LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19842, 17 May 1927, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

A sharp shock of earthquake was felt in Wanganui shortly before eight o’clock last evening.

A signed blank cheque which a defendant had sent in for payment of his fine was exhibited at the Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

The Central Fire Brigade received a call at 7.1 o’clock last evening to a fire on the embankment of the Castlecliff railway in Heads Road. No damage was done. A report of the Prime Minister’s speech at Dargaville last evening, together with the full text of his remarks on the dairy control question, will be found on page 8 of this issue. 11 When in Rome do as Rome does,” was the advice given by a well-known legal light to four Chinese who were fined at the Wanganui Magistrate’s Court yesterday for gardening on Anzac Day. Medical attention was called yesterday for Mr K. Laverton, first mate of the steamer Storm, when a beam fell on one of his feet during operations with the cargo. Fortunately, Mr Laverton ’s injuries were not of a very serious nature. ' A local optometrist was amused yesterday when he received a letter addressed "Mr •, Optimist, Wanganui.” The fact that the postal authorities had no trouble in discovering the addressee may be regarded as speaking volumes for the recipient’s cheery outlook on life.

There.were several cases at the Magistrate’s Court yesterday in which defendants charged with driving without licenses were caught twice on the same drive, by county and by city inspectors. The Magistrate gave out that in such cases he w'ould fine only on the first information. In common with other public activities at the present time, business in the way of telephone connetctions and extensions in and around Wanganui, is particularly dull. An official told a “Chronicle” man yesterday that a very slack period was being experienced,, but there were prospects of brighter times shortly. A speeding motorist whose speed estimated rtt between 40 and 50 miles an hour on Somme Parade in an endeavour to get two passengers to Aramoho in time to catch a train, led to the defendant, P. C. Butler, being fined £5 and having his license endorsed at the Wanganui Magistrate’s Court yesterday. The Wanganui Rotary Club has received a letter of thanks and acknowledgment from the Jubilee Institute for the Blind, in connection with a donation of £27 Is 2d being the final balance of the amount collected by the musical societies of Wanganui in response to the Rotary Club’s appeal for funds for the Institute’s new band. “What we could.do for the land of the dragon, we can do for the land of the maple leaf,” said a speaker at the Rotary Club’s luncheon yesterday when the matter of entertaining the Canadian Soccer players was discussed. It will be remembered that Rotarians entertained the Chinese Soccer team at luncheon on the occasion of the latters’ visit to Wanganui. A visitor to the city yesterday praised the parks and open spaces in and around Wanganui and declared that they were a distinct asset to the community. He was especially impressed •with Moutoa Gardens, despite the fact that that spot is not at its best at this time of the year, and described it as a “fine little breathing space.” Defendant in an assault case made the canopy over the witness box in the Wanganui Magistrate’s Court look rather unstable yesterday, when he gripped one of the supports with a firm hand in an endeavour to demonstrate to the Magistrate how he held the plaintiff by the neck. “I’m pretty strong,” said the defendant, “and I may have hurt him.”

Yesterday, success smiled benignly on the Chief Traffic Inspector, Mr G. Fear. He started his day’s work by bringing cases before the Magistrate’s Court which contributed £3O in revenue to the State. This he followed up by completing the preparation of 12 heavy traffic prosecutions and by 8 p.m. he had “roped in” 40 cases of traffic irregularities which were the product of a carefully laid “trap” at Gonville.

“Out of five or six hundred licenses issued by us last year,” said Mr T. Dix, engineer to the Waitotara County Council, at the Magistrate’s Court yesterday, “about 150 have not been renewed. Some of these motorists boast that they will not renew their licenses until they are caught.” The Magistrate (Mr J. S. Barton) said that in view of what Mr Dix had stated, penalties for driving motor vehicles without licenses would be considerably increased .

A defendant at the Magistrate’s Court yesterday who was called upon to explain why he had failed to take out a motor driver’s license, suggested that the local authorities should send circulars to drivers advising them that renewals of licenses were required. “I have issued 3000 licenses,” said Mr G Fear, City Council Traffic “if I had to send a circular to each of them it would make a great deal of work.” The Magistrate commented thatj the onus was on the driver .