NEWS OF THE DAY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20639, 20 August 1941, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

Council’s Sympathy At the Cook County Council’s meeting to-day, a motion of sympathy was passed with the county engineer, Lieutenant K. F. Jones, now on active service, in the death of his father. The chairman, Mr W. G. Sherralt, said that the late Mr. Jones was a prominent business man in the north and was Mayor of Dargaville.

Sent Indecent Letter Pleading guilty in the Gisborne Police Court to-day to having sent through the post a letter containing indecent expressions, a young Maori woman. Hine Honia, Te Hapara, was fined £2 and ordered to pay 17s costs. Senior-Sergeant J. F. H. Macnarnara stated that the defendant had admitted sending the letter and explained that it was in reference to certain remarks which she understood the complainant had made about her. School Patriotic Effort Pupils of the senior standards of the Gisborne Central School are engaged in a patriotic effort on behalf of the district rehabilitation fund. Parents have been impressed to give assitance in designing attractive sales items, and with their friends will be the principle victims of a sales campaign to-morrow at the school. Flowers, sweets, books needlework, and many products of artistic endeavour will be offered for sale, and keen interest is being taken in the effort by teachers and pupils alike. “Best Equipped Town” ‘‘l have no hesitation in saying that, tele-phonically, Gisborne can be regarded as probably the best equipped town in New Zealand at the present time,” wrote the Postmaster-General, the Hon. P. C. Webb, in reply to a letter from the Gisborne Chamber of Commerce, which had written thanking the Government on the successful inauguration of the automatic telephone system in Gisborne and the officers staffing the old system. “The equipment is of the most modern type and is capable of providing an efficient service for many years,” the Minister added. Cyclist Struck Over Head ‘‘Apparently the defendant had no solicitude for the boy, whom he struck over the head,” said Mr. E. L. Walton, S.M., in the Police Court to-day, when fining Thomas Martin £5 on a charge of assaulting John Raymond Jones at Ormond on May 12. Mr. T. A. Coleman, for the defendant, pleaded guilty and explained that Martin was handling some young cattle, unused to the road, and that the complainant was one of two cyclists who went through the mob before he had a chance to get them in hand. His action in assaulting Jones, was prompted by his solicitude for the cattle under his charge. £lO Reward The Wairoa Borough Council decided last night, on the motion of the Mayor, Mr. H. L. Harker, to offer a reward of £lO for any information leading to the conviction of any person guilty of vandalism in the borough. It was stated that since last week, when wet concrete, laid down for a new footpath in Kabul street, was damaged, further hooliganism of a similar nature had taken place. The council decided also to ask school teachers to place before school children the duty of respecting public property and to inform them that the reporting of offences could not be looked upon as tale-telling.— Special. Patriotic Tax Proposal "It would be a very dangerous precedent to ask the Government to increase taxation,” stated Mr. H. R. Kendon, when a letter from the Auckland Chamber of Commerce was read at yesterday afternoon’s meeting of the Gisborne Chamber of Commerce asking views on the proposal to add ljd in the £ on income tax or social security tax for the purpose of securing patriotic funds. The acting secretary, Mr. M. J. White, said that it had been pointed out that in the event of such a proposal being adopted the local patriotic councils would not be permitted to administer the funds. On the motion of Mr. T. A. N. Corson, the chamber decided to reply opposing the proposal.