100 YEARS AGO FROM OUR ARCHIVES
Long arm of the law
That the law has a very long reach and can stretch over years was brought home to a man in the Wellington Magistrates Court, when he was charged before Mr J. S. Evans, SM, with failing to register in the Reserves of the New Zealand Expeditionary
Force. Instead of enrolling, he cleared out and hid himself in the back country, and for three or four years wandered about in the hinterland between Waiouru and Napier. He was seen on several occasions, and some efforts were made to secure him, but he always managed to elude his
pursuers. He, of course, did not take his portmanteau with adequate supplies of clothing for a prolonged stay in rough country, or yet did he deem toilet requisites to be of any value to him. In course of time he developed a tattered appearance; his hair grew and grew till it reached down to his belt. In this unkempt condition he wandered on to the Oruamatua station, where the station hands, elated at the prospect of capturing a genuine wild man, hunted him down on horseback. When they discovered the reasons for his long sojourn in the wild, he was handed over to the police, and on June 11, at Taihape, he was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment for being an idle and disorderly person.
Accommodation for Germans
Five German families interned in Auckland district during the war are at present waiting for passages in order that they may return to Germany (says an Auckland Press Association
message). These people are destitute, and Colonel Potter, officer commanding the district, has made arrangements for them to occupy Watson’s Convalescent Home, formerly used by invalided returned soldiers. Colonel Potter stated that in view of the fact that the Germans were without means, and as the home was idle, he had no alternative but to provide food and shelter until they could secure passages back to Germany.
Action against drivers wanted
Christchurch: At a meeting of the South Island Motor Union last night the secretary reported that he had forwarded a letter to all the Canterbury members stating that, owing to the frequency of serious motor accidents that took place in the dominion, the executive of the union considered that legislation should immediately be passed to check careless and reckless driving. Experience had shown that the mere imposing of a fine on the offender did not prove a sufficient deterrent, and the union had made representations to the Government that it should immediately introduce a Bill to
Parliament dealing with the licensing of all drivers of motor vehicles. In regard to numbering motorcars, the present system was stated to be very defective, in that there was no check on the numbering and the registration of cars which were sold, and which were taken to a district other than that in which they were registered. — ODT, 6.8.1920.