DOMINION ITEMS.

Hokitika Guardian, 16 June 1924, Page 4

DOMINION ITEMS.

BY TELEGRAPH—rItKSS ASSN., COPYRIGHT. A MEAN THEFT. BLENHEIM, June 14. At the Supreme Court, John James Frcegiian! Cleaverly, for stealing £lO from an old man, who had bellied him from time to time, was sentenced to reformative detention for niuo months. TI )' TALISATOK TRANSACTION N A ITER, June 13. An appeal ease nf some interest was heard in the Supreme Court before Mr Justice MacGregor. «H W. liarrio appealed against the decision of the magistrate in favour of J. M. Brown, in a claim to recover £33 13s Oil. Barrie gave Brown Co to put on Ore Ore in the Grand National Hurdle Race. The horse was placed second and paid £-1 14-s, and respondent did not hand over the money. Subsequently respondent agreed to put £lO of tin- Ore- Ore dividend on Nicomar in the Hunt Cup at "Waikato. Nicomar paid £lO odd. To effect a settlement appellant agreed to accept the Ore Ore dividend and £lO which appellant put on Muraahi at Wellington for Brown, but Brown did not pay up. The defence held that the transaction was illegal under section 33 of the Gaming Act.

Air Meson, for appellant, said that if the magistrate’s ruling were upheld, people who could not afford a pound could not legally hot, as they would he liable to a penalty if they made up a ticket with others. His Honour: That is so. A person who cannot afford to bet should not go to races. Tl is Honour upheld the magistrate. It is quite clear, he said, that the money claimed was won on the totalisator for respondent and should have been paid over, lmt the transaction was im illegal one under section o - t.'oUl jitU'ties contravened the statute. It might lie that the Act would cause inconvenience, hut people so placed would have to give up betting.

LORD J El. 1.1 COE’S JOKE. AUCKLAND, June 13. In opening the Art Society’s Exhibition to-night .Lord Jellieoe said lie "as glad to have the piesidont’s assurance that the present display eclipsed that of last year, although this statement, "lien coupled with one to the eileet that the principal contributions wore from the south, might not he altogether a matter of pride for Aucklanders. llis Excellency’s speech then took a whimsical turn. “As you have possibly discovered I always try to find something appropriate to say "hen faced "iili an occasion such ns this.” lie declared, “so 1 spent some considerable time this morning with an encyclopaedia. It professed to tell sonic-tliing about everything on earth. There "as much in itr I will admit, hill nothing that was, any u-e whatever to me for to-night. I noth oil it had a great deal to say about the tongue, howo,*vcr. which appears to he subjected to many strange diseases including excessive dryness, llalihines.s and also soreness. T agreed with the encyclopaedia there, for my own tongue has l>eeii sore for a month from milking speeches. T also learned." added his .Excellency amid laughter, “that whisky is much more likely to result in delirium tremens than brandy, a highly interesting fact, lmt as 1 see neither of those stimulants in front of me at the present moment it is not a matter on which I will discourse at length. In that encyclopedia I also came across a proverb which reminded me that art is long and time is lleeting. so. with that it-liiiiider now lieliiro me, I "ill lose no time in declaring the exhibition open and in wishing it success,’’

TEACHING OF HISTORY. AUCKLAND, June 14 11 0.1 l'. J. Ran-, speaking at New market, .aid for .nine yea is liistoiv has not been given tlie serious treatincut in the primary schools which it- importance demands. In the la.! syllabus il was made a compulsory subject hut the .examination is not a written one. il is merely oral. \Vo

want an as-nranee that every New Zealand buy and girl i- getting sound instruction in the history of Great Britain ami New Zealand, and we propose i lint written quo-lions shall be put which will elicit answers, giving a fair idea of the pupils knowledge. Children will not he able to grow tip as good citizens understanding their full rights ami the privileges of the freedom they enjoy, unless they leant how the nation came to win those rights, and know something of the battles and sacrifices of our ancestors, who secured for us the blessing of freedom "luVlt we enjoy to-day. They must know something of the history of Ihe .Out lierlaiel to understand and approdate this. It was also intended that children should he taught something of the history and growth of New Zealand whii h was full of interest.

LACK OF PARENTAL CONTROL. AUCKLAND, June 18. “A remarkable feature in the tittmhor of prisoners in Mount Eden gaol for gross offences against morality is tlie high proportion of New Z.calandborn men, and young men at that,” said Dr Murray, medical officer for the Prisons Department, in giving evidence before tlie special commission on mental depravity. A schedule of pri-.ou statistics presented by Or Murray showed that out of forty-ioitr eases ol prisoners serving front six mouths to u n’t'e term for sexual and unnatural offences, pi, fewer than twenty-three were New Zealand horn, most of them comparatively young men. Many of the total number had served previous sentences for the same offences. One man of forty-five years, who was serving six years, pcrviuitsly served terms of five ami seven years respectively, for .sexual elfer.ei-s. There wore twelve eases of unnatural offences, and of these eight wore New Zealand born. The delinquents mostly hail previous convictions for offences against decency. The proportion appeared to he remarkably high in a total of forty-four offences. The nationality of the prisoners was as follows:—Twenty-three New Zealanders, two Irishmen. one Scotsman, nine Englishmen, .six Australians. line Belgian, one Samoan and one C’liinamati.

The chairman. Hon W. 11. Triggs: How do you account for the high proportion of New Zealandersr Js there any special reason. Witness: Yes, it is largely because of parental control and home restraint. That really is the root .cause of depravity. .JrVEXII.H DEPRAVITY. AUCKLAND, June 13. “Wo are Incoming hysterical about juvenile depravity,” asserted Mr Boynton. S.M.. before the commission inquiring into the subject of mental defectives and sexual offenders. “Except in South Australia there are fewer crimes among our children lietween 15 and 30 than in any other country in the world. Our hoys and girls under 10 are not getting worse. “'The proporion of prisoners to a given number of population in 1903 was .34. It was 30 in 1913 ami 16 in 1923. Juvenile cases before tho courts showed a decrease. There were 1G77 in 1915 and 1391 in 1931. .Most of the delinquency was due to parental neglect and much to the universal spirit of mischief in children. It was wrong to bring children Into

court. No record whatever should lie kept of a first offence unless of a grave nature. In all eases whipping should l>e permissible. “7t is regrettable,” added Mr Poynton, “that so little is done in schools to warn children about the evils that will assail them in later life.” VESSEL TX DISTRESS. ■WELLINGTON, June 13. The Secretary of the Rost and Telegraph 'Department advises as follows: The Wellington Wireless Station reports at 3 a.m. to-day that a vessel giving the call sign -‘Java” sent out an s.o.s. call, followed by the name of the vessel. Owing to interference from other stations, we were unable to copy the latter part of the message. This call sign is not shown on our list.

MAN BREAKS HIS LEG. WANGANUI, .Time 13. During the Arainoho-Collegiate Rugby match on Saturday, G. Small, playing tor the former, sustained a broken •eg.