COWARDLY ASSAULT.

Temuka Leader, Issue 10549, 24 November 1923, Page 4

COWARDLY ASSAULT.

At Christchurch on Wednesday a | William Hoga-n was charged with assaulting Reuben Roots. It was stated that Hogan was a u employee of the- Drainage Board, and was reprimanded by Roots, who found him sitting and smoking behind the sandhills and told him to get on with his work. Later on Hogan was dismi-'sed, and on being refused some overtime used disgusting language, and wlicu Roots turned away he jumped on his back, crushed his face into the sand and nearly throttled him. Accused offered no excuse but the complainant's conn sel said he was a married man and had a good reputation. fu passing sentence, the .Magistrate, Mr Wyvern Wilson. said: —"1" might tell you this, Ilogan, that if you had bee ;i a single man 1 would not have hesitaled in sending you to gaol for I fourteen days—or a month—-for the assault on this man. It is only .because of youir being a married man that I give you your liberty. The man who is lazy i. s a fraud. You gel paid Cor work you have oiot don". When Mr Root conscientiously objects to your habits—-he should have dismissed you when he found you behind the sandhills---you assault him. The seriousness of this is that you have been guilty of attacking a man from the rear. If he had -not been an able-bodied man you might, have maimed him for life and caused h' ln some serious nervous derangement. Ton are lucky in not being sent lo gaol for a ' month. Your offence, is serious enough to send you there. Because the expenses are so heavy, yon will be fnieid £3, half of -which is to go lo the complainant, and >'°u will be. j ordered to pay costs.''

Tliu manufacture of gas at the lnvercargill gasworks during th* month of Octobo r totalled -1,220.000 cubic feci, a decrease of 400,000 cubic feci compared with October, 1P22. The quantity of tar aold amounted to -"> 57 7 gallons, and coke DO tons. There i s n keen demand for goort store sheep in Wangarfui at. present. .Most farmers now have an abundance of feed, hence the, de sire to convert it into cash by turning out fats later in the season. The glory of the azzalea trees, one ot the features of the Government Gardens, is departing (says tre Rotorua Chronicle). It will 'be noticed that, there is a curiosity among them in the form of trees carrying both white and pink the cause being obscure. "It seams to me that your country could well afford to adopt a plan having in view a greater .number of tourists as well as prospectivesettlors," remarks an American business man in a letter to - nvercargill resident. "Se c America first," is the cry of every transportation company and community here, having something to offer to those seeking recreation o r a place of habitation.