TELEGRAMS.

Hokitika Guardian, 6 October 1920, Page 3

TELEGRAMS.

[PER - PRESS ASSOCIATION. —COPYRIGHT. 1 WAITAIvI COLLEGE FIRE. WELLINGTON, Oct. 5 | The Hon J. O. Parr, replying to a 1 deputation from the Waitaki High 1 School Governors for assistance in reJ building the classrooms and laboratory destroyed by fire, said he felt that the Government was committed to giving reasonable assistance and he would lose ! no time in placing the request for £7OOO before Cabinet. The Minister referred to the low insurance on the building, and said that the loss at Waitaki should be a lesson to all boards. A PPEAL COURT. OTIRA GORGE ACCIDENT CASE WELLINGTON, Oct. 5 On this jury’s verdict, the plaintiff moved for judgment. The defendants, however, moved for a new suit, or for judgment for the defendants. Subsequently defendants moved for a new trial on the following grounds:— (1) That the verdict was against the weight of evidence. (2) That the damages awarded were excessive. (3) That the verdict was obtained by the improper practice of plaintiff, in that his counsel in his address to the jury stated that the suggestion that the coach belonged to A. Hall, Ltu., was as a fiction, and that the said coach belonged to Hall and Cassidy; that A. Hall, Ltd., was a company without assets; and that Hall, Ltd., was in fact A. Hall, that counsel undertook to prove that the whole of the transaction by which A. Hall formed his coaching business into a private company' was fraudulent. Mr Skerrett, K.C., appeared for plaintiff (King) and contended that Messrs Hall and Cassidy, having held themselves out as the contracting parties, were liable to the plaintiff for damages he had suffered. As for the application for a new trial, there was, he said, evidence to go to tlie jury that a deficient brake was in fact the cause of the accident. Mr Skerrett, continuing, submitted that the statements made by counsel for King were perfectly legitimate, and were not improper. Mr W. J. Joyce (Greynioufli) appeared for the defendants. Fie contended that no negligence had been proved on the part of any of the defendants. He contended further that no partnership had been proved to exist as between Cassidy and Hall. j Mr Joyce also contended that the address of the counsel for King at Hokitika was improper. The law, said Mr Joyce, was ‘‘that if the words used by counsel inflamed the minds of a jury, or increased the damages, a now trial would he ordered.” DECISION RESERVED. WELLINGTON, Oct. 6 The Appeal Court reserved its decision in the case of King v. Hall, Cassidy and another. THE COMPROMISE. WELLINGTON, Oct. 5. As part of the compromise which led to the resumption of operations on the Wellington wharves to-day, it was arranged that a conference should take place between the employers and the representatives of the Waterside Workers’ Union, to discuss the present methods of conducting work on the wharves. The arrangement regarding the conference was agreed to by the employers. It was proposed by the Union. The Conference will take place shortly, and it is understood that the subjects to be discussed will relate to the right 0 f the men to strike and the right of° the employers to refuse to engagelabour on wharves generally when any dispute occurs regarding any particular ship. A WAYWARD GIRL. ” TIMARU, Oct. 5. Violet Beatrice Ryder, a girl of 18 years, was sentenced to detention at Addington for two years for false pretences. She stole a cheque from her employer at St Andrews, filled in the form for £lO, and cashed it at a St Andrew’s store. In December last she was convicted for a similar offence and ordered to come up for sentence when called upon. GISBORNE MOTOR FATALITY. GISBORNE, Oct. 5. The inquest was resumed concerning the death of Athol Bertie Rhodes, a returned soldier, due to injuries following the collision between a motor cai driven by a fifteen-year old girl named May Leslie, and a motor-cycle ridden by Rhodes. An eye-witness stated that the motor car was being driven at not less than 25 miles an hour. A girl who was a passenger in the car with Leslie stated in her evidence that Leslie was driving with care and at a slow speed all the time. As one of the witnesses could not get into town on account of the bad roads, the inquest was further adjourned for a week. ANOTHER VIEW. WELLINGTON, Oct. 5. At a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Diocese of Wellington, a resolution was passed while fully acknowledging the competence of the Stnt 0 to frame its own code for legally valid marriages, yet inasmuch as the proposed amendments of the .Marriage Act apI pears as at present worded, to make it i penal for any religious society to set , before its own members its ideal of marriage contained in the Gospel, and le- ; spectfully begs Farlament not to impose this restriction of religious liberty. | COBDEN’S LOYALTY. ! GREYMOUTH, October 6. A meeting of Cobden residents last night resolutjoned; unanimously that this meeting of citizens of Cobden (Duller electorate) having observed with apprehension for a time past tlie disloyal expressions and discreditable tactics of sections in and out of Parliament, take this opportunity of expressing its abhorrence of such, and pledges the support- of every man to any organisation for the purpose of upholding law and order, and continued loyalty to the [Empire