DOMINION ITEMS

Hokitika Guardian, 31 December 1923, Page 3

DOMINION ITEMS

C'lV TKI.KOItAI’H —I’KT! PRESS ASSOCIATION.] BUSH FIRES SUBSIDIN'!. NAIM Fit, Dec. 29. Tim hush fires aie dying down and no danger to stock or prop. Tty is anticipated. The sub.-ideure i- due to the dropping of tin- wind, hut should tlu> gale he resumed the lire- wiil blaze up again. The stuck lns-rs and othe-* damage a:v unknown. INQFEST UN MRS WEST. CRKY.MOnm, Dec. :t|. The impic-t mi Ethel -Mamie West, a w itluw residing at Cohdeu, whose body was I'uiiiid in the lagoon yesterday, the verdict was that she committed suicide bv drowning when in a depressed state of mind.

A FIRE ASHBURTON, Dec. 31. The Baptist Tabernacle, which irccntly was in prominence owing to prosecutions rr-ulting I'rum a drunken orgy cl midnight has again attracted notice, being imind afire over tin- main doom', ay on Saturday. The ILignde nriiveil and promptly saved the building. SAD FATALITY. NELSON. Dec. 31. Andrew Kerr. 17. o! Lower Montere, was riding on i lie hack ot tin express in High Si red. .dolueka, when the horses gave a ierk and lie was thrown out fraturing his skull. He succumbed twenty minutes later without regaining consciousness. Deceased’s two sons were with him in the express, the three having been given a lift. He leaves a widow and seven children. A WANDERING GIRL. CHRISTCHURCH. Dec. 31. What l- to be done by the State tilth youthful immigrants, who within two months el tlmir arrival in -'ei\ Zealand are deemed iini-niitrollaLlol Tliis was raised by the appearance til a seventeen year old girl Ilon-nre Rugby Smith, tit the police court todnv, on a charge ol being an idle and disorderly person, with insufficient visible means ot supiport. It was stated that accused lmd been nominated as an immigrant by her sister at Kaikoura. on a liner coming from England. Her conduct did not commend her as the best type of immigrant. Later on, Smith's sister at Kaikotira informed the police that she could do no more for the girl as she was beyond control, and needed reformation. At Christchurch ’the girl wantiered about, the streets until hue on the night of Dec. 22m1., when she informed a policeman she had no home. Throughout the short hearing Smith kept her head bowed and answered questions in whisper?. She agreed to go to St Anne’s Home for girls, and was convicted and ordered to come up for sentence within twelve months.