LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 June 1941, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Bookmaker Fined. Described by the police as in a substantial way of business, Samuel Hart-■ ley was fined £125 by Mr Bartholomew. S.M.. this morning, on a bookmaking charge. Chief-Detective Holmes said that Hartley had been connected with betting for a considerable time, and three years ago was fined £75. Motorist Fined. Stated by counsel to have been a leading jockey till two years ago, when an accident prevented him following that occupation, Stewart Allan Wilson, shopkeeper, aged 33, was fined £25 by Mr Stout, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court, Wellington, yesterday, for being intoxicated in charge of a car on Tuesday night. His driving licence was cancelled for a year. Mr Stout said he could take it for granted that Wilson was of good character, otherwise he would not have been a jockey for such a long period. Legislative Council. Twelve of the 37 members of the Legislative Council are due to retire this month, unless their appointments are renewed. The term of the Council’s oldest member, the Hon. Sir James Allen <Otago) expired on June 1. Sir James, who was 86 in February, was appointed to the Council in 1927, the year after he had relinquished the High Commissionership in London. The other members whose appointments will have to be reviewed are the Hons. J. Alexander, T. Bloodworth, A. Burns and E. R. Davis (Auckland), J. McLeod (Taranaki), W. Perry and V. A. Ward (Wellington), W. Hayward and Sir R. Heaton Rhodes (Canterbury), F. V/aite (Otago) and T. F. O’Byrne (Southland). Sir R. Heaton Rhodes, who was 80 in February, was appointed in 1925. and all the others in 1934.

Heavy Holiday Betting. Nearly a quarter of a million pounds was invested on totalisators by patrons at five race meetings throughout New Zealand on Monday. The actual amount was £225,353, a phenomenal increase over King's Birthday betting last year, when only £134,662 was invested, but on that occasion the Ashburton Trotting Club raced at Addington, the Canterbury Park Trots being held the previous Saturday. The biggest increase was shown at the Auckland races, where the totalisator handled £36,740 more than on the corresponding day last year, but the trotting meeting at Addington ran it a close second with a leap from £25,391 to £50,831. At WaInganui the increase in betting represented over £16,000, and at Dunedin nearly £15,000 more was put through the machines. The smallest gain was shown at Napier, but even there the 'totalisator handled £2700 more than on the King’s Birthday in 1940.

Legion of Frontiersmen. The annual conference of the Legion of Frontiersmen, held in Tauranga, cabled congratulations to Field-Marshal Smuts, commandant of the legion in South Africa, on his promotion to fieldmarshal. Mr J. C. Findlater, Hawera, was re-elected commandant. Colonel G. R. Mitchell, Dunedin, deputy-major, and Mr W. Ricketts, Ohura, chief of staff.

Young Farmers’ Club Dance. The Masterton Young Farmers’ Club will hold a dance in the Masonic Hall, commencing at 8 o'clock tonight. The music will be supplied by Jack Barnes’ orchestra, and the duties of M’s.C. will be carried out by four members of the club. An .energetic committee has completed all arrangements. It is anticipated that the gathering will be as successful as those held in the past.

Military Service Evaded. "This in an inexcusable and impudent evasion of military service,” said Mr Watson. S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court, Marton, yesterday, when sentencing David Shepherd to a month's imprisonment for failing to enrol under the National Service Emergency Regulations. Sergeant T. F. Brenchley, for the police, said Shepherd had bragged he would not be called for service because he had not enrolled. Pointing out that defendant was liable to 12 months' imprisonment, the magistrate said he felt like imposing six months, but as defendant was likely to be called in the next ballot, a month would suffice.

Weight of Gift Parcels. The Post Office announces that at the request of the United Kingdom authorities, and in order to conserve shipping space for more urgent supplies, a 51b. weight limit is to apply in respect of bona fide unsolicited gift parcels (whether they contain rationed food or not) despatched from abroad to the United Kingdom by parcel-post after June 28. Furthermore, a gift parcel may not contain more than 21b. of any one foodstuff, and all such parcels must be clearly marked as gifts. The instructions are not being applied meanwhile to parcels addressed to the armed forces.