LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 April 1943, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

National Savings. National Savings receipts at the Masterton Post Office yesterday amounted to £2lO, bringing the total for the week to date £3711. This is well in excess of the quota for the week, £627. Soldiers Sent to Gaol. Two soldiers, George Hansen, aged 19, and Arthur Fraser, aged 20, appeared before Mr. J. L. Stout, S.M., in the Magistrate's Court, Wellington, yesterday, on charges of converting motorcars to their own use. The magistrate sentenced Hansen to three months’ and Fraser to one month’s imprisonment. Boy Scouts’ Parade. , At the usual parade of the Makatoa Boy Scout troop, Mr A. Allsop, the District Scoutmaster, was present. After a short talk on scouting activities Mr Allsop presented the inter-patrol shield to the Karoro Patrol. Instruction was given by the respective patrol-leaders. Several new boys were present, one of whom, Alec Levick, passed his Tenderfoot test with ease, obtaining good marks. It was decided to hold an Easter camp. The parade closed with a haka led by the D.S.M., and the lowering of the Union Jack. Jurisdiction in Crime. The exclusive jurisdiction granted to the American authorities in respect of criminal offences committed or alleged to have been committed by members of the United States Armed Forces in New Zealand, the Cook Islands, and Western Samoa was the subject of a statement by the Prime Minister, Mr. Fraser. Authority for the exercise of this jurisdiction is contained in the United States Forces Emergency Regulations, 1943, gazetted on Thursday night. Mr. Fraser said it had also been agreed that, if the occasion should arise, the Government of the United States would endeavour to accord reciprocal rights to New Zealand Forces in territory under United States jurisdiction. Street Disturbances.

Civilians who incited men in the armed forces to fight in the street would be very firmly dealt with by the police, irrespective of sex or age, said the Commissioner of Police, Mr. D. J. Cummings, yesterday, in a statement in which he also rebuked rumour-mongers and referred to a disturbance which decured in Wellington streets a few nights ago. “There was certainly a bit of a skirmish,” said the Commissioner. He added that it started in a lane and was quickly handled by the police and by provists from the various fighting services. The crowd was dispersed, but a small crowd gathered again in Cuba Street and in turn was dispersed. Later in the evening another little group started an argument and was dispersed. “There was not a single person injured, much less taken to hospital, or killed, as rumour has it,” said the Commissioner. “The only result of the disturbance was that one New Zealand civilian was arrested and dealt with by the Court and one New Zealand serviceman was arrested and dealt with by his own officers. No United States servicemen were arrested or charged.” A Test Case.

After the appeal of Maurice P. Cody had been under review for two hours in Napier on Thursday night, the Wellington Manpower Appeal Committee decided against the Hawke’s Bay Education Board’s application to terminate that teacher’s employment and upheld the district manpower officer’s decision not to direct Cody to teach at Willow Flat School. The decision stated, in part, that the onus was on the board to prove it had not a position to which Cody could be appointed. The difficulties of the board under the school regulations were fully appreciated and the attitude of Cody himself complicated the matter, but the committee was of the opinion that the dispute could be the subject of an amicable arrangement between the parties concerned. The hearing was considered a test case between the Teachers’ Institute and the Hawke’s Bay Education Board, and practically all the members of the board attended.