FIRE IN BALL SEREET.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XVII, Issue 5100, 30 June 1883, Page 2

FIRE IN BALL SEREET.

A fire broke ont about a quarter past 11 last evening in a four-roomed house, the property of Mr Simmons, situated in Copeland Street, off Ball Street. The last tenant, a person named Rae, left for Wellington by the steamer yesterday, but smoke was seen issuing from the chimney all day. A boy residing next door -saw the fire 'first, and rushed to the Keith Street Station, where he gare the alarm, and .the Brigade were soon on the spot with their hose reei. The St. Hill Street men also with, Captain Cummins, were quickly at work, and their combined efforts bad the* effect .of getting the flames under, bu^ not before the place had been made quite ■ wreck. The Fire Police were present, in force, and did good service. , The building, we learn, was insured in the New Zealand office f ot £80, „, -"' " ] The concluding" ohapter of th© story "Freed from Suspicion" appears .on our fourth page to-day. The Austral recently made the passage from Sydney to Auckland in the tmprecedently short time of 3£ days. During the week 4 patients have been discharged from the hospital, and 3 admitted, leaving 22 at present under treatment. The numbers for the month were — Admitted, 6 ; discharged, 6; total number under treat* tntfht, 8. , . ; In this district a good deal of work has been going on during tho last two years in the matter of clearing, and the country is slowly bnt steadily assuming an appearance of settlement, the forest giving place to the grazing and agricultural lands of the farmer. The clearings show how well adapted tie land is for grazing, carrying from five to eight and twelve sheep per acre. very littlecropping has yet been attempted, but when it h: 8 been the land seems to carry it welL Mr J. H. Monrad of Palmerston North recently exhibited at Palmerston North a cream separator which will separate 60 gallons of milk per hour. The milk- is poured into a receptacle on top, and the machine is driven by horse-power. The receptacle ra. volves at a very rapid rate and by centrifugal force the cream and milk are separated and more cleanly and perfectly than by skimming. The great difficulty with the bush farmer is ridding his land of stumps. The cost of uprooting them is so great as to render the idea one never to be entertained. Burning is frequently unsatisfactory, and on the other hand the process of decay is very tedious and years must elapse before the land can be cleared of them. A settler at Manawatu, intends, for the purpose of rapidly clearing away these stumps.applying a process at once simple and effective. This process consists in aimply boring a hole deep in the centre of the stump, placing therein a quarter of a pound of saltpetre, filling up with water and plugging the hole up. In the course of twelve months the plug may be taken out and the hole filled up with kerosene, and fire applied. Meantime the ealt-petre has penetrated throughout the stump and its roots and the fire having been started well by means of the kerosene will smoulder «w*y until the stump entirely disappearw