DOMINION ITEMS.

Hokitika Guardian, 2 May 1924, Page 4

DOMINION ITEMS.

[HY TELEGRAPH—FEU PRESS ASSOCIATION.]

EXAM. FORGERY SENTENCE DUNEDIN, May 1

Arising out of two charges of forgery which wont to tins Court of Appeal in connection with examinations Jor general hygiene for teachers’ D. certificates. Cordon Stuart Mcl.auglilan was lined £lO. The Crown J’rosecutor said the Department didn’t press for a heavy penalty. The .Judge said no douht the prisoner suffered eoiisiderahle punishment liv his dismissal as a pupil teacher, and also took into consideration the tact that accused didn’t realise the Act was a criminal one.

CAR ACCIDENT

OPOTIKI, May 1

A service ear belonging to Y\. Chapman of Whnkatane when hound westward from Opotiki yesterday collided with a small bridge and then dived about ten feet into a creek settling on its side. The front of the chassis and body were very badly smashed. Three passengers were injured: •!• Ryan, Clifton, and 11. C’lifton, commercial travellers of Auckland. I?.van was admitted to the hospital with injuries to his knee. Ail are progressing favourably.

RAILWAY SICK VICKS. DGNEDIN, May 1

All train services were resumed. There is no congestion of goods owing to the fact that the strike took place in the holiday period. All Hillside workshops men returned to work today. There is much important work there, particularly the construction oT another batch of U.S. locomotives for the North Island. laical officials of the A.fs.K.S. are confident that some of their grievances will he righted and are not perturbed seemingly ovef. tho superannuation position.

VISITOR’S CONCLUSIONS

AI'CIUI.AND. April lit)

An American visitor, who has spent some time in New Zealand has .strongly criticised the costliness of (loverument here in comparison with some other countries.

The visitor remarked that an unfortunate feature was that members of the House of Representatives made Parliamentary work their business rather than their duty. lie pointed out overhead expenses were much too great for a country with such a small ppulation, and declared that the Now Zealand Government cost almost as nmrli as the Canadian Government, with a population ten times as great. Thus the cost per'capita was iiiilcli, ton high.

By way if illustration a statement ol the Minister of Railways was ipiuted. Mr Coates, prior to the strike, said that wages could fie immediately raised by dismissing 1200 men. That ■■ould be construed into an admission that there were 12110 men too many on the railways.

Making comparisons between the Dominion and California the speaker said that there were G. 000.000 people in the State, and although the Government was expensive because of great sums spent on roads and the development of free schools and universities.

general expenses were not as heavy as those of the New Zealand Government. The Dominion was burdened with all sorts of highly paid officers and members of commissions were innumerable. Ti!All. OK PAPER MONEY. ACCKI.AND. April 30. A tall man walking along Queen vSt. the ether day hernmc the centre of interest. He was carrying two fairly large hand bags v lien one of them was knocked open. The wind immediately stirred up the contents and what appeared to l-o hand bid- began to Mutter to the ground a short dist-iie.-e hi bird the visitor from tie- country. Airs Davis, of Rirkdale, saw the papers and glancing at them she was amazed to see that they were fell shilling notes. Greatly excited she grabhad as many as she could, ami shouted. "ili. you are losing all voiii money." The man with the bags stopped ami Mrs Davis, who laid collected seventeen notes, shoved them into the open receptacle. which, la her amazement, ms apparently full of paper money. ‘Here is another,’’ said a passer-by, who had also got hold of one o! tinnotes.

"Oh. thank you." acknowledged the owner in a matter of tart voire. “ I liov are only ten shilling note.'." And he turned on his heel und walked on. ‘Well." remarked a by-stander. ‘‘he iniglil'have given the lady ten bob for luck.”

T’LUXKT'.T SOCIETY GIFT

AUCKLAND, April 30

A two thousand pounds gift io improve tie race sounds large to most ol us. but, handsome as it is. it arouses no sensation ill Auckland, where it makes only one-tenth ot recent gilts

to the same institution. Tin's is tin. 1 Auckland Branch of 11 it? T’lunkot Society. to which tin* A uckland Savings R.iuk lias ilist presented £2OOO. making recent niits »{i to £fio.3oo in cask, in addition to tlio C'.tng'doy befiuost, worth £7OOO. I! AIRS CIMIASKD. At CKI.AND. April .T). It wt:.-, learned in V.hnngarei last night, after tin- return of the train from Onua. that the slipping of ike bogeys i n the rather market! rise botrteen I*list l.aue crossing and the Convent was due to the greasing of the one. V)nee before it happened, hut it was on a higher level, and on a straight am! level stretch, tin Unit oteasioii ii was attributed to tin* foolishness of youth ; on this occasion older people are seemingly responsible, because, from all accounts, and including that of the district manager (Air A. Stubbs), the attempt to stop the train was a very deliberate one. The siie ni the greasing was well I witl.in half a mile of the starting point at Whaugarei station. It is a sleep rise, and residents in the lteiglihout hood have often heard ftilly-hulen trains skidding there. When the skidding occurred last night, however, , rumour declared that an attempt at , interference with the progress of the train had been perpetrated, and rumour for once was right. From opinion- obtained, it seems that the line was greased with it mixture in which wheel-box oil "a? an ingredient. Whether that is really a fact will doubtless he tested. Fortunately, whoever did the work was inefficient. Had re been otherwise, the train might easily have been held up. Despite the copious use ot sand, the train was detained for about six minutes on the rather steep rise referred to. but after a noisy struggle it was able to proceed, and the return journey was effected without further trouble.