The Gold Was There!

Suva, Jan. 10.

AN Indian named Tulsi was charged in the police court, Suva, on De cember 11, with false pretences, in that he sold a pair of bangles to an Indian woman as gold, which the police alleged were composed of base metal.

The bangles were made of copper, with a thin gold coating, apparently applied by electrolysis, and Mr. S. Hasan, who defended, offered to prove in court that the gold in the bangles was worth the sum charged for them. He produced an expert goldsmith, who was prepared to make the test, and the bangles were broken in halves, one part being given to the goldsmith and the other to the Government analyst (Mr. Blackie).

The goldsmith carried out his test in court, and produced gold worth 6/-, and Mr. Blackie took his portion to his laboratory, where he extracted gold worth 6/3.

As the value of gold produced was approximately the sum charged for the goods, the prosecution was abandoned.

Mr. Ernest Fearson Walker, overseer, of Morris, Hedstrom Ltd.’s Ardmore plan tation at Taveuni, Fiji, died early in January, aged 46. He was a member of the firm of Arthur Joske Ltd., which amalgamated with Morris, Hedstrom Ltd. in 1910, and served with the latter until the outbreak of war in 1914 when he enlisted in the First Fiji Contingent. Re turning to Fiji after the Armistice, he rejoined Morris, Hedstrom Ltd.

Sister P. Talbot, of the Melanesian Mission hospital at Fauabu, Solomon Islands, arrived in New Zealand recently by the “Southern Cross” to spend leave at her home in Timaru.