LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 May 1942, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Influenza Prevalent. A large number of cases of influenza of a serious type are reported in Masterton. Shop Day at Lansdowne. A successful shop day was held yesterday by the ladies of the Lansdowne Presbyterian Church Social Guild, in aid of the church funds. The sale was held in the church hall. Good business was recorded. The stall-holders were Mesdames McNeur, Drummond, DavisGoff, McLaren, Linton, Wrigley, Dagg, ■Wingate, Morton and Hill, and Misses Carter and Robinson. Women Jurors. The Women Jurors Bill, which the Government member for Waitemata (Mrs Dreaver) is submitting to the House of Representatives, proposes that women between the ages of 25 and 60 years, who possess the qualifications to serve as jurors required by the principal Act in the case of men, and who are not exempted or disqualified by the principal Act, shall be liable and qualified to serve on juries if they notify the sheriff in writing of their desire to serve. Dramatic Turn in Trial.

The trial of Charles Horace Albert Slack, on a charge of indecent assault on a female, took a dramatic turn in the Dunedin Supreme Court yesterday when the Crown produced police evidence that accused’s father had been seen in conversation with a juryman after the hearing on Tuesday morning, and was in his company in a hotel bar in the afternoon. Slack, Sent., stated that he was a workmate of the juryman and that the case was not discussed. His Honour Mr Justice Kennedy dismissed the jury. A new one was empanelled, and the case is being reheard. Price of Beer in Camp.

An announcement that the selling price of beer at all camp canteens would in future be 6d a handle was made yesterday by the Minister of Defence, Mr Jones. In some camps, he said, beer had been sold at 5d a 12oz glass, but there would be no alteration where the selling price was previously fid. “The price that is being charged is not in excess of the price authorised by the Price Tribunal for beer sold in towns,” said Mr Jones. “Of course, the Is additional excise duty recently imposed will have to be met, but all profits of canteen trading accrue for the benefit of members of the armed forces.”

Cigarette and Tobacco Prices. The Price Tribunal stated last night that as a result of inordinately heavy buying by the public of stocks of tobacco and cigarettes bought on the basis of the old rate of excise duty, retailers throughout the Dominion were rapidly approaching the stage when the only stocks available would be those bought on the basis of the higher rate of excise. Taken by and large, it could be assumed that the majority of the old priced stocks in retailers’ hands would be sold by Monday next, May 11, and With a view to facilitating the resumption of orderly trading at the earliest possible date, the tribunal had ruled that all retail vendors of tobacco and cigarettes could charge prices at the higher rate, as per the new authorisations issued to tobacco manufacturers, as from and including the above date.