DOMINION ITEMS.

Hokitika Guardian, 1 February 1930, Page 5

DOMINION ITEMS.

TAXATION' RETURNS, (By Telegraph—Per Press Association DUNEDIN, Jan. 31. Customs returns .for the month < January, 1930, show an increase ovt those of the same period last yeai except in the case of the beer dutj which shows a decrease of about £4 500 in the motor spirit duty. Th tyre tax has also shown an increas of over £4OOO. Following are tli month’s figures, compared with thos of January, 1929: Customs returns: January 1930 £Bl. 241 Os 9tl, January 1929 £75,241 0 lid, beer duty 1930 £19,362 17s 3d 19?,9. £23.996 os Bd, motor'spirit 1931 £9.969 16s 4H, 1929 £5,578. 4s, tyre ta 1930 £2096 7s, 1929 £1656 4s. A SUICIDE, ! OPOTIKI, Jan. 31. Thomas Fleming, head assistant a the Opotiki Dairy Factory, : was fount this morning in a garden with hi throat cut. The circumstances poin to suicide. He was married, with wife and six sons.

SUDDEN DEATH

CHRISTCHURCH, Feb. 1

Mr AHister McLean Wrght, chie chemist for the New Zealand Refriger ating Coy., collapsed while presidinf last evening at the dinner of the Ne\ Zealand Branh of the Institute o Chemistry of. Great Britain. He die< a quarter of an hour later. • The lat< ilr Wright was as beinf among the foremost avithoffies in Aus tralia and New Zealand on the scien tific side of the refrigerating industry and on the manufacture of . meat works bye-products. He had written manj papers for scientific journals on tin chemistry of flesh foods, and had beer chief chemist for the N.Z, Refrigerating Coy. since 1902. He was a Captain in the Medical Corps during the war and did much valuable work in bacteriology at Codfoi'd. He was born , at Palmerston North in 1881, and studied at Lincoln College and Canterbury College.

CUSTOMS RETURNS. WELLINGTON, Feb. 1

Customs returns- for January were £277,486, an increase on last year of £28,679. For ten months the- increase is £389,215. Motor' spirit and tyre tax show decreases of some £4OOO and £3,338. Beer duty was £4013, a drop of £4. OILFIELD REPORT. . (GISBORNE, Feb. 1. Taranaki oil report states Gisborne No. 2 well was cemented .off leak in Bimch diameter casing yesterday. It is expected to resume drilling on Sunday. ..* . f •* -.-- POLICE FORCE PRAISED. WANGANUI, January 30. Commissioner M’Uveney inspected the local police force to-day, delivering an address on similar lines to that at” other centres. To Press representative he praised the Wanganui police force, especially mentioning the work of two detectives, Messrs Walsh and Revell. Not only Had they done splendid work here lie said, but also ir other districts where they had been •sent. ,■ . , ■ CADET’S. DEATH. DUNEDIN, January 30. William Stothart, aged twenty years who was a cadet at the Medical Schoo’ was admitted to Dunedin Hospital at midnight on Wednesday .- f and diet about two o’clock this morning. A post-mortem on the body was conducted this morning and an inques* opened this afternoon. Evidence of identification was taken and the in quest adjourned until a date to be fixed later. PRIME MINISTER’S HEALTH.

AN IMPROVEMENT. WELLINGTON, January 30. It is officially announced that the Prime Minister (the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Ward) is responding to the treatment he is undergoing at Rotorua. Sir Joseph is in regular telephonic com munication with Wellington, being ir touch .with-.headquarters oti an average four time's daily. No date ha 9 yet beer fixed for his return to Wellington.