DOMINION NEWS

Greymouth Evening Star, 1 November 1939, Page 12

DOMINION NEWS

[pee pbess THEFT OF MAILBAG NEW PLYMOUTH, October 31. Admitting the theft of a mailbag and contents, Robert Angus, 19, was to-day committed by Mr. W. H. Woodward, S.M., to the Supreme Court for 1 sentence. The mailbag disappeared from a box on the roadside in Awakino valley on June 4, 1935, and Angus admitted complicity in a statement at Ashburton on October 16, more than four years after the theft. FARMER’S SUDDEN DEATH OAMARU, October 31. John William Ferguson, 78, a farmer of Winchmore, Methven, collapsed on the Oamaru railway station thisi afternoon and died shortly afterwards, Ferguson had travelled from Palmerston and had intended catching the second express for Ashburton. He boarded the train and then returned to the platform where he collapsed. FORGERY ALLEGED NEW PLYMOUTH, October 31. Forgery was alleged against Wilson Reid, of Tongaporutu, a farmer, in the Magistrate’s Court to-day. He was committed for trial in the Supreme Court. The charge arose from a letter received' by the Forestry Department in Palmerston North, alleging damage by another Tongaporutu farmer to a State forest reserve. The letter purported to be signed by a neighbour of Reid. INQUEST AT NELSON. NELSON, October 31. The inquest on Douglas Creamer, aged about 18, employed by Kirkpatrick and Company, was opened, when evidence was given to the effect that Creamer was caught in shafting. A witness said he saw that some of Creamer’s clothing was wrapped round the shaft and Creamer was going round with it. When the engine was stopped Creamer was hanging by the right arm, which was wrapped round the shaft.

The inquest was adjourned sine die Creamer’s mother lives at Auckland. BODY IN RIVERBED GERALDINE, October 31. Charles Henry Hodson, an elderlj man, of Timaru, was found dead this afternoon in a shallow stream in the Opihi river-bed at Waipopo, neai Temuka. Hodson had accompanied a friend Mr. W. J. Nicholson, on a fishing expedition from Timaru, leaving at 11 a.m., and having lunch at the rivei about 12 o’clock. Mr. Nicholson was away for about one hour fishing, and on his return found Hodson lying face-down in about two feet of water, Hodson’s hat was on top of the bank, and his stick was half-way down. The flattened undergrowth showed signs of Hodson having slid or rolled into the water. Hodson had been receiving medical treatment for heart trouble.

. PRICE OF ORANGES WELLINGTON, November 1. A unanimous decision, not to adhere to the prices for oranges fixed by the have been made to the Minister oi Government, until representatijonjs Marketing, was reached at a combined meeting of retail fruiterers in Wellington. The grounds were stated afterwards to be that the sale oi oranges would definitely be curtailed. The prices at which they were being sold in the majority of shops were lower than those fixed by the Government. The principle of fixing prices for such a perishable commodity, in the fruiterers’ opinion, was completely unworkable, because so much depended on the quality and amount of handing and storage. A minimum supply for 14 days must be.carried by the retailers, which meant in some cases considerable depreciation in the fruit, becauseit was not delivered to the fruiterers on its arrival in New Zealand 1 , but, in greater or lesser quantity, ds held in cool and other store.