DOMINION NEWS.

Hokitika Guardian, 21 June 1928, Page 1

DOMINION NEWS.

(By Telegraph—Per Press Association.

DENTAL CLINICS

deputation to minister.

LEVIN, June 19,

A deputation organised by Levin District High School Committee waited on the Hon. Mr Young, Minister for Health, to-day, and asked either that a dental clinic be established in the principal centres on this coast, or that a substantial subsidy be granted to extend' the Mackenzie scheme of dental service which had been operating for several years, and under which children were treated by local dentists at a. cost of £1 per head per annum paid by the parents, the dentists guaranteeing dental fitness.

In Lie. course of his reply, the Minister said he did not entertain any hope of the latter proposal being agreed to, but he would sympathetically consider the allotment of a dental nurse. The Department had 84 nurses- and ten dental officers engaged, who were handling 00,000 children. There were 60 trainees in the school in Wellington, 30 of whom would be. available next April if they qualified, hut there were 260 applications already for clinics. At the present rate of progress it would take six and a half years to provide nurses for Call the children in State schools. He feared that an appreciable part of the work being done was nullified by subsequent neglect on the part of children and parents, and the. Department would have to consider whether it could allow other children to be kept back by those who did not appreciate the benefits of the free service. COLLISION AT HASTINGS. NAPIER, Juno 19. A collision with somewhat unusual features occurod between a train and a. motor-lorry at the Frederick street railway crossing, Hastings, this afternoon. The lorry, carrying a score of 20-gallon drums of benzine, and driven b. E. F. Lowry, had 1 still its rear wheels on the line when the train happened along and washed into the vehicle turning it completely round. Tile driver fortunately kept his seat and the lorry commenced to run back down the slope away from the railway line for about 20 yards, and in its course levelled 30 or 36 feet of fence outside a private residence. The wheels of the lorry tore out great patches of asphalt from the footpath, and did considerable damage to a lawn insidie the fence. Oil drums were scattered in all directions. One was carried about 15 Kurds along the line until it exploded and fell into a ditch eight feet deep,'

the ■presence of which was fortunate, as the contents of the drum burned thomseves out harmlessly except for slight damage to a hedge. Had it not been for the ditch the house adjacent the line would have been in danger. Another oil drum, caught by the cow-catcher, was tossed on the other side of the line for a chain, but remained intact.

The engine’s cow-catcher was almost ripped off and trailed along till the train was stopped, and. a hole a foot in diameter was knocked out of the iron front of the fire box. The iron outer cap of the cylinder on the right of the engine was also badly smashed.

MISSIONARY in THE SOLOMONS. AUCKLAND, June 19. After having spent three years on the island Gaudaleanar, in the British Soldmoais, doing district work under the auspices of the Melanesian Mission, the Rev. C. L. Mount ford returned to New Zealand by the Mamma this afternoon. Gaudaleanar Island was the scene of the massacre of

nativlo officials some fifteen months ago, and Malua Island, about thirty miles distant, was where Commissioner Bell and native officials were murdered about ten months ago. The lattei’ happening took place at a spot not far distant from where thirty years ago, when an Austrian mission was on the island, fifteen people were killed and eight eaten. These atrocities were committed- by members of wliat are known as the bush tribes, who are said, according to tradition, to be descended from the Umu god. Basil natives in prehistoric times were supposed to he covered all over with hair, and tradition tells that their descendants having a liking for human flesh, because they were descended also from these Umu gods.

Air IMomntfordi Isaid that a commission of inquiry had been set rp, and was at present going into matters connected with these atrocities. After visiting his relatives in the North Island, Mr Mmintford will proceed to Christchurch where he will l>e appointed to an Anglican parish. DEBARRED. WELLINGTON, June 19. Is a man wlio has been convicted and imprisoned for theft entitled to demand admission to membership of the Cooks’ and Stewards’ Union? This question was answered in the negative by .Mi- E. 0. Page, S.M., in a reserved judgment this morning. Archibald John Bryant, a steward, claimed £25 damages from the union, contending that lie was eligible for membership, but had been prevented from obtaining employment open to members of the union. The Magistrate said that the preference clause contained a, provision that shall only apply so long as membership of the union shall be open to any person of good character. Plaintiff had been convicted on two charges of tlieft and having regard to the nature of a steward’s employment, and to the many opportunities for committing theft, the action of the union was justified. HARBOUR DUES PAID. AN IMPORTANT PRECEDENT. ■ ■ 4? WELLINGTON, June 19. ' An important precedent*; which means profit to some New Zealand harbour boards, has been .created in tho ease of the new State steamer, Maui Pomare. When the vessel visited Wellington discharging cargo from the Islands the Wellington Harbour Board raised the question of wharfage and other dues from which Government vessels are exempt. It sought the cooperation of other boards, in the hope that trading vessels owned by the Government would be made subject to dues. There was liot much response from outside Wellington, hut the boaid rendered its account for nearly £9O to the ship’s agents, who paid it. Apparently this means that the Government in future will conduct its shipping trade'in line with private ship : owners, who pay harbour dues, wharfage and water rate. TRAMPER-’S BODY FOUND. ... Wellington, June 20. fiie body of the missing man Hodg-

kinson, was found by a party which went out from Petone this morning. He had apparently died from exposure.

At about noon to-day, the body of Mervyn Hodgkin son, of 2 Oriental St. Petone, who had been lost in the Oiongorongo country since Monday week, was discovered in a gully at the back of a property owned by Air F. Scholes, of Wainui-O-Mata, Overoome by exhaustion j Hodgkinson had evidently tripped in tome undergrowth and been unable to rise. Only three miles away in tlie direction which he was apparently proceeding, lay open country, and lie would have emerged from the bush two miles north of the sptot at which his companion, Poynter, had reached safety. The body was found by Messrs Devine and Burns (tho latter being the father of one of the trampers), who immediately fired the phots agreed upon as a signal for the recall of other searelieps. The police were informed, and this morning a party will set out to recover the body. PUBLIC SERVANTS ASSOCIATION. WELLINGTON, June 20. A large number of remits were carried by the Public Service Conference to-day. Included were the following: That the probationary period for the nursing staff of the Mental Hospitals Department bo reduced. That, in the interests of the service as a whole, the Association press for the appointment of .two Assistant Commissioners'. That the Government be approached rt itli a request that the maximum salary provision in the Family Allowances Act bo raised to £295 per annum. That a Stipendiary Magistrate be appointed as Chairman of the Public Service Appeal Board. That the Association continue to press for certain exempted Departments to be brought under the Commissioner’s consideration. . WELLINGTON, June 20. The Minister of Education to-day cor-; rects a statement attributed to him yesterday that the Civil Servants might .look forward to some proposals to improve their salaries in course of the next session. The Minister says ho did not make any such statement. His only reference to-salaries was a statement that there was. more or less troub'e between capital and labour throughout the world, and be supposed many civil servants thought their salaries not as satisfactory as they might be. The Minister then proceeded to deal with other matters. BAR TO APPOINTMENT. WELLINGTON, June 20.. . A heated discussion occurred to-day at .tlie Education Board’s meeting on the Education Department.’s proposal to seek regulations, by Order-in-Coun-cil, virtually to appoint applicants to vacancies on tfie Training College Staff

or the practising schools, and vesting it in flic Minister of Education. The Board regards the proposals as an endeavour to frustrate the Board’s efforts to appoint Mr S. K. Lomas, Act-ing-Principal of the Training College to tlie position as Principal of the College, The Department desires to make riie regulations retrospective to the calling of tlie applications for the position of Principal of the Wellington Training College. A resolution protesting against the procedure was carried with only one dissentient. , LOTTERY QUESTION. INVERCARGILL, June 20. ' To-day the Magistrate gave his reserved decision in a case in which John Smith, the proprietor of a large drapery emporium, was charged with running a lottery by which prizes were gained by a mode of chance. The defendant was the originator of a scheme whereby numbered articles in the window could be claimed by persons bolding corresponding numbers which were distributed throuhout the province printed on a replica of a key appearing in circulars. According to-the legal profession, there is no reported case of fact of a lottery being held to be illegal in England, so th? present prosecution was looked upon in the nature of a test case. The Magistrate held that the scheme was a lottery, but said that the defendant was advised by counsel that it was legal, and that be bad inaugurated it in a public spirit to assist the Mayfair celebrations. The defendant would bo fined £2. Counsel asked His Worship'whether be would withhold entering the conviction until be bad conferred with his client. They might ask to have the Ine increased to over £5 in order to appeal against the decision. This was agreed to. TETHERING BULLS BY NOSE. DUNEDIN, June 19. Whether the practice of tethering bulls by the rings in their noses was c-nicl was the subject of a friendly argument between a member and the inspector at the meeting of the Otago Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to-day. The discussion arose out of a clause in the inspector’s report which stated that a man who had tethered a bull in that manner hod been cautioned and that lie had been shown the correct way to tie up tlie animal. The correct way. the inspector maintained, was to tie a rope first round the bull’s neck, and then pass the rope_ through the ring in its nose . Tlie member disagreed with this, however, and stated that the method mentioned was entirely useless, as the bull could exert a. very powerful strain on the rope when it was tied in this manner. Moreover, the animal would suffer no undue harm if it were tethered directly by the ring,