DOMINION ITEMS.

Hokitika Guardian, 5 January 1925, Page 4

DOMINION ITEMS.

[by TELEGRAPH—PER PRESS ASSOCIATION. .MOTOR CAR SMASH. r I'xs j\To shop. C'HRiSTCI lURCIf, Jan. ,'i. Tn rim into a shop in a two-seater Find ear, smash through a heavy glass window ami capsize the counter, sending all sizes, shapes and brands of ironware flying and yet escape scotfree as far as injuries go, is not the luck met with by every motorist when avoiding traffic. Vol, this is what happened to a young man, Mr R. Hutchison, of 15 Stapleton’s road, Richmond, an employee of the Bank of New Zealand at Sydenham, a little after (3..‘10 last evening. Mr H utehison stated that he was coming into the city from Sumner, along Ferry road at about 21 miles an hour. .Just as he reached the intersection of Fitzgerald avenue and Ferry road, he saw a motor-cycle, and sidecar. including a woman and three children among its passengers, coming south along the avenue. In his opinion the motor-cyclist was doing from to to 20 miles an hour, and the driver of tlie car did not hear the sound of a horn. There were only two courses left open to him—either hit the children in the side-car or crash into Mark's second-hand shop on the souwest corner. Hutchison chose the latter course. He ran through the window and ended up with the front wheels in the shop. The window was smashed to atoms and the framework torn away, while a counter near the window was pushed several feet and the goods scattered all over the floor. The windscreen of the car was smashed to pieces, the axle badly bent, font wheels buckled-, and the headlights broken. Mr Hutchison had a miraculous escape from the falling glass and did not receive a scratch. Had any one been standing on the corner, or passing the shop uL the time the accident would probably have had a fatal ending.

The motor-cyclist, who, it is •la ted was travelling on the wrong side of ti c road, made off in a hurry, hut his number was taken by the ear-driver. The police arrived quickly and took charge of the damaged ear. CHEQUE ALTERED. DHAF MRTF’S OFFENCE. 0 BSROENE, January 1. At Tokomaru Bay a case ol a most unusual nature was heard, when a deaf and dumb -Maori girl, Bhincra \\ aiknre, pleaded guilty and was committed for sentence for forging a cheque. She had received a cheque for Cl) 12s for work done during the shearing, and had altered the figures to COO 12s and cashed the cheque. The case was remarkable in that the girl /though deaf and dumb took a lively interest in the case, and by reading through depositions was able to attest the accuracy of the evidence. Another unusual feature was that the girl did not understand .Maori at all. As it was impossible for the girl to understand the verbal evidence, the depositions were handed over for her to read. Alter loading them carefully, she attested them as licing eorreet. \\ hell the usual doenment. relating to the committal to the Supreme Court was handed to her to read, she intimated that she

had nothing to say. hut desired to plead guilty. The sum of £7O 12s was recovered. ST FA M Fit STB A X I) I'll). WFI.IJXt ITON. plan. 2. Xews was received in Wellington this afternoon that the Canterbury Steamship Company’s Storm went ashore near the entrance to the Wanganui River on Wednesday morning. The vessel which lias 2011 tons of cargo almard. left "Wellington recently lor Felon, .'hence ft., sled to U'a nga oip F- 1 " I reported pot to fi" leaking, and an cn lleavpiir will ho made to-night to gel tier olf. Tiie tides are commencing to make and that circumstance should facilitate refloating operation.-;. Ail being well tlm vessel will arrive here on Sunday and will sa.il on Monthly lor Lyttelton. Tinmrii and Dunedin. REMANDED. DUNEDIN, Jan. H. Phillip Cordon Sutherland, charged with the murder of John James Ryan on Dec. 2:trd, was further remanded for a wee!:. TOTE TAKINGS. AUCKI.AXD. Jan. During the summer racing carnival the total amount invested was ,£(>o2.-Ofl-I- Ills, of which £422.-1-1.1 IDs was handled by Iho tote at the Auckland Racing (’lull’s four days’ meeting. £2lo.til!) at the throe day’s meeting of the Auckland Trotting Club. Alexander Rail-:. During the 102.2-2-1 summer carnival investment aiiioiuitcd to ,C(X)o.2-l8 10s. There has been an aggregate increase of £27,81(1.

FATAL HOLIDAY'. A CCK LAND, January 2. A siul sequel to a jnotoring lour occurred onrlv this week, when an Anek!:intlor. Air IF. R. Alilmtl, died ns the result of injuries received while attempting to remove his ear from the mud in n road near Mount Messenger, in Taranaki.

; The party, which included Air John , Dawson. AH Abbott, and his mother, 1 Airs A. Abbot,!, of Auckland, left to tour the Forth island in Luo motor cars. All went well until they approached Mount Messenger, where a very had stretc h of road was encountered. The foremost ear, driven by AH Dawson. ,successful!v negotiated the dangerous quagmire, hut the second, driven by Air Abbott, got stuck. AH Abbott made strenuous efforts to get his ear out, ami with the aid of AH Dawson this was accomplished. On the party’s arrival at New Plymouth it was found that Air Abbott had badly overstrained himself in his efforts to remove the ear, and at midnight he collapsed, .suffering from the bursting of a blood vessel in the brain. Medical aid was unavailing, and the unfortunate young man died at an early hour the following morning. Afr F. R. Abbott was twenty years of ago. was highly popular and showed considerable promise. He was a surveyor’s cadet employed ill Air Dawson’s office. Keen sympathy is felt for Afrs Abbott, whose husband was the late Colonel F. AY. Abbott. D. 5.0.. who died suddenly at sea twelve years ago when returning from England to take charge of the Auckland Military District. INFANTILE PARALYSIS. ADAPTER,, January 2. One of the children of a family from Wellington on holiday in Napier died in a private hospital from infantile paralysis. Another child of the same family is under observation.* AVEI ,LINOTON FA T A LIT TES. AYF.LLINTGON. Jan % 3. Dorothy Renfield. aged 7. of Lewtown. was knocked down by a minor car last night opposite the o >lico Motion and died in the hospital. It is stated she ran in front of the car before it could he stopped. Another child. Pansy Smith, aged 10. fell over the railings at the Oriental Bay Esplanade, on to the beach, receiving serious injuries. RAILWAY STATION BURGLED. WELLINGTON, Jan. u. The Lower Hutt railway station was burgled and the safe containing about £4O was removed. A search was made but the safe iva% not found.