WESTPORT NOTES

Grey River Argus, 18 February 1932, Page 7

WESTPORT NOTES

(Our Own Correspondent.! WESTPORT, February 17. The inquest into the circumstances attending the death of a man whoso body was found in the vicinity of the Britannia Mine was resumed before Mr E. R. Fox, Coroner. D. Ward stated that in company with C. Moroni the body was found near a hut situate at the Britannia mine and was fully clothed. It was in an advanced state of decomposition. At the time ho did not know who the deceased was. Ho visited the hut and found the note produced on the table. Ho saw a bottle of cyanide. Constable Hoslop stated he saw the body which was decomposed, on a table at the hut, and nearby found a note which read: “Poisoned with tinned moat. Pains awful. Can stand no longer. Finishing with cyanide.” There was a bottle of cyanide on the table near the note. In a cupboard the remains of a tin of meat were found and an empty tin was lying outside the door. On searching the clothing a letter addressed to ■ Mr J. B. Arnold was found, also a note book which contained;, waiting the same as that on the note on the table. The body was convoyed to the Westport morgue. Constable Allen, Westport, stated the clothing on deceased was in a good state of preservation, and in his opinion had not been exposed for more than two weeks. He had

examined the writing on the note and was satisfied it was identical with other writing of John Bernard Arnold. The Coroner was satisfied that the remains were those of John Arnold and found that death was due to ptomaine and cyanide poisoning, the former due to accidentally eating tinned meat, and that the cyanide of potassium was self-administered later to shorten the intense pain from which he was suffering.

The competition was so keen in most of the events last evening that the entrants were accorded well merited applause by a very large gathering of the public. As the meetings are becoming more popular with entries growing steadily, they are getting more difficult to manage/but with experienced and earnest workers in control everything goes off with smoothness. Holder won the sprint with ease and looks to be in the best of condition. Smith’s 41ft in the hop, .step and jump was a great effort for a lad of his stature. A. Strachan was by no means extended to. win the high jump. O’Brien, the ’N.ZL champion, won the half mile and the lap cycle races. In the latter event the last in each lap dropped out, and this novelty race was productive of some very fast cycling. The relay race was a pleasing addition to the card, and were it not. for Holder running off the course on entering the straight, his side would undoubtedly have won the event. Results: 100yds Handicap—E. Holder 1, Bud Smith 2, A. Strachan 3. Half Mile Cycle Race—T. O’Brien 1, Samuels 2, J. Johnson 3. Boys’ Race, 100yds—D. Strachan 1, W. Summers 2, Comerford 3. Boys’ Cycle Race— S. Caldwell 1, W. Ryan 2, Marr 3. Boys’ 440yds Race—Kearns 1, Hogg 2, Strachan 3. Lap Race, seven rounds —T. O’Brien 1, R. Dalkie 2. One mile relay race—B team (Easton, Murray, Anderson and A. Strachan) 1. Hop. step and jump—Bud Smith (6in. handicap) 40ft Ist; Peblecheque (3ft.) 38 ft. 9ins., 2nd; Corrid (3ft.) 37ft. lOins. 3rd. High Jump—A. Strachan 1. The official positions of the Stockton • Miners’ Union were balloted for recently and resulted in the election of Mr J. Mcßride as President, who defeated Mr Merrit for the position.- Mr H. L. Evans was returned unopposed for the Secretaryship. Messrs McBride, Stevenson and Lambert were nominated for the positions of Checkweighmen, the ballot resulting in the oppointment of tho latter two. At the annual examination conducted under the auspices of the School of Mines, the following students were successful: First-class Colliery Manager’s Certificate—Partial Pass, J. Smith. Underviewers’ Certificate— Partial Pass, F. Lockingtn. Deputy’s Certificate —Pass, J. S. Simpson, R. J.

Newman, F. Morrison, E. Corden; Partial Pass, J. Queen and J. Quinn. Ven-tilation—First-class, E. Coppersmith, W. Davis, F. Duffy, W. McNeight and J. Morrow; second-class, J. Taylor and J. Smith; third-class, H. Fox, F. Lockington, A. Troup. Winding and Pump-ing—First-class, E. Coppersmith, F. Duffy, J. Morrow, J. Smith and J. Taylor. Surveying—First-class, W. Davis, J. Smith; second-class, E. Coppersmith, F. Duffy, W. McNeight, J. Taylor and T. Williams. Mathematics (senior) — First-class, W. Davis; second-class, G. Quinn. Electricity (senior) —First class, W. Davies. Electricity (junior) —Second-class, L. Gibson. Qualitative Analysis—First-class, R. Stewart Chemistry (junior)—First-class, R. Stewart.

Tho following judges will officiate at the A. and P. Show, to be held tomorrow (Friday) and Saturday:— Horses—Mr W. T. Begg (Totara Flat); cattle —Mr T. W. Crossen (Christchurch); butter—Mr 11. J. Fetch (Christchurch) ; poultry—Mr T. Beverland (Millerton); fruit and vegetables —Mr IT. R. Evans; flowers —Mr R. Irvine— cooking—Mr D. Llewellyn, Mesdames Ballard and Benjamin; needlework—Mesdames Allan and Harker" writing, maps and essays—Mrs P.Botts and Miss Martin; woodwork — Mr J. Colville Cook; dogs—Mr E. W. Patten.

The Maori Mission touring the Coast had a cordial reception at the Theatre Royal last night, and the various songs, hakas, poi dances, etc., wore awarded with the plaudits of a very large gathering. The preliminary heats in the fours rowing contests for Mr Rudge Wood’s shields were held last evening under excellent weather conditions, with the following results: Blair (stroke), Atkin, Holdgate and Stevens, defeated Loekey (stroke), Mathewson, Flannery and Steere. Strachan (stroke), J. Caldwell, C. Smith and F. Slee, defeated J. Dailey, McManus, S. Dailey and T. McKenzie. The Buller Cricket Association have arranged the following fixtures for the coming week-end: Senior —Denniston v. St. Canice’s, at Denniston; United v. Granity, at Waimangaroa. Junior— Granity B v. Denniston at Granity. There were no shipping movements at the port to-day. The Komata is due from Wellington, and is up to leave on the return trip on Friday. A tramp steamer is duo from New Plymouth for bunkers and will sail for Nauru Island. The Technical High School annual swimming carnival yesterday was held before a large attendance, and in beautiful weather. The chief events resulted: Boys’ Senior Championship — D. Robertson. Boys’ Junior Championship—A. Stewart. Girls’ Senior Championship—S. Butterworth. Girls’ Junior Championship—J. Robertson The house points scored resulted ns follows: Wilding 141, Grey 94, Marsden 52, Seddon 24.

The competition for the Wilson Tennis Cup, open to country clubs, concluded on Saturday, when Millerton (holders) maintained their unbeaten record by defeating Hector comfortably and retaining tho trophy for the ensuing twelve months.

Denniston cricketers sprung a surprise by defeating the crack United side by an innings and 12 runs to register their first victory this season.

A meeting of the newly-formed Chamber of Commerce was very poorly attended last night, and business was confined to mapping out the constitution. HOSPITAL AFFAIRS. At a meeting of the Hospital Board held last night, Hon. W H. Mclntyre presided, and those present were: Mrs Forman, Messrs W. Caldwell, E. R. Fox, R. Hawes, J. Niven and J. Griffiths. A deputation from the Denniston Hospital Committee attended the meeting in connection with statements made at the previous meeting of the Board regarding the appointment of a relieving sister at the institution, tho alleged diverting of monies from the source for which the finance was intended, and matters generally affecting the administration of the Hospital The Denniston representatives indulged in some very plain talking and the discussions were marked by very lively passages into which at times a little heat was introduced. Mr Mclntyre at the outset asked the deputation to be brief and hoped that the business was not altogether concerned with the abbreviated report in the press of f he previous meeting of the Board which might possib’fj convey a wrong impression and sincerely anticipated that t-ie matters which warranted the presence of five members of the Denniston Committee at the meeting would have regard to something which would be a benefit to tho Hospital Board and to the body which tho deputation represented. Mr Laurie referred at length to the grievances of the Denniston Committee and regretted that statements made by the members of the Hospital Board at its last meeting in connection with the appointment of a relieving sister at the Denniston Hospital, which were baseless, should have received the publicity they did. The statement emanating from Mr Mclntyre, which was also featured in r be press, to the effect that monies had been diverted from a channel for which they were collected, was also wrong, and there was no justification for the remark. The Chairman stated that he had been informed that sixpence contribution per member had been transferred from, tho Hospital Fund to the Medical Management, but evidently he had been misled. Mr Hamilton was of the opinion that Mr Mclntyre should withdraw the statement, which was absolutely wrong. Mr Laurie, in support of his contention that this Committee was doing its best to meet all liabilities, mentioned that during the past year 96 -working days had been lost at the colliery, representing a wages loss computed at 16s per day of £30,400. The mine onlyworked on 147 days, which gave em-

ployees £ll7 12s for the period, or an average of £2 5s 7d per week, out of which 5s 6d per fortnight to meet the expenses of the Medical Associa tion and Hospital were paid. A breeze between the Chairman and Mr Muir took place and it looked as if the deputation would prematurely withdraw, but order was restored. The discussion continued to be of an acrimonious nature and proceedings were marked by cross-fire between the Chairman and Mr Muir. The members of the deputation at the conclusion of the business thanked the Board for tho hearing accorded to them and hoped the discussions would lead to a better understanding.

Mr Baker, of the Karamea Medical Association, asked permission to pay half the expense incurred by a member who recently underwent an operation nt the Greymouth Hospital. The request was acceded to. Dr. Foote reported as follows: Admitted, 32 males, 27 females; discharged, 26 and 16; remaining in Hospital, 7 males, 16 females. Matron Wright’s request for holidays was granted. The Caretaker of the Old People’s Home reported that since last meeting, nine were admitted and four discharged. The number at present in the Home were 26 males and four females. The Matron of the Kawatiri Hospital reported: [Patients admitted, 11; discharged, 12; fees collected, £4l 11s. The Secretary intimated that the nett’ debt at the end of the month was £1704 15s lOd, as compared with £2869 0s 6d for the previous month. A resolution from the ’Grey Hospital Board in connection with fees paid by the Timber Workers’ Union for hospital treatment was endorsed. Andy Phillips Is now at the Sergeant’s Hill Hotel, where a welcome awaits all-—Advt. Have you seen Jeff’s new Bowser Advt. Morgan's Pictures To-day (Thursday) at the matinee at 2.30 p.m. at the Victoria Theatre. George Bancroft, Clive Brook and Kay Johnson are featured again in the Paramount all talkie, “Scandal Sheet.” IHe wrecks homes with headlines*—and likes the gameSee this man thousands fear and hate, brought to his knees by a woman. More suitable for adult audiences. Excellent talkie supports. Popular prices 2/3 and 1/6. TO-NIGHT (THURSDAY) AND FRIDAY. The Universal attraction at the Victoria Theatre to-night (Thursday) and Friday and matinee Saturday at 2.30 p.m., is a talkie picture in a class by itself. It is “Dracula,” a sensationally different, weird and startling story of life after death, and the strange human vampires who rise from their graves at night and bring terror in the bourse of darkness. Bela Lugosi and Edward Van Sloan, who appeared in the original stage production of “Dracula,” were engaged by Universal to play the roles which they created, and other inportant parts are enacted by Helen Chandler, David Manners, etc. Supporting pictures are News Reel, Cartoon, Comedy and “Strange As It Seems.” Popular prices 2/3 and 1/6. Reserves at Morgan’s, near Theatre.