DOMINION NEWS.

Hokitika Guardian, 26 September 1927, Page 1

DOMINION NEWS.

(By Telegraph—Per Press Association.)

DAIRY COMPANIES PROTEST,

PAHIATUA, Sept. 23,

Copies of a letter signed by numerous dairy- companies have been forwarded to the Prime Minister and the Minister for Commerce. The lotted states:—“ Dairy companies respectfully enter a protest against any alteration of the Customs tariff, which may go in the direction of increasing the costs of producing butter and cheese.” “It is apparent that if it is passed in the present form the Bill will liavo the effect of doing this. We have only to mention dairy machinery, some of which is manufactured abroad, and is unquestionably much more suitablo for dairy factory work than that manufactured in the Dominion or the United Kingdom. The dnriy companies of the Dominion, individually and collectively, are opposed to- the tariff, which protects local industry, which is always able to pass on higher manufacturing costs, thus penalising the primary producers, who are quite unable to pass on the costs which must be added to their already heavy burden.”

HIRE-PURCHASE SYSTEM. AUCKLAND. Sept. 23. Abuses to which the hire-purchase system was open were the subject of it reference to-day by the Official Assignee (Mr G. N. Morris), who said at a meeting of creditors that there was something that he was not satisfied with in the law as it stood at present. It was possible for people to buy articles under hire-purchase agreement and to sell them without making it clear that there was still a debt on them. He referred especially to furniture and motor-cars, saying that a recent case had come under his notice where a debt of £IOO was owing on a car witli out the buyer’s knowledge, tlie car having been sold as one free from debt. “ It means that it is getting risky to purchase second-hand articles of any kind,” said Mr 'Morris, “lest they shoniVl he encumbered with debt.” Mr Morris explained that the hire-purchase system was valid and effective tor all purposes without registration.

STRUCK WARDER WITH SHOVEL. WELLINGTON, Sopt. 23. An assault on a warder at Mount Crawford on Tuesday was admitted by a fireman, Michael Joseph Cunningham, before Mr Riddell. >S.M. The superintendent of the prison, John Down, said that Cunningham, who was serving a sentence of three months for theft, had been working unsatisfactorily for some time prior to the assault. On Tuesday one of the warders spoke to him about his conduct, and Cunningham used abusive language and struck the warder on the side, of the head with a shovel. A groat struggle ensued, accused resisting violently while being returned to the prison. Cunningham said that he had an old bullet wound in bis arm which sometimes affected him and made him slow at his work. Superintendent Down said that accused had never made an application to him to see a doctor. The Magistrate: 1 will have to impose a term of imprisonment-. You have only yourself to blame. Suppose you bad killed him? Aou would have been op for murder. You will be convicted and sentenced to three months, to lie served at the expiration of the present term:

FORTUNE TELLING. AUCKLAND, Sept. 23. For undertaking to tell fortunes by means of a horoscope, Thomas Al’Niclioll was fined £5. BEAU CAVALIER. AUCKLAND, Sept. 23. AVhile being led from EllersWe in charge of his trainer, S. Toomnn, after being exercised this ( morning. Beau Cavalier reared and, falling on tlie road, cut a knee severely. This will interfere with the preparation in which the champion was shaping nicely for the Onehunga Steeplechase at the Auckland Racing Club’s spring meeting.

SHOPS AND OFFICES BTLL. PALMERSTON N., Sept. 23. A meeting of retailers to-night passed a resolution protesting against the provisions of section 14 of the Shops and Offices Amendment Bill, which will a flow small shopkeepers to apply to a Alagistrate for total or partial exemption as to closing hours. The chairman. Air James AVallace, considered that the section was an attempt to undermine the foundation of our system of shopping, which was the envy of tlie whole world. Afembers spoke of it ns in direct opposition to daylight saving.

STATE 'RELIEF WORKS. MEN WHO LEFT. WELLINGTON, Sept, 23. Some surprising figures were quoted by the Minister of Public Works, the Hon. K. S. Williams, when Labour members in the House endeavoured during the discussion on the Labour Department’s estimates to -show that there had been inactivity on the Government’s part in providing work for the unemployed. Mr Williams said that his Department’s ordinary works had to be maintained and it was not desirable to allow their regular men to stand idle. However, work had been prepared for relief purposes, and jobs actually were offered to 4192 men, quite half of whom either did not report or eventually left the job. Those who failed to report numbered 272, while 1782 left of their own accord. He did not blame them for leaving, as many were not fit for this work, and if some were dismissed it was because they wero unable to do the work. These figures would show that the Government had made a real effort to provide work. The totals, which relate to the period March 10 till September 17, show the 1150 men were given work in Auckland district, but 544 left of their own accord.

INTOXICATED MOTORIST. AUCKLAND. Sept. 23. •• Drunken motorists are more dangerous than a man in the streets with a lot of rifles,” said Mr F. K. Hunt, 5.M... when fining Edward Edwin Boyd; a builder, £35 for being intoxicated while in charge of a motor-car in a busy thoroughfare. While he agreed with counsel that this particular case was not so bad as some others recently before the Court, he said he must make an example defendant.

“ Men who drink whisky,” he commented, ”, should leave their cars at homfe.”

A ROUGH TRIP. AUCKLAND, Sept. 24. The Hinemoa, which left Auckland on September l-sth. for Norfolk Island, next day ran into a hurricane and was hove to for twelve hours in a heavy sea. Two feet of water entered the forecastle. A horse in a box on the main hatch was washed out and was found lying in the scuppers. Passengers who returned by the Hinemoa speak highly of lier qualities as a seaboat. COST OF DREDGE REPAIRS. GISBORNE, Sept. 24. The Dredge, Maui, recently overhauled at Auckland and now hired to the Marine Department for work at "Westport, cost many thousands of pounds to repair. The sum of five thousand was mentioned at last Board meeting, hut the latest reports indicate the actual cost, is nearly double that figure.

A CELEBRATION. GISBORNE, Sept. 24. The Poverty Bay Power Board celebrated at a social gathering, the completion of new offices and turning on of power in tlie country districts.