TELEGRAMS.

Hokitika Guardian, 24 March 1920, Page 4

TELEGRAMS.

[PER PRESS ASSOCIATION. —COPYRIGHT.]

LODGE CONSOLIDATION. WELLINGTON, March 23. A special meeting of the Grand Lodge ,oF New. Zealand (North Island) U.A.O.D was held to-day to consider question of consolidation, and a special insurance ■fund. The question of consolidation, which has been before the Grand Lodge for the past ten years, was discussed all day and was eventually agreed to unanimously. Consolidation will come into force on December Ist, 1920. < The question of insurance was also discussed and a new scale for new entrants was adopted, which will put the firm (*i a sounder footing. At a further meeting, the Grand President stated that one new Lodge (Ngahoa, Te Kuiti), had been formed at the invitation of Otago, a remit in favour of one Grand Lodge for New Zealand was carried.

FATAL ROW

MAN KILLED. WELLINGTON, March 23 This evening a disturbance occurred on the steamer Armagh, lying at Glasgow wharf, as a result of which Robert McNab, 29 years of age, storekeeper of the steamer AVaikaia, was fatally injured. It appears that McNab visited the Armagh for the purpose of assisting a fireman named Collins, who had been paid olf, ashore, with his luggage. When McNab arrived at the head of the Armagh amidships gangway, two men who were not members of the crew were standing on the deck. It is stated that one of these men struck Collins, knocking him down. As Collins was getting up McNab moved forward, and immediately he was knocked down by the man who had first struck Collins. It is also stated that as McNab was lying on deck he v'as kicked three times. It was then noticed that he made no' attempt to rise, and that he had been seriously injured. Hie polic e and a doctor were summoned, and on arrival the doctor found that McNab was dead The man who is alleged to have struck McNab had . walked ashore in the meantime, and up to the. present has not been arrested.

BIGGER SALARIES WANTED. CHRISTCHURCH, March 22

At a meeting of the North Canterbury Post and Telegraph Officers Association, the following resolutions were passed:—(l) That the salary allotted to the Secretary of the Department and to administrative officers is entirely inadequate to the responsibility of the position, and in comparison with those paid to managers, etc., in commercial concerns, is almost farcical. Hie salary paid to the General Manger of Railways should‘he taken for the purposes of comparison, and we consider a substantial addition should be immediately made:

(2) That the minimum salary allotted to any executive officer bo not less than £330 per annum or at. least £SO per annum above the maximum paid the rank and file.

A MOTOR ACCIDENT. AUCKLAND, March 23.

An extraordinary motor accident occurred to-night, as the result of which two people are in the hospital. A taxicab was running down hill to the water front at a smart pace, and when turning into a road 011 the water front, it swerved and struck two seats placed by the water, broadside on. There were two persons on one seat, Mr and Mrs Guest, and they were both thrown over the chains which fence off the harbour, into the water. A young man promptly jumped in and rescued Mrs Guest, and her husband managed to get out himself. Mr Guest sustained a broken ankle and Mrs Guest is suffering from shock. They were both sent to hospital. There was a woman on the second seat struck by the motor, but although knocked over and injured, she was able to go home. The taxicab was somewhat damaged, and a passenger who occupied the -back seat was thrown out. He was lucky to escape inj ury. A BIG PRICE:. AUCKLAND, March 23. The imperial buildings, a- five storey modern building, with fifty to sixty feet frontage to Queen Street have changed hands at a price said to he in the neighbourhood of £90,000.