All day Tuesday expressmen were going up and down the stairs at Auburn Hall carrying boxes and buckets, barrels and baskets, of all sizes and appearances. Although no two loads resembled each other, all contained the same thing, fine rich butter. The butter exhibit which will be seen at the Maine State Dairymen’s Association today and tomorrow will be one of the best probably ever seen in the country. There is a good amount of butter shown and it is all first-class. The machinery exhibit in Y.M.C.A. Hall is now in place.

50 Years Ago, 1954

Five additional pieces of property in Lewiston and Webster have been transferred by individual owners to the Maine Turnpike Authority, according to deeds filed yesterday at the Androscoggin County Registry of Deeds. The area totals 7.11 acres with all except one acre of this in Lewiston. The one acre was deeded by Leland K. and Charles P. Polley of Webster and is located on the Pleasant Ridge Road, Webster.

25 Years Ago, 1979

Opposition to an increase in the Maine gas tax surfaced among leading Democrats Thursday, indicating Gov. Joseph E. Brennan may have a major fight on his hands if he calls for a tax hike next year. One of Brennan’s closest friends, Senate Majority Leader Gerard Conley, D-Portland, stated his opposition to a tax hike in the strongest terms. And he added, “I don’t think there’s any way in the world” a tax hike will pass. A special governor’s study committee is scheduled to issue its report next Tuesday. The recommendation will be for a sliding scale tax hike that raised the gas tax from 9 cents a gallon today to 10.7 cents next year and around 13 cents within three years. Once pegged to the price of gas, instead of the amount, the tax would increase automatically when prices rise. Developments such as Thursday’s announcement of a $6-a-barrel price hike by Saudi Arabia would trigger a tax increase.