NEW ZEALAND.

Press, Volume XLV, Issue 7172, 6 October 1888, Page 5

NEW ZEALAND.

JPRESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM. J AUCKLAND, Octob&r 5. This morning a chimney in the Telegraph' Office caught fire, the flames being extinguished by the Fire Brigade. The accident served to show the inefficient character of the fire apparatus belonging to the establishment. Owing to defective threads in the screws of the couplings, or lack of washers, the hose could not be joined tightly, and the water poured out at the joints like a mill race. The hose was placed on a saddle instead of a drum, consequently, if any stranger had turned on the water with the hose in kinks in all probability the whole would have burst. It is whisperea that the fire apparatus at the Free Public Library i 3 equally defective as respecting replacing burst section of hose. Mr Thos. Cooper's resolutions (submitted some time ago to the Board of Education), by which he estimates J57500 per annujn can be saved in the cost of education were again brought before the Board to-day, and after a short discussion their further consideration was again adjourned for a week. WESTPOET, October 5. An elderly man named George Meads was arrested last evening charged with a criminal assault of an aggravated nature on a girl nine years old. DUNEDIN, October 5. John Somerville, an old resident, died on Thursday, aged eighty-three.