DOMINION ITEMS.

Hokitika Guardian, 29 April 1927, Page 4

DOMINION ITEMS.

[by telegraph—per press association.] SECRET PROCESS SOLD. AUCKLAND, April 27. In a judgment given in the Supreme Court. Mr Justice Stringer upheld the decision by the Commissioner ol Stamp Duties that a .secret process (“offset” printing) was “property within the meaning of the Stamp Duties Act. No less a sum than £30.000 was stated to have been the price agreed upon lor the sale ol ihe process of offset printing—all Auckland invention. Mis Honour said the appeal was by Die. New Era Printers and Publishers, Ltd.. against the Commissioner’s assessment of stamp duty in respect to the sale of the process, which was secret. It had been agreed by the Offset Press. Ltd. to sell to one John 15. Hobart, as agent for the appellant (inn. the said process, the consideration for its disposal being £30.606. Ibe Commissioner held that, the profess "aproperty within the meaning nt the Act. The Commissioner's assessment was 1 upheld ami the appeal was. therefore. 1 dismissed, with £ls 15s costs. j 151.ACKf!ERRY PEST. | WELLINGTON. April 27. j hi connexion wtili the research that is being conducted under noxious weeds at the Cawlhron Institute, tee Council of Scientific and Industrial Research some time ago torwarded an application for a further grant trom the . Empire Marketing Hoard for the erec- | tion of laboratories and large insee- ! taries at Nelson. Advice has now been - received that the Hoard has made a , grant of £1333 for the purpose named. ■ This amount will he subsidised by the ! Government ami will enable £2OOO t > ’uu expended on the necessary buildings. j One of the main purposes ol the j grant is to permit of the construction • cl «i vorv phos)ihor-l>n>nzo inset*I tnr.v designed especially for the breeding cl insects which attack the blackj berry. l)r .). I!. Tillyard will shortly ! he receiving likely parasites Imm the 1 South of France and other parts o! the world and the investigations lie will carry out by the aid ot these insectaries will enable comprehensive attacks to lie made upon one of tinworst problems which face the 1 armor —the blackberry pest. SCIENCE IN INDUSTRY. WELLINGTON. April 27. Speaking of the place of scientists is industry, Mr Wright, chemist to the Research Department, said that he had many opportunities of seeing at close quarters the functioning of various research institutions in England, It. was evident that England had learned a great lesson since the war in the upi plication of scientific research to in- ! dustry, especially in steels, d.ve.s and j chemicals. Industries less enlightened I included coal width still regarded the

chemist with a certain amount ol dis trust. Germany and the United States were doing well to improve their po-i----tii.-n, in the world competition b>r trade bv lie- use cf s: eiilific net hods. In

"| Australia he was much impressed by '! Hie fact I '-at, the Government had al- • ! ready expended wry large sum in the first year of research work, and this would he exceeded in tile set md 1 year. 'lhe members ol the An-tr-dl.oi " executive weie brilliant men and rn- ’ joyed the enutnienec ol tin- Gnwr'-- • 1 meat, pi Ulieians. li'nnnlnct urer- a.a! 1 the public of Australia. New xYalou.-. 5 seemed to he doing very little, but lahad ini doubt that big events v,■ re - pending. 1 ; MOTOR SM ASi-I. •j WELLINCTON. April 27. - 1 Nine people had a lortunale escape from -el-inns injury yesterday, when an ‘ 1 SALS, service cur leiL the mail just •'outside .Johns mville North and soot over a hank, a drop of tony loot. 3 wo passengers were injured : -| Miss Eileen Wilkie, twenty-one. ot ; Wanganui, a fractured arm. 1 j E. A. Rodgers, a well-known motor'j cyclist. Wellington, back extensively 1 | bruised. •j The car was traversing a bad stretci' ' l (,| the mad under repair on the way 1 ; n Wellington. A inulor-lorry was e»itnI irg in the opposition direction and a ' car travel!;; g fairly fast, shot out from ‘ f etiind the : in older to pass. As the road is o dv wide enough for tw vehicles to tvcu.cl abreast the scrim; car swerved in order to allow the other 1 ear to have a dear run. It skidded and " , went over a bank, turning over sevt oral times, the passengers being thrown •j clear. 'lhe car was badly damaged. -j FALSE PRETENCES CHARGE. -j INVERCARGILL. April 27. • A novel means of obtaining goods by l; ■ false pretences was disclosed at the 15 Magistrate’s Court before Mr G. 3 , Cruickshank, S.M., to-day, when • Charles Henry Gold, a hawker, was ( charged with obtaining goods valued t at £29 0s (id from Ross and Glendin- - ing by representing that he was a ■ member of the firm Stevenson and Co. 'flic police stated that Gold had rung 1 up Ross and fi lend in ing ordering goods to be sent by rail to Gore. A - further case of obtaining motor tyres from Fords, Ltd. was preferred. Accused was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment with hard labour. A EIRE. NEW PLYMOUTH, April 27. The school residence at Tataraimaka. which was also used as the District Post Office, was totally destroyed by fire last night. All Post Office material, with the exception of few official records, was lost. The building was ocj copied by the postmistress. Miss Sisley and Miss Linn, teacher at the school. The former suffered a loss of £2OO, , but the latter practically nothing. The building was not insured. The fire j severed telephone connection with the I coastal district and New Plymouth. 1 MILLERS AND FARMERS. CHRISTCHURCH. April 28. The Joint Committee of Farmers and Millers representatives dealing with the wheat problem, to-day arrived at an agreement as to the price of wheat. The millers’ representatives stated they were prepared to carry out the agreement recently arrived at by arranging that the price of flour should he £l7 per tun f.0.1i. Lyttelton, which with bran at £6 and pollard at £8 per ton, would enable them to pay 6s per bushel for Tuscan wheat to the grower less brokerage. This the millers offered to carry out for two months. If more than 600 tons of flour were im-

ported during this period, without the j Government taking action, aiul unless j the Government was prepared to take action to limit importations to 600 tons per month or less, the millers would have to ask the Committee to revise the scheme, on the ground that the millers could not continue paying this j price for wheat and maintain the price of flour against competition from Australia. The farmers’ representatives objected to the payment of brokerage, and decided to refer the question to the Farmers’ Unions before definitely accepting the agreement.