NEWS OF THE DAY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26407, 11 March 1947, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

“ Benefit of the Doubt ” “ There is no such thing as the benefit of the doubt,” Mr J. D. Willis, S.M., reminded counsel in the City Police Court yesterday when counsel suggested that, as the evidence against his client was not conclusive, the benefit of the doubt should be extended to the accused. “I hope no one will ever hear me saying that anyone will receive, the benefit of the doubt,” the magistrate added. “ Unless the evidence is conclusive, no conviction will be entered against anyone appearing before me.” Returned Services’ Appeal

A total of £595 Is has been contributed by the members of the Dunedin Returned Services’ Association in reply 'to the appeal for funds to send food parcels to Edinburgh for distribution among ex-servicemen and their dependents. A similar scheme of assisting ex-servicemen in 100 cities in the United Kingdom is being operated by the branches of the Returned Services’ Association througout New Zealand.

British Car Output Though British car manufacturers had almost exceeded their pre-war production rate at some stage in the past six months, the increase had not been maintained, ana the outlook was not very promising for this year, said Mr G. C. Seers, of General Motors, Ltd., who returned tp New Zealand yesterday morning after eight months in the United States and Britain. “The British motor industry did a very fine job of reconversion under great difficulties, but quite apart from the present coal troubles,. the shortage of steel was proving a great handicap,” he said.

of Moa Bones An interesting deposit of moa bones has been found in a small cave on the Mount Arthur tableland by Mr R. L. Salisbury, of Nelson. It has been inspected by Dr W. R. B. Oliver, director of the Dominion Museum, Wellington. All the bones brought out are of a small species of moa that stood 3ft 6in high. On the, whole, they are in good condition and Dr Oliver estimates their age at from 200 to 300 years. He was disappointed at not finding head bones among the collection. The cave is known to contain more bones and will be re-examined in the near future. Meantime, its actual location is not being disclosed. Jurors Dissatisfied With Pay

Dissatisfaction with the statutory payment was expressed by a small group of jurors called from the Runanga district for the Supreme Court session at Greymouth last week. One juror; when the group called at the court office for its money, refused in the first instance to accept the amount offered. The jurors complained that no allowance was made for meals, although they were compelled to remain away from their homes ail day.-Pros-spective Greymouth jurors, they said, could go to their homes for meals. The dissatisfied juror accepted the amount when it was explained,, that .the payment ( was fixed by regulation and could' not be altered to suit such special circumstances. Night Express Delayed

The removal of a section of overhanging rock on the main railway line near the Sawyers’ Bay quarry on Sunday morning brought down a fall of stone that blocked the line until early yesterday morning, and the night express for Christchurch did not leave Dunedin until 3;30 a.m., instead of at the scheduled time of 11.20 p.m. on Sunday. The work of removing the. rock overhang which has constituted a danger to the line for some time, was carried out by a railway maintenance gang, but the rock’s fall brought down a considerable quantity of other rock and debris, the clearing of which from the main line occupied the gang until the early hours of yesterday morning. Passengers returning by the seaside train from Palmersto'n on Sunday were transferred to a train on the lower Port Chalmers, line, and reached Dunedin only a quarter of an hour late. Farm Workers’ Hours

TJhe dangers to New Zealand’s main industry due to the proposed rise of wages and the institution of a 40-hour week for farm workers, was emphasised by Colonel N. P. Adams, chairman of the Auckland meat and wool section, in an address to the Rotorua sub-province of the New Zealand Federated Farmers. The net effect of raising wages and reducing working hours, said Colonel Adams; would be that the primary production of the country would drop. This was as inevitable as night • following day. “ Should a farmer be employing two men he will obviously be forced by the proposed new award to cut expenses by some means or another,” he added. “The only means he can adopt is by reducing his flock and dismissing one man. Thus his annual income will not be as depleted as it would be were he to carry on with his present establishment.” Enemy Aliens ■The alien question as it affected returned servicemen was discussed at a district conference of the Auckland Returned Services’ Association on Saturday. It was suggested that _ enemy aliens who were in business in New Zealand should be boycotted as their operations were detrimental to the welfare of men who were being rehabilitated after service overseas. There was not a great number of enemy aliens in the country, said Mr G. McPhee, who opposed the idea of boycotting them. He considered that the association was rapidly becoming a vengeance society and suggested that some, other means be adopted to control the activities of those people. He thought the financial operations of enemy, aliens shounld be restricted. It was decided to ask the Government to set up an advisory committee on which the Returned Services’ Association was represented to discuss an immigration policy with special reference to aliens. Betting With Bookmakers The claim that the amount annually wagered in New Zealand in off-course was substantially in excess of that invested on the totalisator, and was increasing, was advanced by the Dominion Sportsmen’s Association, through its counsel, Mr W. E. Leicester, to the Gaming Commission. He submitted figures showing “ bookmakers’ ” returns for meetings.in November and December last. These showed that while the totalisator return at the Canterbury Jockey Club’s meeting on Cup Day was £172,000, a total of £273,151 was handled off the course; on November 30, the Riccarton totalisator return was £139,502, and association members handled £218,515; on December 7 the totalisator handled £132,683, and members £219,543. The returns presented by Mr Leicester showed the following comparisons of betting on ‘ Dominion race meetings, the bookmakers’ returns being shown in parentheses:—Totalisator returns, November 23, £329,639 (£392,664), November 30, £316.992 (£350,969), December 7, £310,862 (£360,274). Collusion in Divorce

“The striking increase in the nurnber of petitions for the restitution of conjugal rights during recent years has brought to the fore the question of collusive divorce,” says a Census and Statistics Department bulletin on the latest divorce figures. “It seems more than probable that many of these applications are made in connivance with 'the respondent with the object of avoiding delay consequent on securing a divorce on the grounds of separation.” The bulletin says that the four most common grounds of divorce in order are separation for not less than three years (955 cases in 19451, adultery (563), non-compliance with orders for the restitution of conjugal right (402), and desertion (258). “The divorce rate in New Zealand is not unduly high compared with that of other countries of a like standard of civilisation and social organisation,” says the bulletin. “ The statistics show that a sizeable family is the best guarantee of permanence of marriage The severest test of matrimony is between the fifth and tenth years. Just under half the divorces in 1945 occurred when the parties had been married between five and 10 years.”