NEW ZEALAND NEWS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1559, 1 October 1912, Page 6

NEW ZEALAND NEWS.

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CLAIM FOR £3000 DAMAGES, Napier, September 31. Plaintiff in a libel action, Gordon v. the "New Zealand Times," in which the jury wero unable to agree, is inning an amended statement of claim for .£'.'looo damages. FIRE AT OKERE. Rolorua, September 31. A five-roomed dwellinghouse at Olcere, the property of the Government, and occupied by the electrical engineer, was destroyed by fire last night, together with the post office attached. Very little furniture was saved, and the whole contents of the past, office were lost. The destruction of tne lines is interfering with telegraphic communication with (he Bay of I'lentv. Very little mail matter was burnt. Mr. and Mrs. Bell, the occupiers, wero absent at the time. The building wa,s insured, and it is believed the furnilnre was also insured, but lor what amount is not known.. GRAIN FREIGHTS UP. Dunedin, September 30. The oversea shipping companies have increased the freightage oil grain five shillings per ton, thus making the rate for wheat and oats 30s. per ton. The new scale remains till the end of tlie season. It is slated the' increase, is due to the exceptional demand for colonial grain from Home, where the bad weather has ailcc!.cd tho-orop. The rates tor frozen meat and dairy produce are not affected, being lixed by contract. . CHEMISTS & POISONS ACT. Palmcrston, September 30. Reserved judgment was delivered to-day in a ease in which a localchomist was charged with selling corrosive sublimate without making an entry as required by the Poisons Act. . The information was dismissed. RAN INTO. GUY ROPE. Gisborne, September 30. Charles Frederick Hiilman recovered >£152 and costs from the' Borough Council to-day for injury sustained .through cycling into a guy ropo when an clectncliglit pole was beihg'erected. UNCOMFORTABLE TIME. Darga'ville, September 30. A six-roome'd house on the estate owned by Dr. Pox, at. Tangiteroa, was completely- destroyed by firo at 1 o'clock yesterday morning. Nothing was saved. Tir. Pox and four other occupants of the hoaise had a narrow escape, and had to walk barefooled through the wind and rain two aud a half-miles to seek accommodation. The house was insured iii the Queensland office, but the amount is not known.

THE WINDOW DEVICE. OLihedih, September 30.' At the Police Court last week James Heary Thomas'was charged that he did exhibit in the window of his boot shop a card, with the intention of inducing persons to resort to his premises for the purpose of taking part in a scheme by which prizes were gained. by means of chance. He was further charged that lie did, by the device of a lightcd-candle guessing .competition, dispose of a clock and biscuit barrel by chance. Mr. Hasclden. S.M.,' gave ' Lis decision to-day, holding that a guessing competition was not a game of' chance. . Both charges were therefore dismissed. " A TRAM FATALITY. Invercargill, September 30. The inquest; on-Frederick Smith, ' the victim of tho tramway fatality on •Saturday, September 21,-concluded to-day. The evidence showed 'Hint deceased tried _ to board a moving tram on the. polo side, and was knocked under the car by coming in contact with the pole. The coroner s inquirv was principally directed towards ascertaining the length of time defeased was pinned.'down by the car before boing released by the car being lificd with jacks.r.'Evjdence 'on. this point was exceedingly contradictory, estimates varying from ten to thirty minutes. The coroner (Mr. Cruicksliank, S.M.) returned a verdict of accidental death, and intimated that later he would add a rider dealing with the circumstances of the accident and subsequent proceedings. ■ cA CHILD'S DEATH. Auckland, September 30. Robert Muir Thompson, the three-year-old' son of Mrs. T. M. Thompson, of Wfliuku, was killed by a gate falling on him last week. At the inquest a verdict of death by suffocation was returned. BRIEF MENTION. Duncdin, September 30. ■ ■ A batch of Territorials were before the Court this morning. Three men were fined, and several cases adjourned. Auckland, September 30. At tb'o Police .Court John Whitaker, a horse trainer, was charged under tlio Bankruptcy Act with not-having kept proper books, and that he had contracted debts with no reasonable prospect of paying. Ho was sentenced (o ono month s imprisonment.