DOMINION ITEMS

Greymouth Evening Star, 18 May 1943, Page 2

DOMINION ITEMS

SURFACEMAN KILLED t AUCKLAND, May 17. < A Chinese railway surfaceman was killed and another man narrowly escaped injury when the velocipede on which they were travelling collided with the engine of a special goods train in a cutting on the northern line. The man killed was Gm Foo, aged about 40, of Tahekeroa. FINES FOR BOOKMAKING WHANGAREI, May 17. , Fines totalling £245 were imposed on five men charged with bookmaking. They were Charles Schon, a (bootmaker and tobacconist, £100; John Alexander Tuohy, an agent; Cyril Herbert Benfell, a tobacconist. John Reginald Angelo, a tobacconist, £4O each; and Allan Arthur Angelo, /-> soldier, charged with assisting in the conduct of a gaming house, £25.

, RATIONED CLOTHING WELLINGTON, May 18. .“Under a special Clothing Rationing Order which will be gazetted this week an obligation is placed on all retailers of rationed clothing to secure a certificate of registration and licenses to trade,” states ths Food and Rationing Controller (Mr Thomas). “After June 1 it will be an offence for any retail trader to sell or supply rationed clothing, footwear, and household linen unless he holds the requisite license.” The Controller states that this action is taken with the approval of the Drapers’ Federation lor the protection of legitimate traders observing the regulations relating to the sale of rationed clothing.

SHOWMAN’S CRUEL FRAUD AUCKLAND, May 17

Three years’ imprisonment with hard labour was the sentence passed on Franklin John Smith, a showman, aged 46, in the Supreme Court to-day for obtaining money from a woman .by posing as a gaol warder and another sum from a dealer by representing himself as a ship’s steward with goods to sell. Mr. Justice Callan described the act of obtaining money from, the woman as one of the most cruel and fraudulent pretences he had everheard of.

COMFORTS FOR QUARANTINED WELLINGTON, May 18.

During the past few days, the War Purposes Committee of the Joint Council of the Order of St. John and New Zealand Red Cross Society, and overseas Seamen’s Gifts Committee, in Association with the National Patriotic Fund Board, have arranged for a considerable supply of comforts to be placed on board the hospital ship which has been in quarantine since arrival from the Middle East. Provision has been made for patients, medical staff, and also for the crew of the ship. The comforts supplied included books, magazines, chocolate, cigarettes, sports and games equipment, tooth paste, and tooth brushes. Other articles are supplied as required. Arrangements have also been made for two film projectors to be sent to the ship.

CIVIL DEFENCE. WELLINGTON, May 18.

There is an attendance of 29, including 16 representatives of the Police Department, from the principal districts of the Dominion for this week’s Law and Order specialist course at the Civil Defence School of Instruction. The Civil Defence Minister (Mr. Wilson) said he looked on the Law and Order section of the E.P.S. as next in importance to the fire fighting; indeed, it was doubtful whether they were less important in a real emergency. xA good working agreement between the Police and the E.P.S. had evolved from the recent conference in Wellington. The Director of National Service (Mr. Hunter) said that although the present course was belated there was an advantage in the fact that there was now a better appreciation of the importance of specialist training control- . • i The Regional Commissioner (Colonel Ciochetto) emphasised the. great value of these courses in the interchange of views among the key men assembled from the various districts. The authorities were fostering a mutually helpful spirit of co-operation.

SLY-GROGGER FINED WHANGAREI, May 17

Gordon Samuel Donald Boniface, known for the last 14 years as Ricardo Martinez, was fined £25 to-day by Mr. Raymond Ferner, S.M., on a slyrrogging charge. The police stated that they had found in Boniface’s house 16 quart bottles of beer and one unlaljelled bottle of wine. A dozen quart bottles of beer were in a sack. A dollar bill was found in a drawer. Boniface said this was given him by a friend, but he would not name the friend. In the washhouse were 83 quart bottles, 32 of which were bottles in which wme was usually sold. Thirteen beer bottles were under the house. Boniface made no objection to a police ■search, but another man . present challenged the police right and threatened to use a gun. Vladimir Kokich, a wine merchant, said he had sold wine worth £9/12/- to Boniface. t Mrs. Kokich had sold wine worth £3/12/-. Giving evidence on his own behalf, Boniface admitted that he and another man arranged parties at his home on Tikipunga Hill, which were sometimes attended by as many as 20 civilians, soldiers, and marines. He charged ordinary prices for liquor consumed. When approached by the police m the street he had 15 bottles of unlabelled wine in his car, and intended charging two dollars a bottle because of the risk taken, he said in a statement to the police. The Magistrate,, in fining Boniface and ordering the confiscation of the liquor, said that his leniency was because Boniface was a first offender. Another appearance would mean gaol.