LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 November 1943, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Soldier’s Death. Missing since November 5 from the Raventhorpe Soldiers’ Convalescent Hospital, Bombay (near Auckland), where he had been a patient, the body of Private Bryan. Sharpe, aged 42, was found near the hospital on Monday. A rifle was near by. Deceased had been serving in the Pacific war zone, and returned to New Zealand recently on sick leave. Experiments with Ironsand. Further experiments with Patea ironsand, the industrial potentialities of' which have been discussed over .a long period, are to be carried out in England. The Patea Harbour Board recently received from the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research a request for a consignment of 561 b. to be sent abroad. Uncustomed Goods. Mr Bundle, S.M., gave a reserved decision at Dunedin yesterday in a case in which John Cunningham, hotelkeeper, was charged on three counts with having assisted as agent in the sale of uncustomed goods, namely, a quantity of hair combs and hair nets. The magistrate said that in his opinion defendant had given false evidence as to what took place when he obtained the combs from a man named C. A. Craib and sold them, and that he was clearly aiding and abetting him in the offence of smuggling. Defendant was fined £3O with costs (£10) and solicitor’s fee (£3 3s) on each information. Youth Sent to Borstal. “This class of offence is occurring with alarming regularity, and on the average from 12 to 14 cars are taken from the city streets each week. Though so many offenders are caught the crimes continue unabated,” said Senior-Detective Walsh in the Magistrate’s Court at Auckland yesterday, when Oswald Hiram Maitland, aged 17, labourer, admitted eight charges of unlawfully converting to his own use motor cars of a total value of £1320, and nine charges of theft of goods, including petrol, oil, liquor and a gramophone, of a total value of £53 18s. The magistrate ordered Maitland to be detained in Borstal for three years. Burglar Sent to Gaol. William Leslie Davis, bootmaker and labourer, aged 32, who was committed at Wairoa on November 11 last for breaking and entering a warehouse there and stealing tobacco and other commodities to the value of £9 odd, was sentenced by Mr Justice Smith, in the Supreme Court, Wellington, yesterday/ to two years’ reformative detention. His Honour, in passing sentence, said prisoner had been frequently before the Courts since 1936. He had served with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in the Middle East, but had now been discharged from the military forces. The report of the probation officer showed that prisoner was addicted to liquor, and had recently taken to drinking methylated spirits.

Interhouse Teams. All teams competing in the Wairarapa Interhouse Association’s drill and marching contest are requested to parade at 6.15 o’clock tonight. Places in the competition will later be drawn. National War Savings. National war savings quotas were attained last week in 178 towns in New Zealand. Many of these towns hold a high record of regularity in week-by-week saving, while others depend for their successes on the carrying forward of surpluses recorded in earlier periods. Soldiers and Harvesting Work. Farmers are to pay 2s 6d an hour for soldiers they engage on harvesting work if any work is done after 5 p.m., and this money is to go to the soldiers, according to information which was given to a meeting of the Morrinsville Primary Production Committee recently. W.F.C.A. Staff Dance. The Wairarapa Farmers’ Co-opera-tive Association will hold a staff dance in the Masonic Hall, Masterton, tomorrow night, when patrons are assured of an enjoyable time. The music will be supplied by Mr J. Barnes’s Rhythm Boys, and novelty dances will be held. A good supper will be provided. A special attraction will be a prize of an order on the W.F.C.A. for goods to the value‘of 10s in connection with a Monte Carlo competition. Trial of Medical Practitioner. Police evidence brought to a close the evidence for the Crown in the trial at Auckland yesterday of Brownlee Isdaile, aged 51, medical practitioner, Ngaruawahia. There are eight charges against accused of unlawfully using an instrument or other means with intent to procure miscarriage, and one of conspiring to procure miscarriage. Counsel for the defence said he was not calling evidence. Counsel addressed the jury today. Community Centres. Information concerning the Government’s proposals for suburban community centres, which he had received from the Minister of Works, Mr Semple, was given to the Riccarton Borough Council by the mayor, Mr H. S. S. Kyle. He read a letter he had received in reply to representations made concerning the provision of kindergarten accommodation at Riccarton. The Minister’s letter said that the question of the provision of community centres, comprising in each case a creche, a nursery school, kindergarten and Plunket room, had already received consideration. A comprehnsive plan had been prepared, but, because of the acute shortage of housing .accommodation in the cities and larger towns, and the limited building labour and material available, it was necessary that the department concentrate its activities in 'the meantime on the provision of houses. The whole matter would be reviewed when opportunity, allowed, said the Minister. The need for the amenities was appreciated, but the erection of homes ’was of paramount importance.