LOCAL AND GENERAL

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 46, 23 August 1923, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The Minister of Justice, Hon. C. J. Parr, contradicts the rumour that Mr. E. P. Lee, of Oamaru, formerly Minister of Justice, has been offered an appointment of judge of the Supreme Court. Mr. Parr states that the question has not yet been considered by Cabinet. No appointmont can be made until the proposed amendment of the Judicature Act becomes law. A Press Association telegram from Oamaru also contains a denial by Mr. Lee that he has been offered a Judgeship. Mr. Lee points out that' under the Legislature Act, no person who has been a member of Parliament can be appointed a Judge until 'twelve months after he has ceased to be a member. A Press Association message from Oamaru states:—Mr. E. P. Lee gives an emphatic contradiction to the canard that he has been offered a Judgeship. He states that under the Legislature Act it is impossible for a person who has been a member of Parliament, (other than At-torney-General) to take the position' of Judge for twelve months after he ceases to be a-member.

The bank passbooks of the Wellington Harbour Board, as presented to the board last evening, showed the following figures: Current Account, credit balance, £49,683 13s^5d; Impest Account, credit balance, £4488 12s 7d, on fixed deposit, £95,000.

In reporting to the Harbour Board last evening the chairman (Mr. G. Mitchell) stated that the Government had been asked to put the Harbours Consolidating Act through this session. It was not a contentious matter. It would be necessary to revise the port charges after this was passed. The board set up a committee in this connection.

The Technical College Students' Association held another successful debate recently, J,he motion being "that the time has arrived when women should be treated in terms of absolute equality with men," Mr. E. Evans and Miss L. Bolt supporting the motion and Mr H. L. Bennett and Miss O. Payne took the negative. After an interesting discussion the voting was in favour of the opposers.

Ihe British Empire Exhibition authorities have arranged to have a list prepared of hotels, restaurants, boardinghouses, and private houses, at which visitors to London during the exhibition may obtain good accommodation and service at a reasonable and approved scale of charges. Only such boardinghouses and hotels as are prepared to adhere to their usual scale of charges for the summer season will be included, on the list. It is proposed to collate and index a list of available accommodation for visitors within a ten-miles radius of the West End, and in conjunction with the transport authorities to see that travel facilities are available until after midnight.

The Council of the New Zealand Association of British 'Manufacturers and Agonts has forwarded a communication to the Prime Minister urging the Government to refuse the grant of a subsidy to the proposed International Exhibition at Dunedin. Such an exhibition would probably include the goods' of our late onemy countries, as well as -of other foreign countries. The letter concludes : "Our association confidently hopes that the pronounced policy of the Government m 'stowing preference for the Empire and her manufacturers will be once again manifested in a rofusal of any subsidy to thn proposed exhibition unless the exhibits are confined to goods produced within the Empire."

Charged with smuggling. three tins of opium into New Zealand., a seaman named John Bain appeared before Mr. E. Page, S.M., at the Magistrate's. Conrt "10-day •A Customs officer, Charles Galley, d'esenbod seeing the accused, who was a seaman on the Ulimaroa, carry a parcel ashore. This was found to contain papers, but in an inside pocket of the accused's coat, another package was found, whicli the accused said was a book, but its contents were found to be the tins of opium. For the defence it was stated by Mr. A. 11. Sievwri'ght that Bain was the innocent victim of another person, \vho< purportins that the parcel contained a book, had induced him _to take it ashore. The facts were admitted, but counsel pointed out there was no suggestion that the defendant was an opium runner. "It seems to me." remarked the Magistrate, "that I will have to impose a substantial penally in this case. The story about the other man and the book does net ring true, and not only were the goods smuggled, but they were of a class that is prohibited. 1 ' A. fine of £60 and costs, in default two months' imprisonment was inflicted, the defendant being refused time in which to find the money.

A deputation of women's societies affiliated to the National Council of Women waited on the Minister of Health yesterday, and placed before him the report of the Committee of Inquiry on Venereal Disease appointed by the British Ministry of Health. Mr. R. A. Wright, M.P., introduced the deputation. The case on behalf of the women's societies was stated by Mrs. Peryman (Garterton) and Miss England.... It. was represented that the British Committee, which was presided over by Lord Trevethen, took the evidence of men and women who had been actively engaged in fighting tho disease. Tlj» Committee's report opposed compulsory measures. It was maintained by the speakers that compulsion had been a failure wherever it had been tried. Tho report recommended a vigorous educational campaign, and that the work of free clinics should bo extended. The speakers urged that' the Prime Minister .while at Home should got into touch with Lord Trevethen, obtain information from him on the matter, and delay Hie introduction of legislation in New Zealand—legislation whicli had been pronounced reactionary by the British . Committees The Minister of Health assured the deputation of a sympathetic reception at all times, and promised to convey the recommendations to tho Prime Minister.

A resolution protesting against corporate control of the liquor traffic was passed at a -neeting of the Methodist Church Temperance and Morals Committee held in Wellington yesterday afternoon, the Rev. E. Drake presiding. The meeting, iiy resolution, maintained that "the scheme contains nothing in the way of reform that cannot be achieved by ordinary legislation, and that it tends to fasten the liquor traffic more firmly on the community by depriving the people of their present power over it, whilst seeking to make the State an active partner in a traffic that is economically, socially, morally, and spiritually injurious to the community. This meeting further- expresses its emphatic opinion that there is no public sentiment of a magnitude sufficient to warrant the Government in permitting the liquor traffic fo be represented by two issues on the ballot-paper, and begs the Government to grant the democracy a fair opportunity of voting between two iiwics only, nnmely, Prohibition and Continuance, at the uc.\t poll' 1

At the Magistrate's Court at Auckland^ yesterday,, two young men,' Edward .Lewis Ellis and John Rigg, were deprived of civil rights for ten years for failing to attend drill. Ellis had been fined twice previously, and Rigg had been fined once before.

It was mentioned at the Harbour Board meeting last evening that the dredge on the Thomdon reclamation had shifted 8200 tons of material. A lame amount of the material had been discharged at sea, owing to it being too soft to discharge into the reclamation until the sea wall was sufficient advanced to hold it.

Voting took place yesterday on three loan proposals by the Timaru Borough Council, amounting. to £48,000, for the purpose of hnprovmg water reticulation, kerbmg and channelling, and sewerin°in a recently-added suburb. The poll was a light one, states a Press Association message, but each proposal was cairied by a large majority.

In view of the arrangement made be*w|en the Maoris and the Government in Ibb4, and the petition from the Maoris sme'e presented to the Government, the temperance and Morals Committee of the Methodist Church of New Zealand passed a, resolution yesterday asking the Government "to sustain the national honour and protect the Maoris by continuing the observance of the pact*" with respect to the non-issue of liquor licenses in the King Country.

' A correspondent, Mr. W. Keay, writes that "the cold snap and boisterous weather l la . V e evidently told on the rats which make the wharves their habitat with the result that many of them have made inland to pick up any spare crusts.' The writer goes on to state that he and others witnessed an unusual occurrence, namely, the lulling of a cat by. a large rat. The cat attacked the rat, but the rodent managed to secure a grip cf the cat's neck and bit so savagely that the cat died in a few moments. ' '