DOMINION ITEMS

Greymouth Evening Star, 25 July 1923, Page 5

DOMINION ITEMS

(Per Press Association.) FATAL FALL. AUCKLAND, July 24. Daniel McGrath, aged 54, single, was found dead under the Swanson railway bridge this evening. It is thought he overbalanced while leaning on the rail of the bridge, and fell into a gully, a distance of 60ft. He was a resident of Swanson. DUNEDIN EXHIBITION. DUNEDIN, July 24. The memorandum of the prospectus of the New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition Company has been signed by the provisional directors, and the company will shortly be registered. An active canvass of the city for financial support may be made, so that the company may proceed to allotment. REPATRIATION THEFTS. ' MASTERTON, July 25. Thomas Richard Southe.ll, formerly officer for the Repatriation Department in Masterton, charged with the theft of £483 7s 6d from the Government, also with two charges of forgery, pleaded guilty, and was committed to Wellington, for sentence. FREEZING WORKS AWARD. CHRISTCHURCH, July 25. A complete agreement was reached in the freezing workers dispute in which the employers had filed. They finally agreed to accept the old award, with the provisio that no alteration be made in the rates during its currency. The agreement, which extends for a year, stabilises wages at the present, minimum, plus two and a half per cent bonus. AMATEUR BILLIARDS. s DUNEDIN, July 24. The fourteenth tournament to decide the amateur billiard championship of New Zealand opened in the Returned Soldiers’ Rooms to-day. The proceedings were officially opened by the Mayor. Two matches were played today. A. Lindsay defeated R. Fraser by 750 to 415, and R. Stewart beat E. A. 'Walsh by 750 to 532. In neithe: game was the play up to championship standard, both being somewhat patchy. VENEREAL DISEASE. CHRISTCHURCH, July 25. The Hospital Board congratulated the Government on its action in setting up a committee on venereal disease. Dr. Fenwick said that the Board had taken action nine years ago against disease and had treated 1600 persons He wanted to see conditional notification introduced. Other speakers said that the disease was making terrible ravages, and between five and six hundred cases were treated at Christchurch monthly, with a monthly average of 25 new patients. A FATAL PUSH. GISBORNE, July 23. At Teararoa, James Plier aged 55, died as the result of an accident on Sunday. The evidence showed that he was playing with a Maori girl employed at the Hotel. She pushed him and he fell on the concrete floor and fractured his skull. The verdict was accidental death, no blame being attachable to the girl. The deceased leaves a wife and grown up family living at Waikato. He was spending a few days at Teararoa being the council employee at Cape Runaway'. DOCKETS NOT RECEIPTS. WELLINGTON, July 24. In the Court to-day, Mr Page, S.M., heard an action brought by the police against the D.I.C. and held a docket or receipt for £2 11/-, given to a customer unstamped, was not a receipt within the meaning of the Act, and was not liable to stamp duty. The firm contended the docket was not intended as a receipt, but merely as a check on the goods going out of the shop. It was the custom of the firm to have a similar docket made out for all purchases, whether for cash or credit, that took plfcce in the establishment. After dealing with legal authorities, the Magistrate held the docket was a record of business done, and that the docket did not come within the definition of a receipt. BIGAMY ADMITTED. ELTHAM, July 24. Charges of bigamy against George Dines and Elizabeth Bishop were admitted at the Magistrate’s Court today, also five counts against Dines of making false declarations to the Registrar of Births, respecting five children of the bigamous marriage. Accused pleaded guilty to all charges. He was committed to the Supreme Court at New Plymouth for sentence. Bail was allowed. Regarding the declarations as to the children’s births, the police stated that Dines had informed the Registrar that he and Mrs Bishop were married in England in 1910. In a statement, Dines said he lived with the Bishops for two weeks in 1914. When he left, Mrs Bishop accompanied him. He married her at Wellington in 1918, believing the marriage legal, as 'William Bishop had given a false name. DOUBTFUL ART. WELLINGTON, July 24. The “New Zealand Times’’ placed specimens of alleged works of art, principally photos of nude women, hailing from Germany, before the Postal and Customs authorities. The official reply was that they could not open sealed letters, unless they believed them to contain dutiable articles, only in the presence of the person to whom they were addressed. If such letters are for wared to the Postal Department, the.v will issue an order prohibiting correspondence with the sender. The Customs state that if such pictures came under notice in cargo, or through the parcels post, they would seize them as indecent, but were unable to interfere with sealed letters. The Postal authorities examined unsealed letters where thev suspected such literature was enclosed, and when found it was destroyed.