessel arrived there at 11 o’clock yesterday morning. A start was made with the loading of the cargo, but the weather became so bad that little progress was made in this direction, and the vessel was compelled to put out to sea until the conditions moderated. Meanwhile many of the passengers had gone ashore. It is understood that some 36 members of the All Blacks’ party were among those who landed.

Whareakeake taonga unearthed

As a result of the efforts of a working party from the archaeological branch of the Otago Institute, which spent about a fortnight in making excavations at Murdering Beach, between Port Chalmers and Purakanui, last month, a very interesting collection of Maori curios has come into the possession of the museum authorities. In the main excavation a house site appears to have been found, and it was there that many of the best articles in the collection were secured. One of the most interesting discoveries was a light-coloured greenstone axe — an article which is very rare in collections. The discoveries include a number of small greenstone adzes, pendants of various kinds, including one of beautiful mottled greenstone about 4 inches in length, a variety of fish hook points, cutters, flake knives, pieces of rough greenstone, flakes of greenstone and grinders on which the greenstone was polished. A number of other things were found at Long Beach, adjoining Murdering Beach, on the west side, and on Kaikai’s Beach. All the material secured from the excavations was presented to the museum by Mr H. Thomson, the owner of the land where the work was carried on. — ODT, 13.3.1925