Manawatu Herald SATURDAY, SEPT. 24, 1927. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3695, 24 September 1927, Page 2

Manawatu Herald SATURDAY, SEPT. 24, 1927. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Hon. J. A. Young, Minister for Health, will lay the foundation stone of the Palmerston District Maternity Home, in the hospital grounds at Palmerston North at 2 p.ni. on Monday. We may mention that a considerable sum of money was raised throughout the Manawatu district some years ago for the erection of this building. In the Magistrate’s Court at Palmerston North on Thursday, justices sentenced Bhana Soma, a Hindu fruiterer, to six months’ imprisonment for wilful and obscene exposure. Accused denied all knowledge of the charge, and also pleaded not guilty to an alternative charge of assault on a boy. Accused was convicted on the first charge, and sentenced to six months’ imprisonment. On the charge of assault he was convicted and discharged.

“That it be a recommendation to the North Island Motor Union that the present system of taxation be done away with and the petrol tax be imposed in substitution thereof with the idea of collecting the same amount of tax as is collected at the present time,” was a resolution passed at the annual meeting of the Wanganui Automobile Association last evening.. It was stated that money was wasted in administering the present taxes, about £25,000 a year being spent in new numbers. The motion regarding a motorist whojacks up a passenger and gives him a “lift” and the position as far as liability is concerned in the event of an accident was passed at last meeting of the Wanganui Automobile Association: —“That this association urges the New Zealand motor conference to appoint a delegation to wait on the Minister of Internal Affairs asking that ail endeavour be made to reduce the liability of motorists as regards casual -passengers.”

A remarkable occurrence has been reported to the Masterton police. It is alleged that a masked burglar broke into an isolated house in Malcora Road on Wednesday night, binding and gagging a sixteen-year-old boy and using similar treatment to a small girl, after which he searched the house and stole some money. The police proceeded to the scene, but could find no trace of the intruder, of whom they could obtain from the boy no accurate description. A correspondent sent this question to the editor of the Dunedin Star: “To settle an argument Will you please state how much death duty would be paid to the Government if John Smith .died, leaving £50,000 to his widow in trust for his three children?” The answer given was that the Death Duties Department would assess the estate duty at 14 per cent, on the, £50,000 —namely, £7OO0 —and in addition to the estate duty succession duty would be assessed actuarially, probably £IOOO approximately, it depending upon the widow’s age and her expectation of life.