LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Wairarapa Age, 6 October 1936, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

At this evening’s meeting of the Masterton Optimist Club the speaker will be the Rev. D. McNeur, whose subject will be the South Island Maoris.

Mr. E. C. White has been elected unopposed to the vacancy on the West Riding bf the Castlepoint County Council. He fills the vacancy caused by the resignation of Councillor W. H. Dickens.

A retreat for the women of St. Patrick’s Church, Masterton, which was conducted by the Very Rev. Father J. Spillane, S.M., was brought to a close on Sunday night. The church was crowded.

The Community Stores at Otaki were entered by burglars late on Saturday night or early on Sunday morning. TO bacco valued at £8 was taken together with an assortment of other goods. The till was left untouched. —-(P.A.)

At an inquest concerning the death of Dr. L. H. Potaka, of Takaka, the Coroner, Mr. T. E. Maunsell, S.M., returned a verdict that the deceased died’ from morphine poisoning self-adminiS-tered while in a state of deep mental' depression.—(P.A.) Four bright comedies, besides musical items of a varied nature, will be presented in the Parish Hall to-morrow evening by the St. Matthew’s Girls’* Club. The annual concert of these talented girls is always an event- well' worth seeing and there is every indication of a big attendance of the public. The proceeds are in aid of St. Matthew’s Church funds.

The second of the semi-finals in the Y.M.C.A. men’s basketball competition was played last night when Kiatere A defeated Masterton Harriers A, 2T-IT. The final will be played to-morrow night at .8 o’clock between Kiatere A and Kiatere B. Prior to> the final the Star Club girls will play a six-a-side game with the Technical Old Giris. After the games a dance will' be held in the gymnasium and the trophies presented to the winning teams.

William Power, a prominent Stratford accountant, was found dead in his office yesterday morning by his daughter, with a rifle between his knees. He was secretary of the- local Chamber of Commerce, secretary of the local War Funds Council, and 1 until recently secretary of the Stratford Racing Club. He served on Gallipoli and was wounded and invalided home. He had been in ill health for some time past. He leaves a wife and three children.—(P.A.)

Phillip Walter Darcy Stewart, aged 18, who appeared in the Wanganui Magistrate’s Court yesterday before Mr. .1. H. Salmon, S.M., pleaded guilty to theft of a car valued at £230, the property of Jack Herbert Luxford, which he drove to Auckland and there tried to dispose of. He was committed to the Wellington Supreme Court for sentence. There were also five charges of conversion of cars and affixing the wrong number plate. Sentence was deferred on the latter until after the Supreme Court sentence.—(P.A.) The portion of the WellingtonNapier Highway within the Mauriceville County has been reclassified by the Main Highways Board from Class II to Class HI. The effect of this classification is to limit the permissible gross loading to 6J tons in the case of ordinary four wheeled vehicles, and to 10 tons in the case of multi-axled vehicles of an approved type. Signs will shortly be erected on the highway indicating the classification and any breach of the restriction will render the offender liable to prosecution.

Mr. E. C. Hands, formerly genpral manager for the Broadcasting Board, is to be retained under the reconstituted management, and he is to act as business manager of the broadcasting service, according to an announcement by the Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage). Professor J. Shelley, Director of Broadcasting, will be charged with the full direction of the Government’s broadcasting policy. “Mr. Hands has given good service in the past,’’ Mr. Savage said, “and is a competent officer with considerable technical knowledge of broadcasting. The Government is only too willing to retain his services.” —'(P.A.) An application which came before the No. 2 Transport Licensing Authority, Mr. P. Skoglund, at a sitting in Masterton yesterday afternoon for a reduction in fares by Jenkins Motor Services Ltd., for whom Mr. C. C. Marsack appeared, on the MastertonMartinborough service, via Longbush and Ponatahi, was not entertained. The application w r as opposed by Mr. R. D. Banks, who operates a service between Masterton and Martinborough via Greytown and Morison’s Bush. Mr. J. Macfarlane Laing appeared for the objector. Mr. Skoglund held that it would be .unfair competition against Banks’s service to reduce applicant’s fares and Jenkins Motor Services Ltd. were granted a renewal of their licence on the same conditions as in the previous year.

Having admitted theft as a servant of sums totalling £390, Cecil Richard Wilkinson, aged 30, formerly Town Clerk of Glen Eden, came before Mr. Justice Fair for sentence in the Auckland Supreme Court yesterday. After the hearing of an appeal by counsel, Mr. Bryce Hart, in mitigation, his Honour pointed out that the offences had occurred almost daily over a period of six months and that the amounts taken had increased week by week. It was a painful case but not one for probation. The prisoner had abused a position of trust. His Honour said he took into account the fact that Wilkinson had been in financial difficulties owing to his wife’s ‘ill health, also the assistance he had given in the investigation of the case. Sentence of twelve months’ imprisonment was imposed.— (P.A.)

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