HOKITIKA NOTES

Grey River Argus, 27 November 1931, Page 2

HOKITIKA NOTES

(From Our Own Correspondent.) HOKITIKA November 26. There was quite a sharp shock of earthquake felt laat night at 9.50 o'clock. It lasted for several seconds and wag heavy enough to cause j/onie alarm. The direction appeared to be from north to south.. A meeting of tke local L’nemp.oymuiit Committee wasi held at the Town Hafi to-day th meet Air Davies, of the Labour Department. The Mayor (u the chair) Messrs Heenan, Evans, Harvey and McGavin were also present. yeveral local .mining applicawere dealt with, three being recommended and othersi referred back for further information. The Committee brought before Mr Davies the necessity of increasing the week»y quota. A sitting of the Juvenile Court wa 3 hleld at Hokitika this morning before Mr W. Meldrum, S.M, A boy, 14. years of age, who stole two watches, vajlued at £5, was admonished and discharged. Two charges were preferred against another lad for steal ing a bicycle valued at £2. He was also admonished and discharged, and an. order was made for the return of th e bicycle. He was also adjnonished for breaking telegraph insulaters. There was a, happy assemblage of relatives at the residence of Mrs N. Harris, pf Koiterangi on Saturday, on the occasion of the 70th birthday of Mr Joseph Cuttance, of Hokitika and formerly of Okuru. There were present, six daughters wfith their husbands and 17 grandchildren. Th© proceedings were of a cordial nature and the best of good wishes were extended to th© guest. There was a, good attendance last night at the inaugural ball of the Hokitika Volunteer Company at the Soldiers’ Hall. The cold snap earlier in the week did much damage to vegetables, fruit and Hower gardens in the Kokatahi district. Very coarse hail fell on Tuesday and it even spoiled potato rops. A fine of £1 with £1 2s 6d costa, was imposed on a Arahura resident hl ike Court to-day on a charge of usxiig insulting language in a public place, which he admitted doing in a written statement handed to the Court by Air Murdoch. Some visitors to the Fox Glacier last 'week-end had the unusual experience of riding horses on to the glacier. This is th© first time in the experience of Guide Alack that horses have been taken on to the ice. The hbrses travelled about a mile from the terminal face, and sone photos were taken. The guid e stated the horses were not as clumsy on the ice a 3 people would imagine and the experiment demonstrated that for those who were not disposed to walk to the glacier, the horseback trip was possible, and no doubt it would become popular with many. Th© folio-wing Kumara applicationwere before the Warden’s Court today:—A. S’. Cunningham, ordinary prospecting license (Air Elcock). — Adjourned; H. Joujes (Air Sellers) ord nary prospecting license! —Ad 1-uurned.; Edward Lionel Barne s (Mi Murdoch), ordinary prospecting licucse.—'Granted; Percival Neajme (Mr S-. lets), extended alluvial claim. — Granted. The Boss applications were: —Hermann) Osmers, (Air Elcock). .. n ea e.—Adjourned; Tho-s. C. Gill (Mr Elcock), license for water race.— Granted for five years; Same, ordinary pro pcctiug license.—Adjourned; alfred W. Purcell and John Engholt (Air Elcock), ordinary prospecting license.—Granted, subject to conditions; Dan Walsh (Mr Murdoch), water race —Granted for five years; T. J. Hajilu han. J. Ku Mortland and A. E. Camer- ' on, water race. —Granted; Pacific Development Coy., (Mr Elcock), ten ap-pjicatio-ne for prospecting licenses.i Granted; AL Ntolan (Mr Elcock), ex - ' tended alluvial cjafiii.—Adjourned, Same (Mr Elcock), application for water racq^—Withdrawn. Hokitika applications were:—Jame 3 Toohey ami T,. B. Warren (Park and Murdoch), application for ordinary license.Withdravvn; 1,. Tainui (Mr EUcock), extended beach claim.—Adjourned, Westland Powder Limited (Air Murdoch), application for electric transmission line..—Granted; Ganieri Electric Coy., (Park and Murdoch); application for license for a special site, also l license for « by-wash.—Recom-mended. to the 1 Minister; Same, permission to. deepen water race.—Granted; Thos. Brown (Air Murdoch), extended alluvial claim. —Granted; Geo. Watts and Tj. S. Rasmussen, ordinary prospecting license in respect of other than nativ e land.—Granted, subject to forestry conditions; Chas. A. Jolly, extended alluvial cil aim.-—Granted; Same, license for a taiil-race. —Grant ed, subject t<> forestry conditions. At the Magistrate's Court to-day there was a case in which Boger Sunley, of Wellington, sought to recover the sum of £8 from Mrs J. A. Ferguson of Harihari a-M instalments due under an agreement made, be tween the partie 3 in October, 1930. Defendant, counter-claims for £2l 13s, being the amount of deposit and stamp duty paid by plaintiff. Plain tiff approached defendant with a scheme for the purchase of property in W.eHlington... Slhie had agreed to buy, but later fiounj. that the fact* in the agreement had been fraudulently represented. Evidence was also given, by four residents of South WeHt land, who had also invented in similar property e ach declaring that the cond|itiou s Concerning thle 'properties were not such as were given to be understood by plaintiff's represents tions. Otily the evidence was taken, the verdict to be given i n Welling ton. A couple of youths pleaded guilty to a charge of wilfully damaging telegraph insulators, and were ordered to- pay 10s each and the cost of repair.-. Two defendants) <wer e ordered to pay costs for being on licensed premises after hours, and a number of debit cases were dealt with. The following are the Hokitika teams for matches during the weekend:—Senior v. Biinu, at Rimu: — Eade, Thomas, Reese, Adamson, Morgan, Schroder, Walker, Freitas, Dale. Cooper, Rooney, Delbridge. Stapleton and Gardyne. Car leaves town clock at 10 a.m. Kiwi Juniors v~ Rimu at Alental Hospital at 11 a.m..:—G. Stapleton, G. Johnson, D. Spence, T. Richards, M. Badrd, D. Conning, W. Butland, F. Parker, T. Dew, M. Morgan, J. West, B. .Collett and J. An-

drews. Junior A. v. Ross a* Rfoss:— Olsen (2), Hughes (2), Jolly (2), Laing, Toohey, Bell, Adamson, Mitchell, Diedrichs, Pierson, V. Stapleton and Sumner. Players meet at the town clock at 9.30 1 u.in. Sergeant King, who acts, as local administrator of fishing regulations, charged two. whitebaiters to-day with breaches of the regulations. Thos. Spoor with using a boat with a net to divert or prevent the movement of whitebait and. A. G. arly, also with constructing a trench in Mahinapua Greek without the approval of the Inspector;, The charge against Spoor was heard first, Mr Brosnan appearing for him, and plead mg nut guilty, Sergear' King sab: that on October 10th, he visited Mahinapua Creek and found defendant in the boat, which. wa s stationary. Ho had a net attached to a pole and was using this to catch whitebait. The position of the boat and net had a tendency to divert the ru a of fish. Whitebait ran into this creek iu n-ujn-ero.us quantities, it nd li B contended that defendant, by his action, was diverting the fish. Mr Brosnan dealt with technical points surrounding the use of the boat and the net. Sergeant King sard that defendant was ] using hrs boat really in the service of . trench. The Bench said the point Ito be emphasised was was to be Refined as 'lawful or unlawful. His Worship, said that there was insuffi- ' cient evidence t 0 support the charge, wjrijeh jwag, withdrawn. ,The second charge against Howe, for which Mr Brosnan appeared, was withdrawn. Regarding tho charge of constructing a trench, without official approval, Sergeant King said that defendant had been a registered fisherman for six or seven years.. This year defendant had built a trench in one of the back creeks of Malunavua without registering it, and without authority ' as to position and construction, tn reply, to Mr Brosnan, Sergeant King said his objection was that defendant had not applied for permission to ■ erect the trench. Had defendant ' come to hint he would have given ap--1 proval. The construction of the 1 trench itself was sat|i>lfaetory. Mr 1 Brosnan: “Did you not have trouble with defendant before?” No. Mr ’ Brosnan: No with his brother’s • trench That was not a registered trench Mr Brosnan: Wba.t ■ about last year That is different. Mr Brosnan: What happened last ’ year? Sergeant King objected to the question and. t|ht, pencil upheld his objection; Mr Brosnan: As an Inspector of Fisheries, the Sergeant has a discretion vested in him, and this must be, used judicially. In the case ’ last year, the Sergeant had not used it judicially. Th 0 Bench: That has 1 nothing to do with this case as it? Mr Brosnan: 1 can bring evidence to prove that there has not been the best of feeling between the Sergeant and fisheijmen in general including Howe. The Be’nch: Over this trench? Mr ’ Brosnan; Well no. Tlid conduct of the Sergeant to the defendant ’was such that the latter felt it useless to a Pply to him, and took th' e matter into his own hands. He subml.tied that the regulation under the Act might b e translated a little more freely uii.l asked the Magistrate! to consider everything in his summing up. Sergan| King sai'cT he was not hostile, but had to carry lout instructions. After argument, as to whether Mahinapua Creek is a tidal one, Sergeant Ku g said he know that Mahinapua Creek ’ was a tidal creek according to regu- ■ lations; Isj it not a stream at low 1 water, but was a backwash. It joined the Mahinapua Creek at high water, into wilijich the tidal waters penetrated. The Magistrate said that it appeared to be tidal water, and quoted the regulations governing groins 1 br trenches in whitebaiting. The ’ evidence showed that a breach had occurred. Although the maximum fine was £2O. he would only fine the ’ minimum amount of £l. Costs 10s ' were allowed against defendant.