DOMINION ITEMS.

Hokitika Guardian, 18 December 1930, Page 6

DOMINION ITEMS.

THEFT FROM FURRIER. (By Telegraph—Per Press Association.! . WELLINGTON, Dec. 17. Pleading guilty to the theft of a fur, coat, a number of pelts and-other goodn valued at £241, the property of Maurice Bassin, furrier, a. man named Norman Malcolm Kelly, aged 25, was committed to the Supreme Court for sentence. WATERSIDE!! SUES SHIPPING COY WELLINGTON, December 17. Judgment was given by Chief Justice to-day in the case of John Udall, watersider, against the Holm Shipping Coy., Plaintiff was awarded £325 10s. He claimed £2,140'. Plaintiff stated that while engaged in bunkering the steamer John, a grab working coal was allowed to discharge the contents so that some of the coal fell on him. He was obliged to move quickly to a place of safety. In doing so he fell into a. rimming hole on the deck, which was unlighted and unprotected. ,Ib was alleged that the company was negligent in failing to provide sufficient electric light to enable the men to work with reasonable sufficient safety in permitting the hole to remain open unlighted and- unprotected, and in allowing the,.grab tp.be operated, when there was not sufficient light for safety. Plaintiff alleged that he. was totally incapacitated since the accident, having been injured in the region of the right thigh, hip, and groin and claimed £l5O/10/- special damages, alter allowing £55 paid under the Workers’ Compensation Act, and £2OOO general damages, .he also claimed the right to further under the Act in the event of the defendant being held not liable, independently of the Act.

The defence denied any negligence and it was urged thqt plaintiff could have avoided the accident by .the exercise of reasonable care.

A BIGAMIST. WELLINGTON, Dec. 17. Richard Thomas, a traveller, aged 39, appeared a.t the Magistrate's Court, before Mr Page, S.M., charged that, having been married in. New South Wales, he went- through a form of marriage at the Registrar’s Office, Wellington, and thereby committed bigamy.. He pleaded guilty and was committed for trial. The police said accused had made a statement to them to the effect that lie separated from his wife in New South Wales shortly after marriage, and ,by hen he again married in Wfellingtcgff: believed his first wife dead as he received a newspaper cutting fr,opr a Jriend in 1927 which said sumably hip wife, had been killed in a, motor accident. THREATENING BEHAVIOUR. TE AROHA. Dec. 1/. Donald George/ a-""voting mall, arrived at Te Aroha yesterday in quest of work. He was To a month’s imprisonment with hard labour on a charge of threatening behaviour and intent to. .apsaultat the. Police Court to-day. : after: getting a- note from the Mayor entitling him to free lodgings, arrived at a boardinghouse drunk, and threatened to slash with a razor blade the police or anyone interfering with him. PRIVATE CREDITS. WELLINGTON, Dec. 17. At a meeting, of the Rural Infeimediate Credit Board/" consideration was given to the present difficult position in which farmers , are placed bn account of the general fall m pm-fis, obtained for primary products, m the light of affording full protection to the debenture holders whose .moneys are invested. in the Board’s business, and at. the/same time/-; avoiding the imposition ofl; any genergphardslup upon the borrowers. Although ie period of the year during which aimers normally•/ arrange tl.cir ffinnnce , i«, now passed, a steady volume of applications still continues to be. received, and the amount of business reported to the Board is greater than that recorded at the corresponding period during the previous years m whidi the.. Board has been operating.

DUNEDIN WOOL SALE. SMALL QUANTITY OFFERING. DUNEDIN, December 18. The first Dunedin wool sale commenced this afternoon with a catalogue of only 9,713 bales, the smallest quantity of wool brought forward at the first sale here for several years. Last year over 20,600 bales were offered at the first sale. JUI)GMENT DISMISSED. AUCKLAND. December 17. A judgment dismissing a petition of right in which Dr. F. J. Raynor, of Auckland claimed £35,000 against the Crown, was entered by His Honor Mr Justice Herdman in the Supreme Court to-day. The claim was for an alleged breach of contract in respect of an option to the purchase of a property containing 351.000,000 feet of timber in the Taupe district. M’Cnrthy for the. Crown said the Court of Appeal had answered several questions of law in such a manner that the petition could not succeed. The petitioner, through his solicitor, Mr A. Hall Skelton, had consented to judgment,