DOMINION NEWS.

Hokitika Guardian, 13 July 1927, Page 4

DOMINION NEWS.

■ (Bv Telegraph—Per Press Association.) ! A BURGLARY. | BLENHEIM, .July 12. I Freethbs fruit confectionery shop, Maxwell Road was burglariously entered vesterev© and a sum of money stated to be about £lB, was stolen. Thieves lirst attempted to enter tlic hack door which resisted their efforts and finallly a pane of glass in a back window was broken and the catch released.

INTER ESTINd APPEAT„ WELLINGTON, July Pi. The case of the Official Assignee v. Archibald Charles Fretwell came l>efore the Appeal Court this morning. Respondents brother, Harry While Fretwell. was n. fame.r. who was convicted on November 7th. 11)2:1 of assault and sentenced to three days, and after to three years’ imprisonment. The injured man. one Drake, sued for damages and on November 1924, obtained judgment for £691). Four days later Fretwell became a bankrupt. On the day he -was found guilty he conveyed al this property to his brother, the- respondent. and received a mortgage hack for £llBO, the land being already subject to mortgage to the State Advances Office of £620. The Official 'Assignee brought an action to >et the sale of land and mortgage aside, on the ground that Fret-well was a convict and could not deal with, his property and the transaction was fraudulent. Justice Herdman held that Fretwell was not in law a convict till the day that sentence was passed, and ! that fraud had not. been proved its the conveyance was made seven months he-

fore Drake brought 1 1 is action. anit nil the.se grounds gave judgment for the do fendant. From this the Official Assignee now appeals. Air Gould for the appellant, Mr Xortlicroft for respondent. The former argued that what Justice Herdman held to a contract for the sale made on the day of conviction, was in fact only an offer which was not accepted until alter .sentence was passed, so that the sale was void, the date of acceptance being the date of the sale. TDK CUfllT KINDIXG. WKLUXCTOX. July Id. The Court held that there was no <oniraet of sale completed before the prospective vendor was sentenced to imprisonment, after which his estate became vested in the Public Trustee, and it was incompetent for a prior unaccompanied offer to lie accepted by the purchaser.

i The case was remitted to the •Supreme Court for appropriate judgment, to he mitered for the original pi'aintilf. 'The I Ollieial Assignee's appeal was therefore , allowed, with costs on middle scale, as . firm a distance. GAAIIXG mu.. j WKLUXCTOX. duly 11. I After debating the provisions of the , Canting Bill, the Wellington Church of Kngland Synod passed a resolution: ' "Thiit this Svnod trusts that in anv

legislation dealing with the question of ginning, the Gnvornnieiit and Pariament will regard the reduction oi this evil as a paramount consideration,” RROPKU.OR. BLACK LOST.

AI'CKr.AX!). duly 11. When heading into a heavy westerly sea yesterday morning. tile cargo steamer Canadian Seigneur, which ar-

rived at Auckland from Montreal this morning, lost a blade of her propeller. The four blades being all ached to the boss and spare blades carried tin Liard, it is expected that repair: will he effected before the steamer sails for the south to unload the balance of her general cargo. As the ship is not loaded to her maximum capacity, it is not anticipated that there will he any difficulty in raising the propeller above the surface of the waiter by simply emptying the ballast tanks in the .after part of the ship and filling those forward to capacity. If the propeller totild not he got at in this wav it would bo necessary for the steamer to go into dock. OPIUAI PAID. WKLUXCTOX, July VI. Unlawful possession of opium in a form suitable for smoking was admitted by Lai Song, aged who appeared before Mr J. 11. Salmon S.M., in the Magistrate's Court to-day. Air Tl. 1). ALtelanrm, for the Customs Department, said that last night a number of police under Sergeant Boniseh. raided accused's premises at Kit; Kaining street. They could not at first get in, but they heard the sound of hammering and noticed a strong smell of kerosene and opium. When they did gain entrance they found some broken pipes and a quantity of opium “seconds.” There wore also a number of opium tins, the contents of which had apparently been burned. So far as he knew, accused had never previously been before the Court. ATr A. B. Sievwright said that I.ni Song was not an habitual smoker. Accused was fined £lO and costs.

DIVORC’D SUIT PARTIES DOMICILED ABROAD. HAMILTON. July 11. Reserved judgment on a point raised in the Supreme Court recently, as to whether a petitioner domiciled abroad was competent to secure a divorce in New Zealand, was given by Mr Justice llerdnmn. The case was one in which Thomas Elwcll, an elderly man formerly resident in Hamilton, but now in England, sought, a divorce fdnm his wile, who is also in England. The petitioner lodged his petition while in New Zealand, but respondent’s answer did not come to hand until thro days alter the close of the session at which it was sot. down for bearing. His Honour said that when it was remembered that at the date the petition was filed the New Zealand Court was probably the only one in the British Dominions possessing jurisdiction to hear and consider such a petition. His Honour did not think that any suspicion about petitioner having abandoned New Zealand domicile at the last moment should deter him from making a degree. Proceedings were adioiirned to enable evidence of the wife's desertion to he brought.

NO NOMINATIONS. WF.LLIXGTON. July 11. Jhe Returning Officer tor Eastbourne Borough said to-day that since no nominations to till the vacancy in the Mayoralty brought about by the resignation of Mr H. M. .Tolies bad been received on Saturday, he had again advertised for nominations. If any were rceeived before Julv AT an election would take place on August 5. The position is that the Returning Officer will have to advertise for nominations until a nomination or nominations are received.

VALFELESS C HFjJT'F.G. AUCKLAND. July 11. Cyril Albert Hoskin. aged 47. was committed for sentence this morning on nine charges of obtaining £B4 by valueless cheques. Accused’s practice was to ring shopkeepers, giving the name of a builder or carpenter, and stating that he had

just paid workmen by cheque and would they cash the same. K'uni alter wards lloskin himself called at the shops. LMI’UISOX.MKXT FOB TIIKFT. WKLUXCTOX. duly 11. A labourer. .1 a tins .Joseph Bryce, w ho had been hawking hoot polish. was given six months' imprisonment lor the theft of a watch and a silk seari on separate oeasions when he tout'd the occupants absent from house--, lie had been previously three times sentenced for breaking, entering, and limit. rXIVKHSITV KXTIIAXCK BOARD. WKLUXCTOX. duly 11. The University Kntraime Hoard set 11 ji by the amendment Ael ol lh2ii. will meet this year ill time to I epor! to the Aeademic Board in November The election by prineipaL oi secondarv schools is now proceeding. Ihe piiucipahs of technical high ''chords have elect'.- ! Air .1. 11. Howell. B.S .. Wellington, who was illy nominee.

TKA ROOM KAII’LOYKK!• AWAiii WKLUXCTOX. duly 12. The new award of the Arbitration (lour; fixes hour,, for tearoom ;i ltd I: - iimunl workers, at -lit per week, and p-rovidcs that not more than ten hours ,shall be worked mi any cue day, without payment of overtime. I,wept in .spa-, ial circumstances worker, shall noth..' brought back to work after their day'.-, work is finished, until alter an interval of at least ten hours, and Workers shall he Paul at the rate of time and a-ha.'f for the time hv which such interval is curtailed. Xo female shall he employed after the hour of Li.2o turn, in c iitravent i-m of the Provis! ms of the Shops and Dili-ex Ac!. FLOUR BRICKS R'AISKD. A l T'K LAND, duly id. An increase of Ills a (on in the price "f lit ttr is announced, making the price £l2 a ton in 2(1!) Hi. hags, with corres]i"'."aling inert a.-cs in the smaller sires up to £2l 7s lid in the (ij !h. hags. The increase was announced by i! Auckland Hour millers t :-dav.

RAILWAY FATALITY. AI'CKLAN D. July 12. A seaman. Janies Morrison Spence, a native of Glasgow, Scotland, aged 35 years, believed to he a resident ol Yi< toria Street, was knocked down and killed by a train at the Breakwater Road railway crossing shortly before four o’ei'oek this afternoon. Spence, who had signed on as a seaman on the steamer Cheiiiston earlier in the day, was walking with a companion from the King’s Wharf towards CustomsStreet. lie was struck' by a rake of carriages which were being shunted. it, is stated that the companion of the deceased and a shunter on the train both shouted warnings to him. hut he did not appear to hear, and he walked on to the line immediately in front of the first carriage. Death was instantaneous.