DOMINION NEWS.

Hokitika Guardian, 7 September 1928, Page 1

DOMINION NEWS.

(By Telegraph—Per Press Association. AUCKLAND COMPANY BANKRUPT AUCKLAND, Se-pt. 5. A large number of creditors gathered at the Official Assignee’s office to hoar an investigation of tho affairs of the Harding Construction Company, now in bankruptcy. The partners in the company were brothers-in-law, Raymond Cecil Harding and William Frederick' Jones,

The creditors showed strong resentment, particularly in regard to the conduct of Harding. A resolution was passed asking that the facts be laid before the Crown. Solicitor with a viow to prosecution.

Harding submitted a long statement, in which lie said lie came- from Australia with his wife in 1923 and was in various ventures. His wife won £BO on a. double at Christmas and he then went -into business as tile Harding Construction Company, with his brother-in-law, who was a skilled bricklayer. More work was offering than they could take, hut their prices had been too low. Old creditors pressed, and in August he was sentenced to 30 days’ imprisonment for an old debt, and. his partner, Jo-nes, 'had also had a- warrant hanging over his head. Jones, in in's statement, said ho had bceii a bricklayer at Devonport for eight years. He went into partnership with Harding at the beginning of the year.

Tlie cross-examination of Harding was lengthy, and.at times bankrupt was reproved by tho Assignee. -

JUDGE’S TALK TO PRISONERS HAMILTON, Sept. 5. Inmates of tho Waikeria Branch Institute had an unusual entertainment last evening, Mr Justice Blair giving them a lecture on motor-car differentials. At the conclusion the Judge remarked : ' “I sometimes think there should he a kind of human differential which would make necessary compensations for fellows who always get the outside running and so let everyone in this old world get a fair spin.” Tlie lecture which was part of a weekly entertainment arranged by the Hamilton branch of the Howard League, was greatly enjoyed. HORAHORiA POWER. HAMILTON, Sept. 5. Power at tlie Horahora station is gradually being restored. To-day 1400 kilowatts out of the normal 11,000 are •available.' The engineers hope for an increase to-morrow to 4400 kilowatts. PEDIGREE BULLS.

NEW REGISTRATION SCHEME.

INVERCARGILL, Sept, o! An entirely new scheme in the registration of pedigree bulls was propounded at the annual meeting of tlie Southland branch of the Ayrshire Breeders’ Society to-day, when a remit to the half-yoarly meeting at Palmerston‘North in November was passed proposing that registered hulls should lie classified into groups based on the standard of production of their dams or of their progeny. The president, Mr A. M. Weir, who brought the remit forward, suggested that two groups he provided, viz. Class AA, being hulls from dams who have a recorded C.O.R. herd-testing standard, alia whose- sires’ 'dams have also recorded a minimum standard of production, ‘namely, 2551 b fat as a twoyear old, 27511> as a three-vear-old, 3251 b as a four-year-old, and 3501 b as a mature cow, or whose sire has sired 50 per cent of progeny who have qualified as producers or whoso records reach C.O.R. standard, and Class A hulls front dams whose records reach above the minimum standard of production.

SEVERE STORMS. AUCKLAND, September 5. A severe thunderstorm passed over Te Hoe, 15 miles from Huntly, yesterday. TlieiTe Hoe post office suffered from the effects of lightning, the telephone being blown right off the wall. The postmistress received a- severe shock, but was not seriously injured. Two telegraph poles near the post office were broken in halves.

During a storm at Ngaruawahia yesterday, the Raglan County gauge recorded 4.Gsin. of rain. Most of this fell in two liqurs. The county engineer states that very bad slips have occurred on the Huntly West road and the road is entirely blocked. Mr W. Hutt a resident for .50 years, says lie cannot remember a storm of the same severity occurring at Ngaruawahia before. The military camp near Ngaruawahia- was like a sheet ol water. Stock in many shops suffered considerably, as did gardens in tile town.

CHRISTCHURCH LOAN CARRIED. CHRISTCHURCH, - Sept. G. A proposal to expend £220,000 on City Streets, over a period of four years, was submitted to tile ratepayers to-day. Th© loan proposal was carried bv 3599 votes to 1363. the informal votes were 312. The 101111 11111111)01' entitled to vote .was 27,339. This is the first time Christchurch ratepayers have agreed to loan for roading scheme. BOY FATALLY HURT BY CAR. CHRISTCHURCH, Sept. 6. Eric Jones, aged 11, of Spreydon, died in the hospital to-day from injuries received last evening by being knocked down by a motor car driven by Miss Ena Frances Lister, of St. Albans. Ho suffered severe injuries to tho head and leg, and also internal injuries. Mo did not regflin consciousness.

CHRISTCHURCH, Sept. 0. All inquest as to the death of Erie Jones, was held to-day. The evidence of the- driver of the car was that she was travelling at fifteen miles an hour. She saw the hoy step off the footpath on to tlie road half a chain in front of her car. She applied the brakes and sounded the horn, and ‘the boy looked towards her and stopped. Then the hoy made a dash to cross ill front of the car. She applied the brakes hard, hut could not avoid striking him. The Coroner found that no blame was attachable to the driver.

HOY KILLED BY RIFLE. AUCKLAND, Sept. C. Bruce James Garner, aged seven years, whose parents reside at Bonsoniiy, was fatally shot with a rifle while playing with other children in a room at lii.s home this afternoon. The rifle belonged to.his father, and it is not known how it came to he loaded. It was held by a boy, a cousin of deceased, when it exploded. The mother heard a muffled report, and thought it, was a door slamming, but hearing screams from the children, rushed in to make the tragic discovery. The child died an hour later,

LORRY Dll TVER BURNED. WELLINGTON, Sept. (i. Severe hums to tho left hand and slight burns to file forehead and right hand wore sustained by James Moore, ' motor lorry driver, to-day. His truck caught fire when lie wus filling up with petrol from a Bowser pump. Moore is a single man, aged 24, residing at 47 JSpuni Street. Ho was taken to the Hospital. MAN DROWNED. DUNEDIN, Sept. 6. The body of a man named Thomas Barry, a labourer, a single man aged about GO, was found in the Taieri River at Henley this morning. He was last seen alive at 6.30 last night. There is no evidence ns to how he got into the river. MAN FOUND SHOT. DUNEDIN, Sept. G. William John Brown, a single man, was found shot in his hut on Mount Pisa Station early this morning. He died in the Cromwell Hospital at about 11.20 a.m. CLEVER IMPOSTER-. AUCKLAND, Sept. 6. Seated in tlie front row of a crowded public gallery, Robert Gunter, smiling and well dressed, heard the City Council debate to-night on a report supplied by him to the Tramways Department, which, Fortified with imposing credentials, earned him a fee of £125. Since liis deportation from Australia, Gunter- has resided in Auckland. The Chairman of tho Tramways Committee of tlie Council candidly admitted that a clever criminal had imposed upon the Council. During the debate the audience applauded. The Mayor then' threatened to clear the gallery. Tho Committee Chairman said that until Gunter left Auckland for Australia, tho Department had no reason to believe that ho was otherwise than ho appeared to be. Subsequently a cablegram was sent to London, and the reply stated that he was an imposter. When Gunter was appointed to make tho report, lie claimed to have been employed as engineer by the London General Omnibus Coy. As a Platter of fact, he actually made suggestions which were quite sound and. useful.

A resolution was passed that the explanation he accepted, and the incident declared closed. DAYLIGHT SAVING ADVOCATED. OAMARU, Sept. 6.

At a meeting convened by the Mayor, Mr F. Orawshaw, at the request of citizens and sports bodies, tlie following resolution was curi-fed: “That this meeting affirms the principle of daylight saving, and urges the Oamaru Borough Council to take the necessary step to give effect to the measure tyithin the borough, and that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to the member for tlie, district.” ,