MANAWATU

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 7056, 18 February 1910, Page 8

MANAWATU

FROM OOTI OWN OOBItESPONDBNI. PALMBESTON NOTES. PALMERSTON, February 17. The All Nations Fair in aid of the consumptive annexe for women at the .local hospital was opened last night. It is the largest thinjg of its kind ever held here. The big agricultural hall at the showgrounds is filled with stalls representing the .' various nations. A u,umber of competitions and sports were held to-day, and to-morrow the fair will be concluded. Up to the present, irrespective of the fair, the amount handed to the treasurer and collected by the mayoress and her committee totals .£l2O, which with the Government subsidy of 24s in the £, totals about .£2BO.

At the Supreme Court yesterday fcho cases of perjury against Roland Hayes and W. Smith were withdrawn from the jury by Mr Justice Chapman,- 011 the application of Mr Wilford, on the' ground that the evidence submitted by She Crown was: not corroborated an the point on whicb the charge rested. Frederick Dunn was found guilty of obtaining money by false pretences. The facts of the case were stated to be that in November, 1903, the two brothers Powell were in search of a carrying business at Pahiatuo, when accused offered to sell them three horses and a dray for J 8155 10a. The bargain was completed, the money paid over, and ; t was then discovered that a mortgage of ,£IOO was held over them by J. D. Crewe, of Pahiatua, that mortgage having been executed about four days previously. Crewe claimed the team, and the .Powells had to satisfy the mortgage. The matter was then put in a solicitor's hands and a warrant issued, but accused disappeared, and was only arrested a ■ few weeks ago by Detective Quirke. Sentence was deferred. Great interest was manifested in the eharges of theft preferred against Archibald Muir, an employee of the Longburn freezing works. The sums involved totalled oyer ,6800, and consisted lof thirty-seven, cheques of various values paid out to one Kerson on dates com inencing in April 1905 and continuing till September 1908. Mr Wilford appeared for accused. The case for the Crown was that Muir, who had charge of the. fat and bone department of the works, and on whose order all cheques were paid out, had handed in bogus amounts on behalf of Kerson and had then called for and cashed the cheques sent to Kerson. Mr Wilford's crossexamination; revealed rather a lax condition of things during the period which the charges covered. There had never been a stocktaking, the fat brought in by vendors and that taken from stock slaughtered in the works was not kept pepatrafce in the ncconmits-, and there was therefora no way of arriving at the shortages. No system of dockets had been used, the cheques being paid out on accused's verbal statements of what hod been received. Neither the manager nor the accountant could produce any single cheque for which they could swear definitely that they had not received value in fat. The case was proceeding When the court rose. After four and ai half houirs' retirement the jury failed to agree in the case against Archibald. Muir, charged with the theft of thirty-seven cheques, valued at .£BOO, from the Longburn freezing works. Accused will ".be retried at the next sitting of the court in Palmerston North. ..-.,.-. Frederick Dunn, for false pretences at Pahiatua, was sentenced to four montbs* imprisonment.. ■ Mr D. Buick, M.P., has left for Auckland to attend the.garden party that is being tendered to Mr W. F. Massey by his at Pukekohe. Mr W. G.'C. Smith, of Palmerston, has sold his flaxmill at.Oroua Bridge to Mr Walter Seifert, who has taken, possession. Owen MoWilliams, of Palmerston North, land agent, was adjudicated bankrupt this morning by His Honor Mr ' Justice Chapman. . Yesterday's takings at the All Nations Fair totalled .£3Ol l"s. The Mayoress has collected an additional £2O 18s. There is in the .bank .£155 2s. and the treasurer, Mr W. Stubbs, has .£2O, which makes a total of .£497 17s up to date. This sum bears a subsidy of 24s in the £l, which makes the .61000 set out for an, assured amount. " At all'.. Saints'. Chuxoh, Palmerston North, yesterday, afternoon, Miss .'Ethel Thoreau, daughter of Mr E. J. Thoreau, of Fitzherbert street, was married to Mr -Walter Ernest Stevenson, son. of Mr James Stevenson, of Edgeware road. The ceremony was performed by Archdeacon Harper.