DUTCH FLAGS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22751, 11 December 1935, Page 10

DUTCH FLAGS

NOTABLE HISTORIC TROPHIES LINK WITH ABEL TASMAN (Peb United Press Association) AUCKLAND, December 10. Trophies of two great achievements separated by three centuries in the history of New Zealand arc likely to be set side by side when the Netherlands flag which was flown across the Tasman Sea by Mr W. M. O'Hara is presented to Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands. Her Majesty is said to possess the original flag of Abel Tasman, the great Dutch navigator who discovered New Zealand. The flag carried by Mr O'Hara in his Klemm monoplane was sent by the Consul-general for the Netherlands in Sydney on behalf of the Dutch community there to Captain Bauer, the Consul in Auckland. The suggestion that it might be appropriate to present the trophy to Queen Wilhelmina was made to Mr O'Hara by the Aucklant. Returned Soldiers' Association, and it was mentioned in a letter to Mr O'Hara that he had brought the first Netherlands flag across the Tasman by air. Mr O'Hara brought the suggestion under the notice of Captain Bauer, to whom the flag had been handed, and he has agreed to make it available.

The plans made by Mr O'Hara to return from the Dominion to Australia by air have been abandoned at the request of his mother. Mr O'Hara explained that although his mother was gratified at the success of his recent flight she was anxious that he should not undertake the return journey by air. He would therefore ship his monoplane to Sydney at the end of his New Zealand visit and fly from there to his home at Malang, Java. A tour of New Zealand by air is planned by Mr O'Hara, and he '..opes to begin before Christmas.

ACTION FOR SLANDER <» ACCUSATION OF CHEATING £3 DAMAGES AWARDED (Per United Press Association) CHRISTCHURCH, December 10. An accusation of .cheating made at a euchre tournament conducted by the Toy Dog and Cat Club on October 23, led to a slander action in the Magistrate's Court to-day before Mr F. F. Reid, S.M. The plaintiff was Mrs E. Edwardson, of 159 Bealey avenue, and the defendant was Mrs Lilly Lister, a widow, of 248 Lichfield street. At the tournament prizes were competed for and the scores were recorded by marks punched in the competitors' cards. Mrs Edwardson alleged that Mrs Lister had said at the tourney that she (plaintiff) had had a pair of nippers of her own and punched her own card. She claimed £lO damages. It was also alleged that Mrs Lister had repeated the statement on the following evening at another tournament. After hearing the evidence the magistrate said that the defendant had insisted that the plaintiff had a pair of nippers, which was denied. The defendant had accused the plaintiff of a very flagrant form of cheating, and allegations of that kind must be proved beyond reasonable doubt. The defendant, he thought, had suspected irregularity, and had dashed to the secretary and told him. That might have been excusable, but she had repeated her charge on auother occasion. The defendant must not say on mere suspicion such grave things about another person. The magistrate awarded damages amounting to £3, with costs.