TELEGRAMS.

Hokitika Guardian, 28 May 1921, Page 3

TELEGRAMS.

vADmMc mm ite^s.

[by TELEGRAPH —PER PRESS ASSOCIATION]

FATALITIES

DUNEDIN, May 25

Angus McDonald, employed as an engine-driver at the Waitati sawmill, shot himself to-day with a 22 rifle. At tlie inquest a verdict of suicide was returned.

Alfred W. J. Maitland, a young married man, and a returned soldier, was run over by a train'between Cnversham and Dunedin, to-night, and killed, lie was not seen by the enginemen, and ii is not known how he got on the line.

THE DIVORCE LAW AND DESERTION. WELLINGTON, May 25. The recently amended legislation respecting the granting of a divorce provides that desertion for a continuous period of' three years and Howards is ample and reasonable ground for the making of a petition for dissolution of marriage. The point as to what was continuous desertion ill the case of a soldier who left the Dominion before til. period of three years’ desertion was completed. In making his petition, A - i/ert Arthur Biddle said he married Sarah Maria Biddle in May, 1915, hid about six months later she commenced drinking, and left home on several oc easions. She finally left the petitioner In 1916, since when he had seen her twice, but she had refused to go bach to her home. The petitioner went int: camp in 1917. While he was in camp she instituted, hut did not proceed with an action for maintenance His Honour said it was doubtfui whether the wife had deserted tho petitioner for a period of three*years, a was requied by the Act, as the petitioner left tho country two years after tin. respondent deserted him The wife certainly could not have followed her husband to tho war There was a peri:).! of welt over three years’ desertion, bui that period was not continuous. ITis Honour said he was not. at all tfitisfied in his mind as to the point, and lie would therefore look into the question more fully before giving his decision. No doubt there had been desertion, but perhaps the petitioner would have twait a little longer for his divorce.

COAL AND GAS SUPPLY

WELLINGTON, May 24 There are hitter complaints here about the had quality and want of pressure in the gas supply, which make cooking at times almost impossible. No coal for gas-making lias been received from Newcastle for six weeks, and the local company has had to draw more heavily on West Const coal. It is stated that coal from the State mine will have to he held to keep various gas. works in Wellington province going. There is a fair supply of steam coal available, but ibis Is due tq tbe fact Hinf most of the freezing foniftanles

have closed down, while dairy factories are not using much, it being near the end of their season. There is still a scarcity of coal for household purposes, and the cost of it bears very heavily"upon the poorer classes and those of moderate means.

ELOPEMENT DRAMA. NEW YORK, March 20. In a brief wireless message to the State Department there is received today news of the murder, aboard the passenger steamship Vasari, of a beautiful New York gir], Vivian Bressel, and the subsequent suicide of her lover, a rich fr«it merchant named Louis Campaga. The couple, travelling as man air wife, occupied the most expensive suite They had intended taking a motor trip through Argentina, and Campagna’s own motor-car had been shipped aboard the liner.

When the Vasari arrived at Buenos Aires the port officials informed Campagna and his companion that they could not land. This action was the result of a message from the State Department in Washington after it had been ascertained that the couple wore not man and wife as their passports stated, and that Campagna, for the love of a girl half his age had deserted his wife and four children in New York. .

Tlie Vasari departed from Buenos Aires. Just before it reached Jamaica Campagna fired five shots at the girl and killed himself with the sixth. The bodies were buried ht sea.