HUTT VALLEY NEWS

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 150, 22 March 1934, Page 2

HUTT VALLEY NEWS

District Notes of Current Interest

■When a witness in the Lower Hutt Police Court yesterday was giving evidence in a case which centred around a dispute over a wandering cow he stated that the cow was between him and the other defendant and was being carried from side to side. “Poor cow,” sympathised the magistrate, Mr. J. G. L. Hewitt, S.M. Witness went on to say that the cow subsequently bolted. “I don’t wonder at it.” commented Mr. Hewitt.

Carelessness through which the motor-lorry he was driving collided with a telephone post was admitted by Gordon Wallis in the Lower Hutt Police Court yesterday, and he was ordered by Mr. J. G. L. Hewitt, S.M., to pay the amount of the damage, £7/9/1.

A special musical service will be held at St. Augustine’s Church, Petone, on Sunday evening, when the choir, under the direction of the organist, Miss F. Hobbs, will render the cantata, Stainer’s “Crucifixion.” HUTT MAN’S SUICIDE Depressed Over Finances A verdict that deceased committed suicide by inhaling gas while mentally depressed over financial matters was returned by the coroner, Mr. E. Gilbertson, J.P., at an inquest at Lower iHutt yesterday .into-the death of Richard Douglas Blair, boot salesman, aged 33, who was found dead on Tuesday morning. Constable R. Griffith conducted the inquest on behalf of the police. ■ Evidence was given by deceased’s wife that her husband awoke about 2 a.m., and went out to the back of the premises. After a time she called to him, and, receiving no. response, she investigated and found him lying on the floor of a shed with a gas-ring turned on. Turning off the gas, she dragged him outside and sent for a doctor. Deceased, she said, had been out of work for some time, and had been depressed over financial troubles. OFFICERS FOR YEAR Ratepayers’ Association Ratepayers were present in good numbers at the annual meeting of the Eastbourne Ratepayers’ Association which was held in the Council Chambers last evening. The president, Mr. R. E. Manley, presided. The annual report stated that there was a credit balance of £4/7/10, and 81 financial members. The committee had endeavoured to keep the ratepayers’ interests before the public, and had made suggestions which the borough council had always considered sympathetically. “During the prosperous years there was a tendency for local bodies to go in for extravagances and to spend ratepayers’ money on materials and works which were more or less unproductive,” states the report. “This aspect of local government can be checked by active associations of those who have to assume the responsibility for all finance which has to be raised.”

In an additional report, the president outlined the suggestions made by the association to the council during the year. The following officers were elected: — President, Mr. R. E. Manley ; vicepresident, Mr. R. Ji Loe; lion, treasurer, Mr. H. Cane; hon. auditor, Mr. H. Wansborough; committee, Messrs. H. Forrester, I. Hart, C, M. Hill, W. J. Thompson, A. N. Smith, D. Todd, and G. Hanlon. The appointment of the secretary was left in the hands of the incoming committee. BEAUTIFYING WORK Activity at Eastbourne Appreciation of the work of the Eastbourne Borough Council ia beautifying: the borough was voiced at the annual meeting of the Eastbourne Ratepayers’ Association last evening, and a motion to this effect was carried. Mrs. Knox Glimaf pointed out that Eastbourne contained the only real scenic reserves within easy distance of Wellington. Botanically, there were v»'onderful snecimens in the Eastbourne reserves, and that point should be stressed. . Assurance was given by the Mayor, Mr. E. W. Wise, that the council was considering an extensive scheme of advertising the beauties of the borough. Mrs. Knox Gilmer moved: “That the council be thanked for the work it is doing in street planting in the borough.” Maiiy years ago. she said, many of the persons in. the room belonged to a beautifying society which helned to plant trees on the main road and some of the side streets. The society’s interests were handed on to the borough council, but past councils did not continue the work and a good many trees were destroyed. The present council was doing good work in effecting beautification by tree-planting, which was an advantage to a seaside resort such as Eastbourne. . - The treasurer, Mr. 11. Cane, remarked that the association started the council on the move, and great tribute was due to Cr. D. Bowie for his work in this direction. As long as Mr. Bowie was on the council the trees of the bprou.gji would be well attended to, he said.

DISPUTE OVER COW

Ranger and Owner Differ

A scuffle, in .which blows were struck, between two elderly men, one aged 72 and the other 66, was described in the Lower Hutt Police Court yesterday when Arthur William Tapp was charged with rescuing a cow which had been seized by the ranger for the purpose of being impounded, and wjth allowing a cow to wander. As a counter charge, Tapp laid an information for assault against the Lower Hutt borough ranger, George Frederick Adams. Both defendants pleaded not guilty. AU the informations were dismissed by the magistrate, Mr. J. G. L. Hewitt, S.M.. on the condition that Adams paid the costs of £l/1/-. Tapp was represented by Mr. J. S. Reid and Adams by Mr. C. R. Barrett. Adams’s story was that, on noticin'? a cow wandering in Stilling Street, he called at Tapp’s house and told him that his cow was at large. Tapp at first denied this, but on getting a closetview admitted that it was hjs animal. Adams began to drive the cow back, and informed Tapp that if he signed his book and paid 2/- he' could retain possession. This Tapp refused to do, and an argument took place, Tapp subsequently trying to push him off his horse, which reared up. Adams rolled off the horse, and in doing so struck Tapp on the face. Witness considered that Tapp’s motive was to hold him until the cow got back into the paddock.

In the witness box, Tapp contended that the cow ran up to a fence, and he thought it was going to, push its way into a neighbour’s garden. In trying to prevent this, he grabbed the horse’s bridle and stirrup leather, and Adams jammed the horse against him. Adams then jumped off and struck him twice on the face, but he did not retaliate.

On investigating an uproar he heard on the street, Charles Fraser Anderson, glerlr. said he saw Tapp holding on to the reins of the ranger’s horse. Adams, he considered, was endeavouring to ride, Tapp down. Following Tapp’s action, Adams dismounted and gave Tapp several very hard blows on the jaw, drawing blood. Witness caught hold of the ranger and warned him that Tapp might prosecute him for assault, but his reply was: “Let me go: I will have it out with him.” Witness told him not to fight with an old man. In reply to a question, Tapp stated that he was 66 years of age. “How old is the ranger?” asked the magistrate.

“I’m 72,” was the reply. “Game to the last,” observed Mr. Hewitt, smilingly. Thomas Piper said that in his opinion Adams was trying to put his horse on Tapp, and after the argument he jumped off and punched him twice. Witness did not think Tapp was trying to force Adams off his horse. “I do not want to record a convic- x tion against a ranger who is 72 years of age.” remarked the magistrate, in giving his decision, “and there is not much in the whole thing.”

REPORT NOT RECEIVED Borough Investigation RATEPAYERS’ COMMENT Disappointment that the Eastbourne Borough Council had not sent the local ratepayers’ Association a copy of the report of the committee which recently completed its investigation'of borough administration was expre/sed by the treasurer of the Eastbourne Ratepayers’ Association, Mr. H. Cane, at the annual meeting last evening. Mr. Cane said that the primary reason for asking the council to compile the report was for the betterment of the borough and the ratepayers as a whole, and there could be no object in the council’s hiding anything, as the newspapers had indicated that -there .was nothing: to hide. The council, he considered, had made a mistake in appointing the committee from the council when £5O or £75 spent in that direction would have been amply repaid. The object of the suggestion was to clear everyone and to cast out the suspicion and innuendo which permeated the Bay. The Mayor of Eastiboqrne, Mr. E. W. Wise, said that as mayor he took responsibility for' the association’s not having a copy of the report, but the association would in due course receive a copy. The committee dealt only with matters concerned with the present council, and he was not in a nosition to make a full statement through the Press. When dealing with personalities it was better for certain things not to be published. Mr. Cane observed that the association did no,t wish the council to consider anything that had taken place in Hie past. Mr. C. H. Andrews, a member of the council, said that as a member of the committee referred to he had been impressed by the fact that only one person came along with constructive ideas. Any man giving evidence was able to do so with a free mind, and he had nothing to fear. The extravagant statements referred to were not those which had been made in the Magistrate’s Court, but wore those which had been made on the ferry bunts, concluded Mr. Andrews! RESIDENTIAL NURSERY Lower Hutt Branch Meets There was a good attendance at the monthly meeting of the Lower Hutt branch of the Residential Nursery. .In the unavoidable absence of the president, Mrs. Burgess, Mrs. E. Charlesworth was in the chair. The different branches of the Women’s National Reserve send hampers monthly to Porirua Mental Hospital, and it was decided to send a hamper from the Lower Hutt Residential Nursery on the second Sunday in April. Donations for that purpose of secondhand hats, ribbon, lace, strings of beads, embroidery cotton, stamped fancy-work, books, writing" materials, artificial flowers, garments, shoes, and particularly jam, will be very gratefully accepted. It was decided to hold a bridge party in the Woburn croquet pavilion In May.