DOMINION ITEMS.

Hokitika Guardian, 7 March 1927, Page 2

DOMINION ITEMS.

[EV TUT.EGRAPi! —PER CRUSH ASSOCIATION.] BOOKIE FINED. DUNEDIN, Alareh 6. A special sitting of the Police Court was held yesterday morning for the purpose of dealing with a charge against David Thomson Pearson. The charge was that Pearson was in Princess 3t. yesterday morning for the purpose of betting. The defendant pleaded guilty. Chief Detective Cameron said that the defendant was seen by Detective Lean to be distributing race cards. The defective approached and spoke to Til m and he immediately handed over the rest of the cards, and also a notebook, the contents ol which disclosed the fact that bets had been made. Defendant was before tho court in December 1922, and was fined £2O on a charge of carrying on. the business of a bookmaker. He was. however, not a ]km---siteiit. bettor, though in a fair way of business. Apart from carrying on this illegal business, he was a decent man. Defendant was fined £SO with 10s costs. METHODIST CHURCH. AUCKLAND, Alareh 5. The report ol the Temperance and Public Aloial.s Committee, presented by Rev. J. \. Lochore, of the New Zealand Alethodist Synod. regretted fbat it was impossible to record an abatement of what it termed the winedrinking evil in the Dominion. This evil grows, the report stated, and is increasingly evident at weddings. AA T e must as a Church condemn this dangerous practice.

Concerning betting and gambling, reference was made to a deputation which waited on the Prime Minister and the Minister of Internal Affairs to voice the opposition of Protestant Churches to the permitting of art unions, and to the sympathy expressed by the lion E. .Bollard, with the objects of the deputation. The same deputation dealt with motion picture and poster censorships in regard to which the Prime Minister gave satisfactory assurances.

'Hie conference decided that a letter of appreciation he sent to the Prime Minister.

POLICEMAN’S MOTOR TRAGEDY. DUNEDIN. .March 6. Malcolm. .John Clarke, police constable. who. when riding a motor cycle on hr id ay. collided with a tramcar. having his right leg broken, and his head injured, died in the hospital yesterday. The deceased was 25 years of age. and joined the force in April, 192(3. At the inquest, evidence of identification was given and the inquest was adjourned sine die. HUMAN LEG FOUND. DUNEDIN. March G. A leg from the knee down, clothed in a sock and hoot, was found on Tomahawk Beach yesterday. It had apparently been iu the water for some months, and is believed to he that of a man named Vincent Boustridge, who was drowned at Taieri Mouth some months ago, when fishing in a launch that capsized.

A SUICIDE. DUNEDIN, March 6. Janies Finlay, aged 38, manager of the .Mosgiel Co-operative Dairy Factory. who was found in his office on Friday with a. bullet wound in the head, died in the hospital yesterday morning. He leaves a wife and five children. The evidence at the inquest showed that the deceased was suffering from a skin trouble that prevented him taking up certain duties in the factory. The verdict was that- he met his death through a bullet wound, self inflicted, while lie was in a depressed state dut> to ill-health.

BODY OF TEACHER FOUND BLENHEIM. March I.

The body of the young school teacher, Eric Lee Palmer, who had been missing from. Wharanui since Sunday last, was discovered by a search party from Blenheim yesterday. Evidently Palmer died from exhaustion. A gun beside ti.e body held a cartridge. An inquest was held on the spot to-day and the body is being buried where it was found, owing to the extreme difficulty of bringing it out.