FIRE N-A MINE

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1171, 5 July 1911, Page 8

FIRE N-A MINE

NEABLY QUENCHED. (By Telegraph—Pre£6 Association.) Rcefton, July 1. The fire in the Energetic mine is stated to he nearly quenched. The. mine was sealed up, mid the fire supposed to be confined to the inclined way. The Consolidated Company obtained the services of Mr. Walker, from Jilackball, and armed with an oxygon helmet ho inspected the fire. The gases were bad. It is hoped the fire will bo extinguished.

HUTT AND PETONE NEWS. IDy Tdecraph.—SDccial Correspondent.) ' 5. .PETONE BOEOTJGH ESTIMATES. At a special mooting of the, Petone Horbugii Council, held 111 committee, the estimates of receipts and expenditure for 1110 year v-.-c passed, after deliberation until" 10 o'clock im Tuesday morninif. The principle ligures are as under:— • The ordinary receipts iu the general accounts wei<- estimated at £1801) Ills. 2d., iiiici to bnhinctf tliis will; the estimated total expenditure (£0595) it will bo necessary to strike a, rate of 2 11-16(1. in tho town, taking the valuations on a basis of those of last year. The principal items of general expenditure were se.'-.t down as follows (shillings and pence omitted):—General accounts, .£7173; drainage, £255; new works, £231; and sanitary account, .C2O2G. The following votes were agreed to:— Salaries, £515; Hospital and Charitable Aid levy. £61S; maintenance and repairs, ,£1963; Petone Fire Board, £356; street lighting, .£350; recreation ground (ordinary expenditure), .£291; Hutt Park Control Committee, £65; Hutt Eoad maintenance, ,£107; library (new books and papers), £101. These are. only the more, important items. There were several other sundry sums passed.

•In the waterworks raajtenance account, the estimated receipts were set. down at. .£1733. The principal items on the ex-penditure-side -were:—Wages, .£348; management, iilflO; total interest payment and sinking fund, .£IOB3. This includes interest on .£1385 expended in a recent land purchase.

Sanitary account (principal expenditure). —Expenditure on contractors' account. .fiISX!; Hutt Park rail, JE7S; supervision and wages, ,£sl; interest, .£ll2. Gasworks account.—Tho estimated receipts in this department were fct down at .£8458. To this must bo added, the balances for the years 1909-10 (.£100), and 1910-11 (£397), making a total of. £5956. The expenditure, it. was estimated, would amount to .£7878, of which tho principal items were:—Wages, .£1366; coal, £1914; new plant,-.£703; nieteiii, .£350; management, .£313; interest, ,£505; sinking fund, £213.; and depreciation. £852. This will leave an estimated credit, balance at the end of this year of £1077.

AMATEUR ENTERTAINMENT. Amateurs of Petcne gave a minstrel entertainment in the local Oddfellows' Hall last .night, in aid of the Petone Football, Club's gymnasium fund. The house was' packed, and most of the items were recalled. ■ The performers were Misses.Carlyle, WVh, Foster, Mesilames Ferguson and M'Ewan, and Messrs. Wiseman, M'Ewon, Wood, .Miller, Nuttall, and Master Gilding. Mrs. l'ollock played the accompaniments. • CEMETERY BOARD. ~ ~ ■At the meeting of the trustees of the Taita Cemetery Hoard the following members were present: Messrs.-Welch (chairman), Judd, AVakehani, and Knight. After going into the matter of the recent trouble at a burial in the cemetery it was decided to exonerate the caretaker. Mr. Parrant waited on the board and stated that it had been rumoured that he had had similar trouble with the caretaker, but that the rumour was without foundation. The treasurer stated that, after all accounts were settled a balance of .£25 would remain.- This is very satisfactory considering that the new management started the year with a debit of .£2O. Dr. Harding tendered his resignation as a trustee, but the members decided to ask ■him to reconsider the matter as the doctor had been a good worker in the T)?ist . " .... .' :","■.'. , " '', ■611 the motion of Mr. Knight, seconded by. Mr. Wakehnm, Messrs. We ch and Judd were authorised to pay all wages, etc., till nest'meeting. •■ It was decided- to • request Father Lane to contribute towards the upkeep ot the Catholic portion of the cemetery.

PETONE TECHNICAL SCHOOL. . The monthly tneeting of- the Petone Technical , School Board was-held vlast: evening, when the following" members were pfosent—Messrs. Taomson (chaiiman), Duncan, Hoots, M'Kcnzie, Hope, TiMicmim,' Hobbs, Castle (secretary). ~ J. liynskey, director of the school, in his monthly report, stated that he had interviewed. Mr. Lα Trobe 1 «««tor .°f the V.'elliugton 'Technical School.- with respect to. paying apprcntues a wage (during the last year of their apprenticeship higher than that provided tor by the Act, as an incentive for them , to. attend technical schools in order to improve their knowledge, and. that gentleman- considered the question should be met by statute. Information- as to the procedure necessary in order to form a cadet company in'connection with the school-had been received from the organising, officer of cadets, and the director was of the opinion that if such a company was formed it would not interfere with the bays schooling ta any extent. The number of senior free-place scholars who attend the classes was gratifying, and the chemistry class bids fair.to become one of the largest in the school. Capitation for the quarter amounted to .£77 7s. 51(1., as against .£34 155., for_ the corresponding quarter last year. This is accounted for by the fact that there are more classes earning capitation, and tho method of grouping adopted by the Education Department. ,lt is hoped that second year junior free-place pupils will take- advantage of the examination at the end of the year, as it is expected that a number who have done steady work will qualify for senior frco places. The English, arithmetic and book-keep-ing classes, which are made up principally o£ free-place pupils, earn three pence per hour in excess of capitation, and are in a satisfactory condition, whilst tho architectural, matriculation, and chemistry, classes are in a like condition.

Jlr. W. O'. D. Evans wrote asking the' board to consider the advisability of establishing, a class for the study of agriculture.

The chairman said that there were already three classes in tho where pupils, desirous of going on tho land, might specialise in subjects, which would bo of use to. them. ,Mr. Hopo said that he thought' tho letter sent by Mr. Evaiis was on account- of a statement made by Mr. Fivefh that in other parts of the world, which he had visited, it was found that tho teaching of agriculture in primary schools had not proved a success, and it was suggested that tho Technical Schools shouli take the matter up. On the motion of Mr.' Hope, it was decided to have a report on the matter placed before the board at its next meeting.

Mr. Castlo drew the board's attention to the fact that. Mr. Lyusky was teaching two classes, and only receiving reimineraf;°» f°r °»<v He thought it only fair that tho board should agree to pay the director £U per, quarter instead of £8, when tho large amount of work he was required to do was taken into consideration.

Several members spoke, highly of Mr. Mr. Lynskj-s work, and it. was imanimously agreed In grant him-the. increase ;:>• suggested by Mr. Castle. It was agreed, on Mr. Hope's motion, to wnte io the Wellington Technical School Board asking for (heir co-opera-tion in securing apprentices an increase in wages during the last year of their apprenticeship. After allowing £50 for the purchase of models for the engineering class, tho treasurer (Mr. Duncan) announced that riA- s " a,ll: ,)ala »co had a credit of