DOMINION ITEMS

Greymouth Evening Star, 24 July 1923, Page 5

DOMINION ITEMS

(Per Press Association.) OLD MAN’S SUICIDE WELLINGTON, July 23. John Price, aged 79, a retired labourer, confined to bed with a cold, was found on Saturday hanging on a peg behind his bedroom door, with a rope round his neck. When found he had been dead some hours. CLERK’S THEFTS. WELLINGTON, July 24. At the Magistrate’s Court to-day, John Craig Neill, clerk in charge of the branch office at Te Aro of the Labour Department, pleaded guilty to the theft of £lO3 16s. AV hen. the defalcations were discovered, he surrendered to the iiolice. He was committed to the Supreme Court for sentence. Bail was not allowed. UNKNOWN IN RIVER. WANGANUI, July 24. An inquest on the unidentified body found in the river some weeks ago was re-opened to-day. Three witnesses from Wellington gave evidene that they believed, from a photograph, that deceased was a man named Ernest Randall, who came from the Old Country, and resided for a time at Wellington, and also Auckland. He worked on Hatrick Co’s boats here. The inquest was further adjourned. JOY RIDER IMPRISONED CHRISTCHURCH, .Tilly 23. The habit of using other people’s motor cars has become rather common recently in and around Christchurch. A sentence that was imposed by Mr. Wyvern Wilson, S.M., on two men at the Magistrate’s Court, Rangiora, to-day should help to restrain future joyriders. The two men charged were Reginald Pearce and Joseph Mortland. Pearce was lined £5 with costs, and Mortland was sentenced to one month’s imprisonment. The Magistrate said that I he offence of taking cars was becoming too common. The only way to stop these offences was to impose such a penalty as to create a fear among the community. OPOSSUM TRAPPERS FINED WELLINGTON, July 23. Two men were before the Court today, charged with the illegal removal of opossums. It was illegal removal Henry Chcttick and Joseph August that they took opossums without a license, removing them out of season. It was stated the movements of the accused had been closely watched by rangers employed by the Acclimatisation Society. A number of opossums and traps were found which had been set by the accused. It was difficult to detect offenders in such cases. A heavy fine was asked for if a conviction were recorded. The Magistrale agreed that small fines wore useless. Large profits could be made from the practice. Each of the accused was fined £25.