DOMINION ITEMS.

Hokitika Guardian, 22 May 1926, Page 3

DOMINION ITEMS.

[by TELEGRAPH —rER PRESS ASSOCIATION.] GROCER FINED. AUCKLAND, May 21. Francis Powell, grocer, was fined £5 by the Police Court for selling goitre cure in a: packet, bearing a false and misleading label. AUCKLAND WATER SUPPLY. AUCKLAND, May 21. One Tree supply Hill Road Board is supplying the city with four hundred thousand gallons per day during the water famine. ' MAGISTRATE’S POWERS. AUCKLAND. May 20. “The case is going to cost the country £IOO or so to send him up for trial when, he could have been tried here,” said Mr Hunt S-M. this morning. when a youth was charged with an indecent act in view of a girl. The case disclosed a peculiarity of the law. which the Magistrate thought should he amended. The law provided that had tlie alleged offence been in a public place the accused could have been tried in the lower Court, but as it was committed in the privacy of n home it must go forward to the Supreme Court. “There oitglO to he an amendment permitting this Court to deal with i every ease where the penalty is not more than iwo years’ imprisonment,” added the Magistrate. FINANCIAL RESULT. DUNEDIN. May 20. As to the financial outcome of the .Exhibition it is unlikely that any information will be available until the sharelioledrs’ meeting, which will not take place for some weeks yet. In the meantime the only announcement- the secretary can make is that accounts are still coming in. The seven main devices in the Amusement Park, including the scenic railway, whip, dodgems and fun factory, as already announced have been purchased by a local syndicate, which proposes establishing them in Auckland. The price paid was £SIOO. Tn connection with the visit of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders' Band it is announced that the total expenditure incurred was £12,242 (Is 7d. The takings during the tour since the Exhibition closed have been £3619, hut until expenses are known the cost of the tour cannot he stat-

UNUSUAL DIVORCE CASE. WELLINGTON, May 20. An unusual divorce case came before Air Justice .MacGregor to-day, when application was made and granted for leave to defend a petition by James Godfrey Frobisher, late of the Royal Navy, and now licensee of the Albion Hotel, for judicial separation from bis wife, Florence Irene, on tlie grounds of cruelty. Mr Jackson, for respondent, said the suit was brought by the husband after less than four years of marriage. He was twenty-nine and she was twenty-four. She had informed him slip did not understand the proceedings or the meaning of the impels served on her in the matter. The petition alleged persistent cruelty, hut on the other hand, said counsel, she had bijou subjected to many acts of cruelty, beaten cruelly, given black eyes and bruised all over. Air Soott. for petitioner, denied that the wife was unintelligent, hut said she had told her husband she would put him to all the trouble and expense she could. Tn the meantime Frobisher might lose his license owing to happenings, in the hotel. Bottles and jugs were being thrown at him, and he was afraid to go home after dark.

His Honor: Cannot some arrangement be made for her to go somewhere else ? Mr Scott: She refuses to leave the house. The Judge said h$ considered the woman should have the right to defend himself no matter how she had ignored procedure. Leave to defend was granted and the Judge advised that the wife should leave the promises. JERSEY HEIFERS, HAMILTON, May 20. Dominion record prices for two-year-old Jersey heifers were established at Hamilton when the young stock of the Alfalfa Stud was offered on liehalf of Mr I'Y J. Saxbv. Twenty heifers averaged over £lO3, or £7O for 50. The top price was 300 guineas, paid by Air F. IT. Bell, Bay of Plenty, for Alfalfa Bilberry. ’Hie Alangapapa Hospital Board secured Alfalfa Perfection for 200 guineas. Several others realised over 100 guineas. GAZETTE NOTICES. WELLINGTON, Afay 20. The Royal assent to the application of tlie Shipping and Seamen’s Act to Samoa is gazetted to-night. Regulations under Section 27 of the Electrical Wiremen’s Registration Act, 1925, are gazetted. The appointment of associate members of Children’s Courts, under the •Child Welfare Act, are gazetted as follows:—Auckland, Nellie Elizabeth Fcrner; AVelington, Annie APVicar; Christchurch Annie Elizabeth Herbert, BREWERS’ BARLEY. BLENHEIM. May 21. In the long-sVniding dispute with the brewers in regard to tbe price which should he paid for barley-grow-ing contracts, the Blenheim Branch of the Farmers’ Union, which is acting as spokesman for the growers of Marlborough, lias aroused the co-operation of the Canterbury and Otago growers. Early this month, representatives of the Branch met Air IV. IV. Alulholhmd, representing the Canterbury growers in Wellington to discuss the price which should be asked for the coming season. Nothing definite was agreed on, though the delegates agreed that there was an insufficient margin to the grower at the existing price of os Gd per bushel. The delegates examined the possibility of the brewers importing American barley, and they came to the conclusion that, on the March questions, it could he landed in the Dominion at os Id per bushel. They decided to procure a sample of the American article, with a view to deciding whether the brewers were likely to use it. The Branch is also asking the Government for statistics as to the areas under barley in various part of the Dominion, and the price to be asked will be fixed later. BAILWAY CROSSINGS. WELLINGTON, -May 22.

The Railway Department has decided to contribute £25,000 towards the elimination of dangerous crossings and a similar amount is expected from the Highways Board and local authorities. A beginning lias been made with, the preliminary work on eight crossings at Hawera, Turakina, Porirua, Paraparaumu, Piripiri, Alataliimi Hill, Weka Pass, and Turnai near Palmerston South. AIACHINERY ACT. WELLINGTON. Alay 22. The City Council was summoned for using a bitumen plant at one of its works without a certificate under the Machinery Act, but the case was adjourned without going into the evidence.

A CHILD’S DEATH. NELSON, Alay 21. An inquest was held to-day before Ah- T. E. Alann.sell S.AL, Coroner, touching the death of Edna Ala.y Sutherland, aged 10, an inmate of tlie Kirkpatrick Masonic Institute, who died while under an anaesthetic. Tlie Coroner, in giving his verdict, said ho was satisfied that death was due to misadventure-, quite beyond tlie prevention of human skill. A verdict was returned that death was due to heart failure, following on an operation of tonsils and adenoids. DIAAIOXD THIEF. WELLINGTON, Alay 21. At the Alagistrate’s Court to-day. John Lerica, labourer, pleaded guilty to stealing a diamond ling, valued at £l7, the property of Elsie Ross. The police stated that accused went into a shop and asked to see some rings. When the lady turned her back the accused substituted a paste ring for the diamond ring, and then said ho would bring, liis young lady to see the rings. Later, a detective found the accused examining jewellery in another shop window. AA’hen taken to the police station tlie ring was found secreted in his mouth. He was sentenced to six months’ imprison-