DOMINION NEWS.

Taranaki Daily News, 5 April 1919, Page 2

DOMINION NEWS.

PICTURE THEATRE PROSECUTIONS By Telegraph.—Press Association. Christchurch, April 4. At the Magistrate's Court, Alfred Rowley and Edwin J. Regg, managers of the Strand and the Grand Picture Theatres were charged respectively with keeping theatres open during hours prohibited by the Public Health Amendment Act, 1918. The defendants plead-' ed guilty. Counsel drew attention to the fact that the Auckland theatres have been open continuously since December, Wellington theatres since the beginning of the year, while defendants only started in March to show continuously. Both were convicted and discharged. Wellington, April 4. Seven proprietors of picture theatres were charged at the Magistrate's Court with opening during prohibited hours. The facts were admitted. The defence on two eases was that the doors wer« opened a quarter of an hour early to let the people in out of the rain; also that "open" meant open for the screening of pictures, and applied to the auditorium and not to the vestibule. Mr Frazer, S.M., said the word must be construed in the ordinary sense. These cases would be dismissed as trivial. The other defendants pleaded guilty, and were fined £2 and costs. THE EMBARGO ON HIDES. Dunedin, April 4Iu reply to the criticism of the -new regulations limiting the export of hides and calf-skins, the principal point objected to l>eing that the regulations armed tanners with power to secure an unlimited quantity of hides at a price determined hy themselves, and that, unless the price of leather, etc., was fixed, the regulations would have no effect on th» price of footwear, the Hon. W. D. S. Mac Donald replied that it was proposed that tanners, leather merchants, exporters and manufacturers, should be subjected to limitations of prices at a proved parity. The Minister stated that when the embargo was under consideration application was made to the Board of Trade for permission to export 25,000 hides, while the tanners were practically bare of stocks, and were asking for 50,000 hides.

MUNITIONS AND SUPPLIES FIGURES Wellington, Last Night. The Munitions and Supplies Department, whose work; terminated on March 31, expended, according to a statement by the Hon. A. M. Myers, the sum of 4'/j millions in procuring stores for military purposes. The whole of this sum, representing an annual turnover of £1,300,000, has been handled without a case of fraud, although, in the inception, the Minister had in a few instances to inflict fines where specifications were not faithfully executed, amounting in one case to £2OOO. Towards the end of 1918, when the position as to military stocks was fully reviewed, it was found that 'the Defence Department had no surplus clothing or stores to dispose of. Consumable commodities, to the approximate value of £36,000, were not needed when the armistice was signed, and the department was committed to incompleted contracts to the value of £145,000. These commitments were cancelled at a total cost, by way of compensation, amounting to £ll2, and by taking over from the contractors goods useful to the military authorities to the of £32,000. Surplus Btock and consumable goods to the value of £9588 were disposed of at a net loss on the cost of £2772. Goods to the value of £7864 were disposed of by the Department direct to buyers, and a net loss on the cost of £2012 was incurred, while, respecting goods to the value of £3766, which were put up to auction in response to numerous requests, only £1724 worth were sold, realising a loss on the cost of £760. In round figures the Munitions and Supplies Department has cost about £IB,OOO, being an average annual cost of £SOOO, which was very economical expenditure for the services received.

THE STOLEN BANK NOTES. | Ohristchurch, April 4. Two of the stolen and forged National Bank £ 1 notes have been detected in Ohristchurch, and it is feared a systematic attempt is >ing made to put them into circulation. A bundle of unsigned notes was stolen from a vessel at Wellington, but the thieves forged the signatures to the notes which were dated January 1, 1918, and no notes of that date were issued by the bank. THE MOULD INQUIRY. Dunedin, Last Night. The Court of Inquiry into the disappearance of Private Mould from the Maori on February 3; was resumed for the purpose of taking the evidence of Leslie James List, assistant purser on the Maori at the time. This witness said he could not tell the court anything whatever about the alleged disappearance of Mould. He made a statement on February 21 to an officer and non-commissioned officer, while crossing the Strait, to the effect that on January 27 a Teturned man named Mason reported, to' the purser, witness being present,' that about 11.30 at night he saw a man coming out of the steera.qe doorway J wearing, an overcoat. He was a- thiclvset man and was smoking a cigarette,. This man took a handkerchief, ptit it:.:p,yer his eyes, walked out, stood on the''rail and took a neat header over the.side. That was Mason's statement. He (List) did not say ho saw the man go overboard, and if any officer or non-com. had made a statement to that effect he would contradict it. Ho did not see.the man go overboard. Mr. Neill, who was appearing for Mrs. Mould, asked Lieut. McCarthy whether lie was prepared to stand by his evidence that List did say he saw a man go overboard.

McCarthy: Yes, I can vouch for it. List repeated that there must have been some misunderstanding. He totally denied that he at any time said he saw a man go overboard. Mr. Neill asked whether there was any record of another man named Burns going overboard. List replied there was an official record of the ship being stopped and turned round on January 27. M. Rudd, assistant secretary to the U.S.S. Company, said there was no record in the company's office as to Mould's disappearance, but there was a recoct of Burns' disappearance. The company's impression was that it was Rums and not Mould that Mason was referring to. The court adjourned till next Wednesday.