DOMINION ITEMS

Hokitika Guardian, 16 April 1924, Page 3

DOMINION ITEMS

UY TELEGRAPH—PRESS ASSN., COPYRIGHT. CANNIBALISM. AUCKLAND, April 15 'Void was received in Auckland by Dr Steward, Bishop of Melanesia, of a ghastly act ol cannibalism said to have taken place at Malaita, in the Solomon group. The report, which came by the latest mail, said that one of the un-Christianised natives, after a quarrel with his father, murdered him. Thereupon the son, follotfing one of the well-known cannibal rites, cut open the body, extracted the heart, and devoured it. The origin of the practice of eating the heart is a. belief that it will give the victor courage. The bishop remarked that, thanks to the missionaries, there were very few cannibals left in the Solomons, aml it was very rare for a white mail to be threatened nowadays. A BETTING CHARGE. At CKLAND, April 15 At the Police Court, Walter Raymond Fetton, charged with having laid totalisator odds was fined £2O on W<'h of two charges, other charges being withdrawn. The police offered no evidence on a further charge of bookmaking.

The ease was heard last week, Mr Boynton reserving decision. To-day he said the Court could not accept the contention that as the constable with whom the bets were made did not regard them as bona fide, no conviction could follow.

BOOT SHOP ROBBERY. AUCKLAND, April 15 Denver’s hoot shop in Upper Queen Street, opposite the Town Hall, was burglariously entered last night and to worth of goods stolen. The thieves

efleeted an ctiirnitce to the shop by the I rout door, which was hurst open by a jimmy. A quantity of goods was taken. It is evident that several men were engaged in the burglary and probably the booty was removed in a motor ear.

MOTOR ACCIDENT. WANGANUI. April 14

An inquest on Howard Charles John AA ilson, of Marton, who was killed as the result of a motor accident on April fth. was held to-day. The jury returned a verdict that death was caused by an accident which was tho result of a contrary derangement of the motor’s •steering gear, no blame being attachable to the* driver.