MEW ZEALAND NEWS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1311, 14 December 1911, Page 5

MEW ZEALAND NEWS.

IBj Telccrapli—Prose AaaoclatlonJ ♦- RURAL SCIENCE INSTRUCTION. i Duncdin, December 13. Tho institution of a rural science course in the District High Schools has made such a favourable impression upon country people that Otago Centrnl has guaranteed a sum of <El5O towards tho tialary of a third instructor to take classes in that district. This contribution guarantees a salary of .£3OO a year, as it receives £ for £ subsidy from the Government. The Education Hoard this mornin." proceeded to appoint an instructor. ■Mγ. C. .S. Kid ley, of Xew South Wales, was finally chosen for tho post. Ho is hvrnty-hve years old. He was a pupil teacher nt the Sydney Training Cnllego and Hawkesbury Amiculttiral College, and sinM 1908 has 'wen Government experimentalist at Janco .Experimental ,I'orni. FIRE AT A MINE, Reofton, December 13. Tire last night at tho mouth of tho Energetic gold mino destroyed the survey office and store-shed. The poppet heads and engine-room were safe. Thero was great alarm at first, occasioned by the explosions of parulliu, but the damage dono. was only to the ollices and store. U'ho engine-driver, AV. H. Saunders, drew all tho men out of the mine. The firo being on a. hill, a great blaze was feen all over tho country, and great fears wi<re entertained for' tho safety of the men. i'ortunately nono were injured. ELTHAM AND ITS MILK. Eltham, December 13. Tho unfavourable season is seriously nftectint,' the milk supply, but tho ■amount paid out is greater than in tho corresponding period lost year. Tor the throe months ending November tho Eltham Company manufactured 627,5951b. of butter, paying out .£25,920, as against E77,0!)31b. and .£24,559 in the corresponding period of 1910. The output of butter boxes and cheese crates by the Egmont box factory shows a decreaso of 10 per cent, compared with- last year.

ANONYMOUS GIFT, . Gisborne, December 13. An anonymous cloiior has given ,£3OO for the Children's Home, for which Lady Carroll recently presented two. acres of ground. The gift covers a IE for «S Government subsidy. "UNFIT TO BE AT LARGE," Auckland, December 13. At the Supremo' Court, Mr. Justice Edwards sentenced William Thomas Edraiston, for criminal assault on a child at Kotorua, to seven years' imprisonment with hard labour and ton years' reformative treatment. The crimo was a particularly serious one. Tho Judgo remarked that the prisoner wns unfit to bo at largo; ho was oulsido the pale of humanity; No creature that walked the rearth needed reformative treatment more. •STRONGROOM RIFLED. Napier, December 11. Two months ago the borough strongroom wa3 rifled and nearly ,£6OO stolen. All efforts to. trace tho money or discover the thief failed. On Friday an office boy, in searching amongst, old papers in tho strong-room discovered a 'plant" of £52 hidden away in a large borough envelope. EFFECT OF HIGH WIND. Gisborne, December 12. A high wind was experienced to-day at tho Otoko Taihvay extension works. The gusts were so strong that the men on the line were forced to discontinue work. In tho afternoon a gust of wind lifted the roof completely off a shed containing an engine for,tho aerial tramway across tho Otoko Viaduct. A sheet of corrugated iron was hurled some chains through the oir, and went clean through a workman's tent. Fortunately no one was inside. DESTROYED BY FIRE. • . • , Nelson, December 12. ■ Mr.- W. B.' Bryant's' 'sawmill y -'hT-' r ßai Valley has been totally destroyed by fire. Tho loss is estimated at about ,£350. There was no' insurance. ' A'fire-.at-'-Takaka- .early .'this. morning destroyed a ten-roomed-house owned by Mrs. Eiley and occupied by O. \V. Haase, a blind man, who was rescued with difficulty. .The building was-insured for .£l5O in the South British office, and tho contents for ,£SO in tho New Zealand office. BOOKS AND BANKRUPTCY. ■ ■ Auckland, December 13. Another case in which breaches of the Bankruptcy Aot aro alleged was heard in the Police Court when Francis Berryman Kelty appeared to answer a charge of' having failed to keep proper books of accounts for thi-ee years pnor to his bankruptcy. Accused, who pleaded not guilty, reserved his defence, and was committed for trial at tho Supremo Court. STEAMER'S STEM SMASHED. Auckland, December 13. The damage sustained by the Northern Company's steamer Taniwha, through striking a snag in the Paeroa I?iver, is more extensive than was at first anticipated. Tho vessel's forefoot was damaged, and the stem below the water-line smashed in. A new stem will be necessary. THE THReI KINGS AGAIN. Auckland, December 13. Several vessels have recently been delayed by fog when in tho vicinity of tho Ihreo kings, and a numbor of masters state that fog signals and a lighthouso are urgently needed on tho islands. At present they are a danger to shipping in thick weather. NURSING HOME BURNT. if .•' '.Ashburton, December 13. Mrs. Ainswortk's Nursing Home a seven-roomed wooden building, situated in Lton Street, Hampstead, wa.s tolally destroved by "re shortly after 10 o'clock to-night.' Ho outbreak was caused by tho explosion of; a kerosene'lamp: Tho building was insured for ,£350 and the furniture for .6150.