DESTRUCTIVE FIRE

Evening Post, Volume LXXXV, Issue 32, 7 February 1913, Page 8

DESTRUCTIVE FIRE

(bt telegraph— press association.) PALMERSTON N., This Day. A destructive fire occurred early this morning at Mr. L. Seifert's Rangitane flaxmill, which has only been finished cix weeks and is regarded as the most up-to-date mill in the Dominion. The outbreak occurred in the engine-room, which was destroyed. The engine and machinery were badly damaged' by heat. The stripper-room was also gutted. The damage is estimated at over £1000. There is no insurance.

A case of extreme cruelty td horses was brought before Mr. W. G. Riddell, S.M., at the Magistrate's Court this morning, when a dairyman named John Bowler and his driver, Thomas Frederich, were prosecuted by the S.P.C.A. for working a horse while it was in a state of illhealth. According to the report of Inspector Seed the horse was suffering from an open wound on both sides of the withers, and on the chest and near forefoot. The animal was in a low and dirty condition, and needed shoeing. It was condemned by the society's veterinary surgeon. It had been employed on one round in the morning and was about to be taken out on another round when the inspector stopped it. Mr. R. H. Webb, on behalf of the society, said that while the society was most anxious to educate owners of animals, and not to punish ignorant men, this was a case in which the society must invoke the aid of the Court. BowJer was fined £3 and Frederich £2, as reported in another column.