DOMINION ITEMS

Greymouth Evening Star, 2 December 1926, Page 5

DOMINION ITEMS

(Per Press Association.) KILLED BY LIGHTNING. AUCKLAND, December 1. John Mercer Baxter, formerly a resident of Auckland, was struck by lightning and killed instantly while working on the foundation of a building at Nyalla, Sydney. MAORI FOUND SHOT AUCKLAND, Dec. 2. A half cast Maori, Tupu Kakeka Montgomery, 24, married, was found dead as the result of a gunshot wound, at Parkhurst near Helensville. ACCOUNTANT'S DEATH. CHRISTCHURCH, December 2. I Following a visit’ paid by the Asso-! ciation’s auditors, yesterday, J. Hall, J accountant of the Hawarden Branchj of the New Zealand Farmers’ Co-op- I erative Association, was found dead, i apparently poisoned, in the storeroom. ■ He was aged 35 years, married with j one child. ( WAIMAK. TRAGEDY. CHRISTCHURCH, December 1. Lute yesterday afternoon a man’s body was discovered in the vicinity of Woodstock by a farmer. The remains are believed to be those of John S. Shannon, who was one of the vic- ; tims of the raft accident on the Wainiakariri river last August, when two i young men w.ere drowned. ' 1 CROSSING SMASH. 1 HAMILTON, December 2. ' A level crossing smash occurred at ( Te Aroha this morning. A car driven by T. Bowering, containing boy scouts was struck by a train. The car was

carried some distance on the cowcatchier. The driver was jambed under the steering wheel, and was badlj injured. None of the boy scouts was hurt. MOTORIST BURNT. TE AWAMUTU, Dec. 1. A. J. Mold, a farmer at Te Kawa, was badly burned about the arms, when drawing some benzine from the tank of his motor lorry to oblige a passing motorist who had run short. While the benzine was being drawn off, a man standing by, struck a match, and the fumes exploded. The lorry caught fire and the garage was in danger of destruction, until all present smothered the flames. Mr Mold was brought into Te Awamutu for surgical attention. FIRE AT MASTERTON. MASTERTON, December 1. A six-roomed house in Lansdowne, a residential suburb of Masterton, was gutted by fire at 6.30 this evening. The house was owned and oc. cupied by H. J. Chesterman, who, with his family, was home at the time of the outbreak. The fire had a very strong hold when the alarm was given, and, though the Brigade were successful in suppressing it promptly, the whole interior was demolished. Considerable clothing and liner were salvaged, but most of the furniture was destroyed. The house ami con tents were insured. POSTAL THEFT. CHRISTCHURCH, December 2. “This youth made a decisive and deliberate attempt to break the declaration he made when fie joined the Postal Department, and the only punishment that can be given him is the reprobation of his fellow men.” This remark was made by Mr Mosley, S.M. in refusing to suppress the name of William Roy Mills, a young postal officer, who had admitted stealing a registered letter from a mail bag. The Magistrate said he would not suppress the name of a public officer who was in a position of trust. Mills pleaded guilty and was committed for sentence. AN OLD OFFENDER WELLINGTON. Dec. 2. Donald Sutherland Murray Grant, labourer, 53, pleaded guilty before Mr. Page S.M., to the theft of £24, the property of John William Davies, and to an assault on Detective Kane when in the execution of his duty. Chief Detective Ward said that accused was given the money to purchase a horse and cart, but disappeared. He was located by Kane at a Wellington hotel, and was asked to go to the Detective Office. He went a few yards, then struck Kane, and had to be held down and handcuffed. He was a man of very‘vicious disposition, and had a long list of convictions for false pretences and theft. Ho was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment on the first charge and one month on the second, to be cumulative.

SAILORS’ BREAKAWAY. WELLINGTON, December 1. -Three Norwegian sailors —Sigurd Moen, aged 20 years, Arno Larsen, aged 19 years, and Angell August Pedersen, aged 23 years —pleaded guilty in the Magistrate’s Court to being absent without leave from the motor ship Thalatta, at Lyttelton, and to stowing away on the steamer Ku row.

Senior-Sergeant Lander said that the. men deserted their ship at Lyttelton and after she had loft for Nelson and Auckland, stowed away on the Kurow and came to Wellington, where they were arrested. Messrs Burns, Philp and Co. wished them to be dealt with under the first charge, so that, they could rejoin their ship. On the first charge the three men were each convicted and ordered to pay £1 towards the cost of their passage from Lyttelton. They were each sentenced to seven days’ imprisonment, and ordered to be placed on board their ship at Auckland, on the second charge. SWINDLES AND THEFTS. AUCKLAND, December 2. A story of a series of swindles and attempts to obtain money by false pretences, was told at the Police Court, when Roland George Collins, and Francis Edward Diggle, pleaded guilty to a number of charges. Collins was convicted of six charges of false pretences and one of theft. They obtained £2O 14s from trades people and attempted to obtain a further sum of £46. Diggle, who was said to be influenced by Collins, a man with a previous list of convictions, was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment. Collins was sentenced to two terms of six months’ each to bo cumulative, followed by twelve months’ reformative detention. “Perhaps the Prisons Board won’t let him out so soon this time,” commented Magistrate Hunt. The theft of which Collins was convicted was in respect of £l4 6/8, which he collected as canvasser for an insurance company at Wellington, and failed to account for it. Collins was remanded to Christchurch on two charges of forgery. Diggle was remanded to Christchurch on a charge of false pretences.