DOMINION ITEMS.

Hokitika Guardian, 21 December 1923, Page 4

DOMINION ITEMS.

[UV TCI,KGJIAPII —miI 7HKS9 ASSOCIATION.] NO DECISION VET. WESTPORT. Dec. 20. The coiilcrciicc oil the coal mining dispute was continued inilil a laic hour to-night. It was reported in answer to inquiries. lliai there was nothing yet for publication. NERSES' PENS TONS. WELLINGTON. December 20. A rcqu-'si that the Government should imi iigm ato a superannuation or pension s,. licme for mir.-cs. was submitted to Sir M. l’omnio. Lo-duy. by a deputation from the Nurses’ Association, [t was stated that nurses’ salinic.s were (••uni ant lively sinrll, and their working life was only about fifteen or twenty years. It was Miggcsitcd Hidefore that a scheme should he provided which Would allow nurses going on a pension of £2 2s at about fifty yea is of age. ’I In- .Minister replied that the matter ft,'-! not been lost sight of. and as a medical man 1: • knee the necessity of it There was already provision for a Hospital Board to pay pensions to the lit.isos who had been in their services for not less: than ten years. There "vri difficulties jo (I'e way of proliietti.g a i-ctietUe. ami one which we hail ll* r-’h'd. Weald coH about .C25.0C0 n .Via:' to Plate cm a | roper footing. N’to'.';'. . had hi;, sympathy tun! he voold pul the matter lie-lore Cabinet, and tiy te evolve ••ouivtltiw;; for then: BIG A.MI CHARGE. AUCKLAND, Dee. 20. Archibald Henry Enor iva.s commit-

ted L i* trial to-,lav on ;t charge of bigamy. Accused in a statement to tin- I’nlbv. said, that v.'llil■ • serving in Egypt, villi (lie Expcliunnarv Inrcc, I'-' was -eiit to England to hospital. I.aler In- went to Hornchurch where In* iitot .Margaret Hannah Davies, whom ho mairi-,1 in April |:.'!7 m Renl'ord, Essex. Ho livoil with law ebro;, iff,vs.

and then was recalled to camp. He ’ did not sec his wife again, hut wrote telling law to address her letters lo ' the Troop.-.hip “Taiimi" at Plymouth, 1 hut. 1 bough the .ship was there for ■ ton daws, no letters caino. The day ■ before lie left Codfoni Camp- ho received a letter from the mother of a witness to the marriage stating that his wife had been married before, and that her husband was living in Africa. On tint voyage to New Zealand lie met Miss Summer Hill, a passenger by the sumo boat, and was married to her in July 1917. There were three sons of the last union. Accused reserved his defence. sale of beer. TAFRAXGA. Dec. 20. An echo of an important application before Die Licensing Committee at Tatirangn in 192!) for an accommodation license at Alatamata, which the Committee, by a majority declined, was lieaid at iln* last: meeting of the Licensing Committee, when one member reported that the Collector of Customs ;tt Auckland had granted a license to the I’aeroa Brewery Co., to sell beer at the depot at Mutant,-un. in quantities of not less than two gallons. The position is that Feet ion It) of the Finance Act 1917. gives the Collector of Customs this power, without reference to the Licensing Committee. On its becoming known that such license had been granted, certain parties protested to the Minister, who insructed the Collector to cancel the license. He endeavoured to do so, but was faced with a Supreme Court action by the Brewery Coy. and Jus- | ticc Stringer ruled that the Collector had power to grant a license Imt not revoke it. The judgment was therefore for the plaintiff (Coy) with costs of ten guineas, and disbursements against the Collector.

The positon therefore, is that what the Licensing Committee declined had been granted in part by the Collector of Customs without power of supervision or revocation, and without the necessity of consulting the Coiumitlee. The Licensing Committee passed a resolution that the granting of the license was a rellection on it. and that the Minister he asked to take steps to revoke the power given to Collectors to grant such licenses which should rest: only in the Committee, and that it he given power to cancel the license in question when it deemed fit.