DOMINION NEWS.

Hokitika Guardian, 3 December 1927, Page 2

DOMINION NEWS.

(By Telegraph—Per Press Association.) STRANDING"ENQUIRY. NAPIER, Dec. 2. At the inquiry into the stranding of the barque Alaroro near Parangahau, Captain J. AY. Jones, master, said the vessel met increasingly had weather from Turnagoin onward, lie turned the vessel seeking shelter at Cape Palliser. He turned again owing to the weather and hove to till daylight, when he set out for Castle Point to anchor. The attempt failed and lie headed for Napier. Ultimately the weather forced him to shelter under Blnekshead. Anchoring on November 23, he took all precautions and retired at 8 p.m. He returned on deck at 12 when conditions were fairly good. . An hour later they got worse and he decided to >ecU shelter around Capo Kidnapper. Ihe vessel began to drag both anchois i.i spite of the engine going full speed ahead. The vessel struck aft at 4 a.m.. and when the tide receded the vessel was high and dry. He sheltered because he was minus lubricating oil ancl a vessel being without cargo or ballast, was unmanageable.

INSURANCE CLAIM FAILS. AVELLIXGTOX, Dec. 1

Patrick Joseph Griffin, hotel proprietor, claimed in the Supreme Court today, before the C'Tiief Justice, £513 15s from the Australian Provincial Assurance Association Ltd., and Thomas Wellington Bapley, of Sydney, in respect of premiums paid on a policy of life insurance on September 23rd, 1925, and April Ist, 1926. Rapley was the general manager of tbe A.P.A. tor New Zealand. The Company’s defence was that the premium was not paid in time, and was therefore null and void. Plaintiff was held by the Chief Justice not to have established his case and he gave judgment for defendants.

AI AN SERIOUSLY INJ URED. PALMERSTON X., Dec. 1

During the early hours of Thursday morning, a bus leaving Bunnythorpe after a dance, knocked down an elderly man, J. Brosnan. A doctor was sent for, but at the time Brosnan appeared to be little the worse for the accident.

Eater in the morning he evidently collapsed, being found unconscious near the Glaxo factory, where lie was employed. A doctor was again summoned and pronounced him to be suffering from concussion and internal injuries. Brosnan was removed to hospital. His condition this evening is very serious. CHILD’S DEATH. NAPIER, Dec. 1. At the inquest to-day concerning the deatli of the little girl, Dorothy Leyland Green (aged 51), the evidence disclosed that the girl apparently was endeavouring to gain admittance

to a house through a small window which was fastened at varying heights by a bolt slipping into a bole and was not weighted. Presumably the child opened the window, but failed to bolt it properly, and when she bad her bead through it fell, and pinned her there. -Marks of the toes of her shoes on the wall of the house, indicated that the unfortunate little girl had made efforts to regain her foothold on the block, by which she had got up to the window, hut when her mother arrived home the child was dead as a result of strangulation and shock. The Coroner remarked it was one of the saddest cases lie had had to deal with, and added that the man who had made the window had made a shocking job of it.

ADULTERATED BEER. HAMILTON, Dec,

An unusual ease, understood to be the first of its nature in New Zealand, was heard by Mr Wyvern AVilson, S.M., to-day, when C. L. limes and Co., brewers, of Hamilton, were charged with manufacturing and offering for sale ale containing more than the regulation strength of chloride. A fine of £5 was imposed, the Magistrate commenting that there seemed to he no systematic analysis made of liquor sold.

POSTAL OFFICERS APPEAL. WELLINGTON, Dee. 2. Refore Justice Maegregor, in the Supreme Court, was heard the application for the issue of a writ of mandamus against the P. and T. Board of Appeal, hv Jas. Alexander Elliott, postal officer, who pleaded that he had been fined £lO for accepting a post-dated cheque for £SO in October, 1926, one of a series of valueless cheques by which William Smith and Sidney Erne Bnume fraudulently secured £'lllo, ol' which £1026 was recovered.

Elliott pleads that he followed the Departmental regulations and should not have to pay the fine. The Appeal Court had refused to proceed with the hearing. The Department set out several grounds why the application should fail, among which was that £lO was not a fine, hut Elliott’s share of the missing amount £B4, which had to he made good by the officers concerned. Tile Judge dismissed the application for a mandamus.

HAMMER THROWING RECORD. DUNEDIN, Dec. i. In th •owing a lOlhs hammer in the preliminaries of the Otago Amateur Athletic Association this evening. J. I.eckie (Otago University) put up an excellent performance, by throwing the hammer 147 ft. Sins., thus breaking his own New Zealand record of 126 feet. BREACH OF GAMING ACT. REEFTON, Dec. 2. A hairdresser named John Rarnett was charged to-day with using his place ns a common gaming house. Defendant was convicted, and fined £2O with costs. A publican named A. Oilman was charged with a similar offence. The case was dismissed. BLAZE AT MERCER. AUCKLAND, Dec. 2. The post office, the railway social •hall, and two five roomed houses at Mercer, were burned to the ground, between five-thirty and six to-night. The fire broke out in the post office and spread to the adjoining premises. Two safes containing important documents and cash were saved from the post office, and it is understood that very little mail was lost. The furniture from the houses was removed in time. There is no fire-fighting apparatus at Mercer and the bucket brigades efforts were futile. The fact that the wind dropped at six thirty, saved the fire from spreading still further.

CRIMINAL ESCAPES. AUCKLAND, Deo. 2. Robert James Brydon. prisoner from Mount Eden gaol undergoing treatment for a crushed foot. escaped from the Auckland Hospital this morning. He was 1 recaptured at Onehungn to-night. The prisoner is an habitual criminal undergoing four years imprisonment for theft and forgery.