NEWS IN BRIEF.

Otago Witness, Issue 3523, 20 September 1921, Page 25

NEWS IN BRIEF.

A street collection at Wanganui, in aid of the funds of the local Karitane Home, resulted in over £350 being netted. The total sum, with donations, will exceed £4OO. Mr Dixon (Pat-ea) will move and Mr T. I). Burnett (Temuka) will second the Adel ress-m-Reply ill the House of Representatives. The Hon. J. P. Campbell (Auckland) will move and Mr W. ri. MTntyre (Millerton) will second the Address in the Legislative Council. A ineeling of creditors of William Allan Hopkins at -Christchurch on the 13th inst. the Assignee submitted a statement showing that the liabilities were £45,710, and the a £10.441 —a deficiency of £26,269. r lhe amount of secured debts is £39,120, and unsecured £43.210. Three shops at Idea-ant Point, to which ■ there were no dwellings attached, were broken into on Friday after 11 pun. In two cases the tills were emptied of silver io the amount of £32 10s. In the third case the till resisted the attempt to open it. There is no clue as to (he culprit. 'i he 44 ollington Presbytery on the 13th pass -d a resolution emphatically protesting against the Racing Commission’s proposal to materially increase the number of racing permits, declaring that the alarming proportion to which the vice of gambling has grown is inimical to the highest interests of the dominion. A five-roomed house, occupied by Mr W. J. Yareoe, farmer, at Laghmor, .Ashburton, was destroyed by fire on the 14th. Mr Varcoe was in Christchurch, but his wife and five small sons, aged up to nine years, alarmed by the fire, escaped only with their night attire. The house belonged to Mr Cecil Doig, and was insured for £7OO. The Ruapehu arrived at Auckland on the 12th inst. from London after an unevent-pa.-isuge. The number of immigrants aboard include 67 nominated by relatives or friends in New Zealand, 33 domestic servants under Sister -Shirley, and 48 returned so’diors, who have come out here under the Overseas Settlement Scheme of the Imperial Government. At a largely-attended meeting of the South Canterbury Executive of the Farmers’ Union in Timaru on the 14th it, was decided to emphatically protest against- the i suggestion that- the Postal Department should levy £2 on the holders of all rural mail boxes. It was further agreed that only those who contribute should bo served ..■:ih mail.-:. Li the Alexandra South (imrf, before Mr E. C. Lower, HAL, John Adamson, a - ■ fur, of He- -indra, - Tilly < burned , against F. A. Ilaig, of Shingle Creek, for damages for lire,tell of com met in respect lo arrangement- entered into for the shearing of defendant's sheep. Plaintiff was awarded £6 and costs. Mr Bodkin appeared for Adamson, and Mr Keddell for liaig. At Invercargill on the 14th Thomas James White was charged with the theft of £2O, with violence, from the person of John Henry Russell, a farm labourer, who alleged that the accused attacked him in the railway yard after he refused to supply

him with liquor, knocked him down, and abstracted the money from his pockets. The accused was committed for trial. Robert Hanna, who was charged at Rangiora on the 13th with manslaughter, was remanded o,n bail. Ac-eusecl was the driver of a horse and gig which collided with a motor cycle on June 25. A man named Robert Binnie, who was in the gig with Ilanna, fell out and fractured his skull, and subsequently died on June 30. The magistrate at the inquest returned a verdict of death caused by the negligent and reckless manner in which Hanna was driving. The possibility of Australian goods being dumped into New Zealand is threatened in connection with the formation of a company called the Australian Export !Ltd.), of Melbourne, which is to carry on the business of buying and selling agents for manufacturers and importers in the commonwealth, Now Zealand, and elsewhere of all articles, goods, materials, provisions, and products, and to extend and develop the export trade of Australian leather and leather goods in particular. The Rev. A. Don notified the Foreign Mission Committee of the Presbyterian Church last, week of his intention to inform ilie. General Assembly that ho wished to resign his position as secretary of the Foreign Missions Committee on March 31, 1923. The committee passed a motion expressing regret at his decision, and assuring Air Don that he never stood so high in the respect and affection of the committee and missionaries. A committee was set up to consider the whole situation and report, and it was further resolved that the General Assembly be recommended to appoint Mr Don as delegate t-o the National Christian Conference to be held at -Shanghai, Mrs Don to accompany him at the committee’s expense. A voting man named Charles George Gibbs was sentenced by the t>.M. at Dunedin to three months’ impi&onment with hard labour on a. charge of carrying a pistol without a license, tile pi-toi to be forfeited. The prosecution was the result of Gibbs making himself a nuisance on a train from Green Island to Dunedin by flourishing a revolver and making fiery statements about exterminating people. After considerable discussion, ihe Tuapeka County Council rejected a motion to declare hawthorn a noxious weed within the ridings of }longer and Teviot. The motion was proposed by Cr Bennetts in the interests of the fruit-growers in these rillin as against ihe menace of fire b light, which had made its appearance with deadly effect in the North Island. The executive of the Dunedin Returned Soldiers’ Association held a conference on the 13th inst. with the local members of Parliament to discuss matters affecting the welfare of returned soldiers. The question of increasing- the pensions for widows, widowed mothers, and badly injured men by 75 per cent, was brought up by Mr Colquhoun. _ The reclassification of temporary pensions was also- urged. Colonel M•Donald brought up the matter of the canteen funds. The questions of immigration and unemployment was dealt with by Mr R. P. Jones, who alleged that several immigrants had been taken on at the Government- workshops _at Hillside within the last six months, tin-owing local men out of employment. Mr M’Xish alleged that though immigrants were nominated by friends they seemed to he al !o to got into Government positions, Messrs Sidoy Ht-athani, Dic-kson. and Kcllett, ALP.’s’ undertook to do what they could m questions of interest to returned men. Before Air J. R. Bartholomew, S.ah, on Lie 12th inst., William Quirk, licensee of the Excelsior Hotel, Dunedin, was charged with , permitting drunkenness on the premises. T lie case arose out of the death of a, returned soldier named Hatcher. On August 11 Hatcher was in the bar about 1 o’clock leaning against the counter, three other men being apparently with him. Shortly afterwards a porter at the hotel saw- Hatcher lying on a couch in the bar, and, at the request- of the barman, removed him to the empty bottle cellar, where* he placed him in a sitting position. The porter saw him two hours later, when ihe man was sitting exactly as he had left j him, and wn» then alive and breathing. ; Some time later Hatcher was found dead, and a post-mortem examination showed that !:-- v, ix- •-efrovi-o from cirrhosis of ini- liver, from whi-Ti he rn idently dial. Air Hanlon, who apnea.red for the licensee, submitted i 1 boro v. as no evidence of drunkenness, and with tin's vb w fhe mapisl rate oc ucurred. He added that it was ouite evident the s* rynitts dud not properly appreciate their position. Iho h-ann.-tn was th - responsible pm-son. pnd he should have made inquiries, and if he found the man was not drunk 1 !"■>:! proper methods should have been i-ken accordingly. These should bo some regular schooling of ihe employees as to their duty.