BUSH FIRES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6121, 7 March 1898, Page 3

BUSH FIRES.

■ .-.„-♦« — - RELIEF* COMMITTEE MEETING. A meeting of the executive of the Bush Fires Belief Committee was held in the Mayoral Chamber at noon . to-day. His Worship the Mayor of Christchurch presided, and there were also present the Mayors of St Albans and Linwood, and Messrs H. B. Kirk, W. W. Collins and J. A. H. Marciel. The Chairman, in a few brief remarks, introduced the business of the meeting. As the executive .held the opinion that' it was not its function to keep any large sums in hand when relief was urgently required, .£3OO had been forwarded ito the Oxford Belief Committee for distribution. The account at present stood about JJIOO in credit. The cases of Messrs M'Kearney and Whelan, fishmongers of Christchurch, who were employed grass seeding at Little River, and who had lost a tent, blankets and clothes by a grass fire, were first considered, and the applicants were awarded the sum of £2 apiece. An application from T. Le Compte, of Litcle River, with a wife and family of eight children, who had lost twenty acres of cocksfoot in seed, valued at .£IOO, thirty chains of fencing, a quantity of sacks, a threshing cloth, tea and sugar, was next considered. The report showed that the applicant was the owner of 150 acres of land, that he was in receipt of 7s a day as wages and that his two boys earned 6s a day each. The executive was of opinion that while cases of absolute destitution remained unrelieved at Oxford it could not fairly consider the relief of land-owners who were comparatively speaking well-to-do. A similar conclusion was arrived at in the cases of D. Le Compte, of Little River, thirteen children, similar damage, and William Haywood and John Londrigan, on whose behalf Mr W. H. Montgomery had forwarded a letter through the Oxford Committee. It was decided that the Mayor of Christchurch should keep the subscription lists open a little longer, in order that outstanding subscriptions might be got in, and that he should then forward all moneys in hand to the Oxford Committee for distribution. .