DOMINION NEWS.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 November 1915, Page 2

DOMINION NEWS.

WHEAT EXPORT EMBARGO. A deputation from the Trades Council waited on the Hon. Dr. McNab to-day to protest against the removal of the embargo on the export of wheat. Mr. McCombs, M.P., quoted figures just received from the Government Statistician showing that commercial stocks on October 31 amounted to 2,190,917 bushels of milling wheat and 1)998 tons flour as against 3,748,448 bushels of wheat and 945(! tons of flour on June 30. The deputation urged that the figures showed hardly any surplus by February, when the new wheat would come forward, as the consumption was half a million bushels a month. They considered one quarter's supply as a necessary surplus before the embargo could be safely removed. The Minister replied sympathetically, saying he would place the representations before the Prime Minister.

DAMAGES FOR LIBEL. In the libel' action of Fairbaim (a member of the Cost of Living Commission) v. the Canterbury Publishing Company (the Sun newspaper), tho jury, by a three-fourths majority, held that the article complained of was defamatory and unanimously awarded £SO damages.

FIRE AT OHAKU'NE. A disastrous fire occurred at Ohakune on Thursday morning, as a result of which Heald's picture theatre and sash and door factory were burned to the ground. A picture entertainment was held in the hall the previous night, and, a passer-by says, there was no sign of fire at 1 a.m. The fire commenced in the theatre at 2 a.m. A fire engine brought on the scene, but everything was lost, including the electrical plant, cinematograph, piano, etc. The property was not insured. Heald's loss is estimated at £IBOO. FATALITY AT HIXUERA. A boy, six years of age. Leonard, son of Mr. E. Dobbs, a farmer, ileal Tirau, on the Cambridge road, was drorned on Wednesday afternoon in a waterhole on tile side of tlie road in Hinuera Valley. He had been to school at Pairerc, and was returning with a companion named Morrow. He saw some frogs in the water, and while trying to catch one fell in. His companion hastened to obtain assistance, and returned with a man, but Dobbs was not visible. The man dived and recovered the boy's body, but life was extinct. The hole, it is said, was made by the Matamata County Council for the purpose ot getting sand for use on the roads. It was unfenccd, and the water was ten feet dec. A WIDOW'S CLAIM. Tiie Supreme Court at C'hristchureh awarded the widow of Albert John Henderson, a shunter, who was killed in a railway accident, £655 damages against the Railway Department. RECORD RAINFALL. The fall of rain at Eealr-v !■'!;! i"i Monday last was a record, 11 iiui::points being registered. KNOX COLLEGE. At the Presbyterian Assembly t InKnox College report stated that £l.l.mm was sorely needed if the College was t<> play the part it ought to in helping the students. The building fund showed a debit of .61352. Owing" io the war. the. numbers fell from 8.1 to 57 at the cud of the season.