CURRENT TOPICS.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XII, Issue 3603, 15 October 1920, Page 5

CURRENT TOPICS.

A favourite topic with the Prime Minister is the cost of living, and when it is necessary for him to replyto crticism he invariably says that the cost of living in New Zealond is " lower than in any country in the world. The Minister of Education, the Hon. Mr Parr, referring to a comparison of teachers' salaries with those of other countries, saysT— "To suggest a comparison between the pay of teachers in some States and ours is as absurd as it is ill-founded.? Allowing for the obscure nature of the statement, we must assume that the Hon. Mr Parr means that such a comparison cannot justly be made; but the honourable gentleman should also inform Mr Massey of the fact when the latter refers to New Zealand's comparatively favourable position with regard to the cost of living. Mr R. L. Outhwaite, a prominent English writer and member of the British Labour Party in the House of Commons, recently stated in an article in the Daily Mail that the great estates' must go, or else the people. Mr Outhwaite points out that shortly before the war 15,000,000 acres, or

nearly half the area of England and Wales were owned in England by 2250 persons. He also points out that twelve persons owned one-fourth of all the land in Scotland, seventy persons one-half, and 1700 persons about nine-tenths of the whole arSa of Scotland. In the United Kingdom 28 dukes own 3,991,811 acres; 33 marquises own 1,567,227 acres; 194 earls own 5,862,118 acres; and 270 viscounts and barons own 3 780,000 acres —a total of 525 titled holders of 15,201,516 acres in the United Kingdom. What an opportunity for the imposition of a graduated land tax! Wanganui Farmers' Union has adopted a resolution favouring a round-table, conference between the employers, and the workers in order that a better; understanding may nea arrived at. It was suggested that members of the reasonable labour section should be urged to meet the employers with this object in view. It is the extreme labour section which .would benefit by such a conference, and.it would appear as if the real object of those "responsible for the resolution was -to antagonise the two sections, of labour. Two cable lies have been scotched during the week. A Sinn Feiner was alleged to have damaged Holman Hunt's famous picture, "The Light of the World," in St. Paul's Cathedral, and two well-known regiments were alleged to have caused trouble at Aldershot over tHe Irish question. It now transpires that the famous picture was damaged by a discharged soldier to draw attention to a pensions grievance and the trouble at Aldershot was nothing more nor less than an exaggerated convivial evening not connected with the Irish question at all. It is nearly-enough to make one wonder if any of the cable news relating to Ireland can be taken ,as the truth. Apparently, the Government will

adopt the Butter Committee's recom- / fix the local price at 2/3 i per lb and compensate the producers out of the Consolidated Fund. In effect, the people will pay about sevenpence per pound less for their butter than the maximum prices, and pay the difference between 2/3 and 2/10 out of the other pocket. So far as the public is concerned, the actual increase will be sixpence per pound on butter purchases, and the consumers will have to pay the producers a further sum by way of the Consolidated Fund. Why not make up the difference by taxing the unearned increment of the land to the extent required?

The statement/ of a dairy farmer that the average man spends 1/6 per day on tobbacco and" 1/6 daily on beer, and that the increased cost of butter would only involve an expenditure .of one penny per day may be correct as far as it goes; but it is not a good argument in favour of the consumer giving up his tobacco and his beer in order that another section of the community can get more money for more tobacco and more beer. The worker is just as much entitled to • tobacco and his beer as anyone else, and it is rather a poor sort of an argument to suggest that he should forego his pleasures for the benefit of healthier people. . ' tep-i

THE PUKEKAWA TRAGEDY.

ACCUSED ON TRIAL

ALLEGED REVENGEFUL MOTIVE,

AUCKLAND, Oct. 14

• The trial of the farm-hand Sarauel John Thorn, 34 years of age, who was arrested on September 11, on a charge of having murdered ►Sydney Seymour Eyre, a farmer at Pukekawa, on the night of August 24 last was begun at Pukekohe-to-day before Mr J. W. Poynton, S.M. The proceedings were in the dual nature of trial and inquest. Mr R. F. Webster, the district coroner, sitting with the magistrate. The prosecution was eonducted for the Crown by Mr Rj P. Hunt and Mr R. A. Singer (with him Mr O'. E. Stout) represented the accused man, while Mr F. D, McLiver watched tbe proceedings on behalf of the murdered man's widow. CASE OUTLINED. In opening Mr Hunt outlined the case. About 11.10 p.m. on August 24 when Eyre and his family were.in bed Mr Eyre was shot. It was clearly murder, a shot having been fired from outside the window beside which the deceased was sleeping. It. was... clear also that the person who fired the shot must have been familiar with the inside arrangements of the room 'in which the deceased and his wife were asleep in separate beds. The shot was fired in a direction indicating intent to kill deceased without harm to his wife. It would be shown that Thorn was the only man outsido

family who had that familiar knowledge. Early in 1917, being run down in health, deceased took a sea trip M and went to California. Shprtly after he arrived in Canada he enlisted, and went to the front, finally returning to New "Zealand in AugusF, 1919. For nine or ten months after Eyre returned, accused was working on the farm as a farm-handi Thorn was dischargon July 11 last, and from then until the date of the murder he was working for a Mr Granville on a property near Glen Murray, about 18 miles away from Eyre's farm.

There 5 ' were some points to which special attention - would be directed, said counsel. Evidence would be led to show there was a very considerable motive for accused wishing to kill deceased. In the'first place it must appear "that the accused for a considerable time past had been on terms of-improper intimacy with the wife of the deceased, and that the intimacy' took place not only during the absence of the deceased, but also after his return home. The motive suggested was revenge for being 'discharged from a good position and for being deprived of the opportunity of continuing the improper intimacy which it would be quite clear was enforced by accused on Mrs Eyre. It would be shown that accused on many occasions uttered threats of violence towards Mr Eyre when speaking- to other people, notably Mrs Eyre. As

3ate as August last he had said to her, "Don't you wish he was dead?" Counsent went on to state that the house

on the Eyre's farm was a small fiveroomed dwelling with bare walls and

floor and thin partitions so that con-versations-in any one room could easily be heard in any other room if the voice were only slightly raised. There were also eracks and holes tn the partitions, and the boys of the family would state that they had at times heard accused sneaking into Mrs Eyre's bedroom at night. The fatal shot in this case could not have been fired from" any place offfer than just ouside the window, beneath which deceased was sleeping. ft would be shown that accused had a gun which had been recently fired, and which «took cartridges exactly the same calibre as the calibre of the gun used for the murder. The night of thje murder was bright moonlight

but the house was surrounded by a high hedge, which would enable any person to easily get away unobserved. The man who had been living with Thorn left the whare On August 23, and it wa s known to Thorn that a ♦boy would take the man's place on August 25. Among the horses on Granville's farm was one whiclPwas ■ peculiarly shod, and it was in Thorn's charge. ,It would be shown that the

tracks of this shoe indicated that this horse, Micky, had been on the ro id between Granville's and Eyre's on the night of the murder. Further, it would he shown that the girth of the accused's saddle was found after the muz'der to be lengthened so fhat it did not fit the horse that Thorn usually rode, but that it did fit Micky. Another point was- that expert evidence went to show that the shot was fired by a left-handed shooter and ft would be shown that. Thorn was an expert shot, and frequently fired from his left shoulder, tl was also found that the cartridge used was of the brand known as "Peter's high-gun." having No .7 shot. Accused had regularly used that brand of cartridge, and the only other cartridges of the some

brand found in the district were some which Thorn had given to one of Eyre's sons. Finally, counsel said a similar search and examination of 418 shod horses within a twenty-mile radius proved that no other horse in the district had shoes showing the peculiarities that marked the shoes of the horse Micky.

THE WIFE'S STORY.

i Formal evidence giving plans and photographs of the scene of the murder was given by Alexander Newton and Thomas Kelly. Millicent Eyre, widow of the deceased, stated that the property of ' 600 acres owned by her late husband was worth between £15,000 and £20,000. She and deceased were married in Taukau in June, 1904 and they lived on the farm at Pukekawa ever i since. She had never been away for than a week. There were five children —Philip, 16 years; Dora, 14 years; John, 12 years; Ausley Seymour ("Jock?) ,10 years; Beatrice Mary, 4 years. Witness gave particulars of her husband's absence as stated by counsel. He went away in 1917, and returned in Augut, 1919. Her husband did not actually get into field service at the front on account of his health. When her husband left in 1917 the farm hand was Lawrence Wilkes who subsequently met with an accident and died. Then she employed a Maori named Qti for about three months, and afterwards William Ross and Allen McaCuley were successively on the farm. In October, I 1918. accused was employed at £3 per week and keep, and he remained | on the farm until July, 1920, when Mr 'Eyre dismissed him. Accused then went to work for Mr Granville. While on the farm Thorn slept in a room occupied by the elder boys, Phil and Jack, and witness slept in a room by. herself the younger children being in another room. At the time of her husband's departure the farm had reached the stage when money matters were easy. When her husband returned his health was indifferent, but he was gradually getting better. He said he "eferred to sleep alone, as he' felt better when alone, and he habitually slept in a single bed by the Window, which was raised about two feet. Her husband on his return frequently had words with Thorn, and accused always told her he disliked her husband. On the night of August 24 there was nobody at the house except the members of the family, and everyone was in bed about 9 p.m. Her. husband and Philip were last to go to bed, and that the front door was closed. She was awakened after having been as|eep some time by accused's dog barking under the boy's This dog, Bob } had been taken away by Thorn when he left the farm, but had come back by itself. The cleg was barking furiously, and she called, to .it to lie down, which it did after a time, and she again went off to sleep, to be awakened later by the shot of a gun. She heard quick steps up to the side of the house, apparently going towards the gate. She called to her husband, and getting no answer she struck a light and discovered the tc|> of his head had been blown away. It was a bright moonlight outside, but .there was no smoke in the room and window. The blind was partly drawn, so that she could not see without a light. When she discovered what had happened she went to the boys' room and found Phillip, and sent for the p"olice and the doctor. She then noticed that the clock, which had been wound up Just before she went to bed had stopped, and the time by it was between 1110 and 11.15. Between five and ten minutes after the boys had left the house for help she heard a horse cross the bridge below the house, apparently going away from the .house. •" The case is proceeding.

AUCKLAND, This day

The trial of Samuel Thome on a charge of murder was continued at Pukekohe to-day.

Dr Wake gave evidence that Eyre was apparently murdered while asleep by the firing of a gun close to his head from the outside of the window.

Dr C. Smith stated that he found about forty pellets of shot in the base of the skull. He concluded from tests that the, shot would have been< fired easier by a left-handed than by a right-handed man. He considered it impossible that the shot could have been fired from inside the room.