DOMINION NEWS

Grey River Argus, 25 May 1942, Page 7

DOMINION NEWS

BOY POISONED. P.A. AUCKLAND, May 22. While playing at home, William Mark Longbottom, 11-year-old son of Mr F. P. Longbottom? of Avondale, swallowed a poisonous garden concentrate and died within a few minutes. DESERTION FOR' NEARLY A YEAR. WELLINGTON, May 22. A soldier ,who was absent from hi is unit for nearly a year has been sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment with hard labour by a Court-mar-tial in the Wellington district. He is Gunner Ernest Donald Savare Robson, aged 27. The charge on which he was found guilty was desertion on active service, when, having been warned to proceed for overseas service, with intent to avoid going overseas, he absented himself without leave from June 25, 1941, till he surrendered himself in civilian clothes to the civil police at Palmerston North on May 4, 1942. MARKETING OF FRUIT. HzXSTINGS, May 23. Hawke's Bay fruitgrowers last night rejected, almost unanimously, a suggestion that the industry revert to a system of free marketing with a Government subsidy of 2s a case, in preference to the present system of a guarantee of an average minimum price. The meeting was addressed by Mr T. A. Brash, Dominion president of the federation, who said he heheved that the Government, in the present circumstances, looked on the assistance it gave, not as a subsidy to fruitgrowers, but as a subsidy to fruit. It was made clear L-y Mr ■Brash that the Government never promised an individual guarantee. INCOME TAX RETURNS. WELLINGTON, May 2-2. Emphasising stalling difficulties in consequence of war conditions and the necessity for reducing the volume of work and the administrative cost to the absolute minimum, the Commissioner of Taxes has declared his intention to pursue a vigorous policy in future in regard to delinquent taxpayers. “I do not want to harass taxpayers,” he said, “but the obligation to furnish returns by June 1 has been widely advertised and those who do not comply with the legal requirements must be prepared to take the consequences. Those who have been in the habit of depending on default assessments might, in future, get a summons instead/” The Commissioner added that applications to have proceedings withdrawn once they had been instituted would not be entertained. N.Z. WAR PRISONERS. P.A. WELLINGTON, May 23. Complaints by New Zealand prisoners in Italian camps are being .investigated by the International Red Cross, Geneva, states the inquiry office at Wellington, which points out that as the Italian authorities had a large number of prisoners on their hands at the end of 1941 it was only to be expected that it would take some time for the camps to be put in satisfactory order. The British Red Cross stated in February that the Italians would not allow prisoners of war to receive individuallyaddressed parcels of books and games, but it was hoped that the restriction would be only temporary. Next-of-kin in New Zealand who have relatives still posted as missing from Greece and Crete are asked to send full details to the inquiry office, which will have special inquiries made through the International Red Cross.

To-day a cabled reply was received within seven days of an inquiry on several cases of missing men Geneva said that there was no record of the men, but investigations wui naturally continue.