MASTERTON.

New Zealand Times, Volume LVII, Issue 2426, 4 February 1895, Page 3

MASTERTON.

From Our Own Correspondent. Masterton, February 2. The district is still enveloped in smoke, though the recent gales have partially cleared the atmosphere. At Mauriceville several residents have had outbuildings, grass seed, firewood and fences destroyed, and it was only by persistent watching that their houses were saved. A house at Newman, Forty Mile Bush, owned by Mr Joseph Ashtown, and occupied. by Mr Paytcn, a sawmill hand, was destroyed by fire on Thursday night. Nothing was saved. Several houses at Newman have had narrow escapes. The Park Trustees discussed on Friday night the question of converting the Drill Hall into a Town Hall, but the figures were considered too high. Notice of the following motion has been given for the next meeting of the Masterton Trust Lands Trustees, “That this Trust take a poll of the inhabitants simultaneously with tho election of Trustees in May next, on the question of whether the Trustees shall ask Parliament to empower them to raise a loan of <£2500 for the erection of a Town Hall.” James Bicknall was charged at the Magistrate’s Court this morning with attempting to commit suicide by taking laudanum. The evidence showed that the accused had been drinking heavily lately. Dr Butement stated that he had treated him for melancholia a few weeks back. The accused said, in answer to the Bench, that a woman had told him to go for the poison and he went. She said they would both take it together. When he took the poison he was not responsible for what he was doing. On Thursday night he stated a woman had been at his house, and they had consumed 13 or 14 bottles of beer. The accused was discharged, a prohibition order being token out against him. He was also ordered to report himself daily to the Sergeant of Police. A young man named 'Larsen died of typhoid fever at Mauriceville on Thursday.