DOMINION ITEMS.

Hokitika Guardian, 20 October 1928, Page 5

DOMINION ITEMS.

A WIFE’S APPEAL

iMy Telegraph—Per Press Association.)

WELLINGTON, Oct. 18. An appeal for leniency was read in Court to-day from a wife on behalf of her husband when Gordon Thomas Am’imdsen, alias Amunsdcii, a plumber, aged twenty-eight, pleaded guilty to having stolon a pair of field glasses, a greenstone axe and a set of carvers, of a total value of £l3 10s, from a trunk in the furnished house he had rented.

Accused had been out of employment and depressed, in addition to which he was a chronic sufferer from the effects'of war service.

In her appeal his wife said she was sure her husband would not steal again as they were now in better circumstances. She would help him all she could. The Magistrate extended accused an opportunity, admitting him to probation and ordering him to pay the value of the unrecoverd goods, £l2.

SHORT OF FIREMEN

TOE KATAPOI HELD UP

NAPIER, Oct. 18

The Union Company’s steamer, Kainpoi, is held np at Napier, owing to crew trouble. The vessel completed the discharge of her cargo from Bluff at midnight last night and was‘ready to sail for Auckland. However, one fireman was missing and the ship could not proceed.. This morning another man presented himself for the job and was engaged, ibut in the meantime the 'missing man turned up. Then another man disappeared. When the latter was found the fireman missing last night had again disappeared, and has not been seen since. Another man presented himself for the job this afternoon; but after going 'on .hoard declined the engagement. The position jnow is that one fireman is still missing, and the remainder of the crew refuse to take the Ivaiapoi to sea until lie reappears.

YOUNG FARMER KILLED IN MOTOR ACCIDENT. TE AWAMUTU, Oct, 19. Maurice Rhodes, farmer, of Ngahape, was killed to-day in a motor accident on the Main South Road, about six miles south of Te Awamutu. Deceased, with an employee named Sampson, left his farm in a motor truck, and after proceeding a few miles, stopped because of a punctured tyre. Not having a .spare tyre, they abandoned the truck and accepted a ride in a Dodge ear. driven by G. Bell, of the N. Z. Truth staff. They had not gone half a mile when the car skidded in some metal, rap to the side of the road, and fell over a slight embankment. The deceased sustained a fractured skull, while the left side of his chest was crushed and ribs were broken. Medical aid was quickly summoned, and the injured man was brought to Te Awamutu, where he died within a few minutes after admission to a private hospital. Sampson suffered a sprained ankle joint, while the driver was unhurt. Deceased was a married man, with one child, aged five years. He was 25 years old.

SHEEPO WNERS AGREEMENT

WELLINGTON, October 20

A complete agreement was reached in the conference between the New Zealand Sheepowners’ Federation and the New Zealnad Workers’ Union, concerning the rates which are to be paid shearers and shed-hands this season. The agreement estahlises a new principle, ns it gets away from the cost-of-living basis of payment to workers, and substitutes payment in accordance with the ability of the industry to meet the costs.