DOMINION ITEMS.

Hokitika Guardian, 1 February 1924, Page 4

DOMINION ITEMS.

[BY TELKOIUBH —I'Ett PRESS ASSOCIATION.] NEW SHIPPING LINE. WELLINGTON, Jan. 30. Following on investigations by the .Auckland Industrial Association of proposals put before that body by Air Van dor Linde, of the Royal Packet Navigation C'oy., and a. letter from the N-Z. Emmets’ Union, to the Department of Industries and Commerce, asking if anything further had been done in the matter of sending a mission to lite Near East for the purpose of exploring the markets and exhibiting New Zealand produce, a reply has been received by the Executive of the New Zealand Farmers' I'liion from the Department and it was read at its meetio-.: to-night. The reply stated the nuitt • had been receiving considern'jlo attention recently in view of the visit of Mr Van Dor Linde, who v.as Alanagi.:'- Director of one of the shipping companies trailing between the Near East and Australia. The ITon. \V. Duwnie Stewart, .Minister in Charge of the Department, was bringing Afr Van D'r Linde’s proposals before Cabinet, and expected to be able to make an announcement shortly. The negotiations with Mr Van Der Linde would not necessarily mean that a mission would be unwarranted. In fact, if direct sliipp.nr; was established through Mr Van Do Linde, then it would be more than evi r necessary for a mission to Java and probably to Singapore, with a view to ascertaining the likely demand for New Zealand, produce. Part of the mission's work would also he to establish agencies, and generally report upon the position from a New Zealand standpoint. It was resolved that a deputation should wait upon lion. Dowit to Stewart to discuss the question of subsidising a shipping line to the East. BOY I)HOW.NED. ( lIRISTCHUKCH, .lan. 31. Wilfred King, thirteen, icsiding with his parents in Smith St., Wooiston. was (how lied in Wooiston School Baths yesterday. He was noticed Moating in a peculiar manner, and another buy brought, the body out of the water, hut artilieial respiration failed. REFRESHER FLYING COURSE. CHRISTCHURCH, January 31. A refresher living course commenced at Wigram aerodrome early morning, under direction of Captain L. Af. Isitl. Several squads will take the course. Those who Mow to-day were Captains M C. McGregor and A. C. Vpliant. Lieutenants F. G. Honed and 1). C. Ir.glis. Others in’ the present squad are Captain.* Drowitt and Mtisgravo. I.louts. Hoad. Barlow, Gordon, Parke, Mercer and Bolt. For the fiist few days the aviators will take a Hying course in Avros and thereafter formats'll in flying and other courses will be continued. General ( haytor will insped the camp on Saturday. THE .MOB A TOR fUM. EXPI-ANAITON bv lawyer. ASHBURTON. January 31. Replying to the Aeting-l’remior and othei legal authorities concerning injustices resulting from the moratorium, an Ashburton commercial lawyer explains that where the debt is a mortgage bv deed, the creditor is perfectly safeguarded. Obviously there is no need for a warning, hut the moratorium stopped the collection of other (bids, including agreements lor sale or pi ichase, also deposit.' to hanks, building .societies, co-npotai ivc and other mercantile linns. In all these cases the Statute of Limitations operates at .six year-, and is not sii-pendcd by the 'moratorium. It has to be specially remembered that the moratorium was invented in a time of emergency, sulci'.- to henelit the debtor, and his inteic -ts were never threatened. He v. a

never in danger of having lo pay mote than he owed, hut the uninitiated el editor was .surrounded by my pttf ills, v.ltieli. if not guarded against, could deprive hint of his entire principal and interest.. Laws are made for laymen, not only for lawyers, and laymen ought not. to lie placed in the position of losing their finances a.s a penalty for not learning in a. few emergency year: what ordinarily they learn bv acettniti-

lated experience of generations. Creditors who had not arranged for interest, hut loyally accepted the spirit of the moratorium and waited patiently for Lie expiration, will now, through n failure to sue for payment, find themselves completely disinherited by the Statute of Limitations. The suspension of the Statute could not possibly ill jure the lowest debtors. Its (nictation will bitterly injure the trusting creditors. Parliament could, by a short arc retrospectively suspending the Statute of Limitations in till cases affected by the moratorium, prevent sin h an in just ice.

young woman killed. INVERCARGILL. January 31. A filial motor accident occurred at Ocean Beach on Wednesday afternoon tlm victim Lying Annie Willis Xicliolls. Alter posting a letter she mounted her cycle am! when passing a motor struck the .machine, she sustained severe chest injuries, and succumbed (lurin'; the night. OTIRA TUNNEL. ENGIX EET!,S TO INSPECT. WELLINGTON. January 30. The inspecting engineers of the rublie' Works Department and the Railway Department leave Wellington on February -I for Otirn for the purpose of making a thorough inspection of the tunnel, this being the usual course before any construction work is taken over by the Railway Department from the Pubjio .Works Department. The. reports of the technical officers will be wired to the Minister on February 7, and if they are satisfactory and everything is in order, the Minister hopes then to be able to give an indication "lien the whole distance from east to west will be charged as one section. The Minister of Public Works and " Railways stated that both goods and passenger traffic is coming forward very j working very satisfactorily, and the J Department is now in a position to j handle all traffic that offers. | GIRL DROWNED. | AUCKLAND, January 30. ! Muriel (f.ovel, seventeen years of age. was drowned in the Waikato River at Huntlv. Her body was soon freeovered. Attempts t/.> restore life failed. BODY RECOVERED. DUNEDIN, January 30. The body of Leslie Gibson Marwick, drowned in the Molyneux River at Balclutha, on Saturday, was recovered this morning at Kaka Point, a distance of ! twenty miles away. FIXED FOR. BETTING, i AUCKLAND, January 30. j At the Police Court, Stanley Harvey, aged 21, was fined £2O for taking odds on the Takapuna racecourse, and was ordered to come up for sentence in two years for a similar offence in connection with two other races at the same meeting. WESTPORT COAL. DUNEDIN, January 31. Reports received by the head officeof the Westport Coal Company here, 1 show that the output of the mines at Denniston and Millerton Ls 'now fifteen hundred tons daily. Full handed it should be two fhousand. I