DOMINION NEWS.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 May 1921, Page 7

DOMINION NEWS.

LAND AGENTS' GRIEVANCES. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Dunedin, May 26. Mr. Downie Stewart definitely promised a deputation of land agents that he would next session introduce a Bill to amend the anomalies and defects in the Land Agents’ Act, 1912, and promised that the measure would not prove controversial. He hoped to get it through. He recognised agents had grievances. A WAGES CASE. Christchurch, May 26. Reserved judgment in a case of importance to newspaper proprietors, was given by Mr. M‘Carthy, S.M. Several employees of the Canterbury Press Company claimed extra wages for working on Anniversary Day. In his judgment the Magistrate said that extra pay was only to be paid if Anniversary Day was observed as a general holiday. Last Anniversary Day was not observed; the majority of those engaged in job printing in Christchurch observed show day in lieu of Anniversary Day. He therefore gave judgment for the company with costs. Mr. Hunter, who appeared for plaintiffs, was granted leave to appeal. ALLEGED FRAUDS BY EMPLOYEES. Wellington, May 26. Charges are being heard in the Magistrate’s Court against George Churchill and Alexander Joseph Chisholm, employees of the Union Steam-ship Company, of having conspired to defraud the company of £165 6s lOd. It was alleged that the accused had made out timesheets showing that two men had been paid £165, when they were really employed by the Harbor Board and had not worked for the Union Company since May, 1920. Some of the slips were in the handwriting of Churchill and some in Chisholm’s handwriting. The case has not concluded.

THE PAY OF SHEARERS. Wellington, May 26. Mr. Grayndler, secretary of the Wellington Shearers’ Union, states that there is not the slightest foundation for the report apeparing in the Auckland press to the effect that shearers and employers have mutually agreed upon 25s per hundred as the rate. So far no settlement has been effected. FATE OF THE TASMAN. Whakatane, May 26. A mail bag from the wrecked Tasman was found on the beach near the Rangitikei River by a Maori, who emptied out the contents, which were saturated. It would appear that the Tasman is going to pieces and the mails are coming out of the hold. A further search along the coast is being made. SECOND ESCAPEE TAKEN. Palmerston North, May 26. Allen, the second escapee from Wanganui, was arrested in the scrub at Terrace End by Constable Madden at mid-day. ASSAULTS ON WOMEN. Napier, May 26. During the last few weeks several females have been assaulted in Napier, one having been badly knocked about. Last night a masked man stopped a lady cyclist in Taradale Road and assaulted her. Her screams brought prompt assistance, but the man decamped on a cycle.