NEWS IN BRIEF.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume VII, Issue 2126, 7 December 1920, Page 4

NEWS IN BRIEF.

At the Gisborne Supreme Court yesterday, before Mr Justice Salmond, no bill was returned in the case of Pritchard, charged with manslaughter of a man named Williamson, in a fight in a foundry. Many complaints have been current lately in Sumner regarding the condition in which people go to and from the beach without sufficient clothjnff and with wet, clinging bathing costumes. The Sumner Borough Council has the matter in hand, and will probably frame a by-law dealing with it. A meeting of the Addington Church War Memorial Committee was held in St. Mary's Schoolroom on Tuesday 'evening. The treasurer reported a jsum of just over £2OO was at present available. Owing to the shortage of labour and material the builder had not jbeen able to start work, but it is hoped 'to make a commencement early in the New Year. It was reported at the meeting of the Christehurcn Tramway Board yesterday that the Works and Traffic Committee had accepted the tender of Peter Graham and Son, £42,268, for the new (repair shops, which also will enable more cover to be provided for cars, this being at present insufficient. There were five tenderers, and, with one exception, the prices were close together. For the four weeks ended October 24, 1920, a total of 1,771,889 passengers were carried in connection with the Christchurch Tramway Board's service, as compared with 1,894,368 for the same period last year. The net receipts for this period last year were £13,466, and for this year £16,928. The net receipts from April 1 to October 24, 1920, were £123,878, and for the same period last year £103,323.

At the request of the Disputes Committee, the men who doclined to work the Ngatoro at Lyttelton yesterday morning returned to the vessel this morning. Meanwhile, the- Disputes Committee held a meeting, and an amicable settlement was arrived at. The men started to discharge the Ngatoro's coal into a hulk shortly before 11 a.m. The Disputes Committee declined to state the terms of the agreement.

At the Aldington prison yesterday, Mr S. E. McCarthy, S.M., heard a case in which Alice Maria Young was charged with stealing, on December 2, a quantity of serge, valued at 30/-, the property of his Majesty the King; also with, on or about December 2, attempting to escape from the Addington prison before the expiration of her term of her imprisonment. Prisoner said that she "only went outside the house for a few minutes." She pleaded guilty to the charge of stealing the cloth. She was deprived of 182 good conduct marks on the charge of attempting to escape from prison, and on the charge of theft she was convicted and ordered to come up for sentence when called upon.

The overseer of the South Waimakiriri River Board, Mr T. Jeal, does' not agree with the view taken by the city engineer, Mr A. D. Dobson, that the bottom of the Waimakiriri River had silted up Bft, and that there was a constant danger from the river overflowing its banks. It was only in certain places where stones had filled in deep poois that the bottom had silted at anything like Bft. If the river had risen Bft during the recent flood, it would have gone over the embankments. These had held well during the flood, and thero had been no serious danger of the river breaking through. The whole river had altered its course since the flood, there we're now channels where there had been islands before, and it was a different river altogether. Mr C. H. Opie: "Well, the people in Christchurch can sleep in safety." Mr W. P. Spencer said that there was no danger from the river to the people of Christchurch; it was dangerous to New Brighton: There was a lot of low-lying land down the coast, and the river was gradually working down in that direction.

The executive of the New Zealand Freezing Workers' Federation held a meeting at Wellington yesterday, to consider the dispute with the freezing companies, which has reached a deadlock, and may delay the opening of the works, unless a settlement is arrived at. Mr F. C. Ellis, secretary of the Canterbury Freezing Workers' Union, is attending the meeting. The ground receipts in connection with the Rose Carnival held last Saturday under the auspices of the Christchurch Domains Boad and the Canterbury Horticultural Society, totalled £383 6/G. Of course, this amount will be considerably augmnted when outstanding money for art union tickets is received. The following were the principal sources of revenue:—Cash from art union tickets, £163 10/-; strawberry, ice cream tent, £SB 0/0; flower stall £52 11/-, soft drinks £ls 10/-, sweet stall £l4 18/7, toys stall £6 17/6, Gipsy Queen £1 14/-, Aunt Sally £4 6/5, tea tents £65 18/3.