Untitled

Hawke's Bay Times, Issue 1596, 24 July 1874, Page 298

was finally resolved,..©!! Monday evening last," to ml lice trie subscription and obtain, the grant. Twenty-seven bei-s voted; fifteen voting for the reduced subscription, and twelve against it. The importance of the Athenaeum, as an educational- institution, seems to be inadequately recognized—at all events the support accorded to it lias borne no proportion to thejnereased population of the Province: "The reduction of the subscription will, we hope, have the effect of largely increasing the list of subscribers; and the Government grant of £IOO, which is to be applied to the purchase of books, cannot-fail to increase the efficiency of the institution. . The fire on Tuesday evening is one more warning to the people of this town of the terrible risk to which they are exposed. The large crowd collected before the burning house were utterly helpless, so far as any attempt to extinguish the flames was concerned, and the building, was simply allowed to burn itself "out. A strong wind was blowing,_aud had the fire,broken out in almost any other part of Histingsstreet, it would have been difficult-to assign a limit to the devastation it would have caused. It is a discredit to a town- of the -size and importance of Napier that it has no organization qualified and duly authorized to act'in cases of fires, and no ; appliances for their extinction. There would be, we believe, quite a sufficient number of volunteers—some with practical knowledge and experience—to form a strong -and efficient fire -.brigade. Are we to. wait until the town is in ashes before anyone will be found to take the initiative ? We publish to-day, in our Maori column, an abstract of Mr Vogel's speech in the House of Representatives, on the conservation of forests. We believe the natives only require to have their attention drawn to this subject, to cooperate with the Government of the Colony in their laudable endeavor to preserve an important ' part of our Colonial inheritance from waste and destruction. That the natives look with regret on the threatened extinction of forms of life,existing in this country is proved by the interesting letter in our last issue regarding the huia bird, for the preservation of which they have established a rahui, or law similar to the European Act for the protection of animals.." - . ' . r ' The English mail . via Suez, per Cyphrenes, closes this day at 5 p.m. Mails for Southern Provinces and Australian Colonies close by the same opportunity. Mails for Auckland, Fiji, Sandwich Islands, America/United Kingdom, and Continent of Europe, close per Cyphrenes at 7 p.m. on Thursday next; 30th:inst. Money orders and registered letters close at 5 p.m. ori the 30th. The share list of the new Colonial Bank closed throughout the Colony on Tuesday last. 8,500 shares had been up to that time applied for in this . Province, and applications still continued to be sent in. Throughout the Colony the applications for shares have been crowding in to the agents. We regret to hear of a sad accident at Mercury Bay on the I.4th inst., resulting in the loss of two lives. The cutter Brunette having arrived from Auckland at 11 a.m. that day, the master with three men went on shore. On their return, the boat capsized, and the master and one of the crew were drowned.

Several sales of town property have taken place during the week, at which good prices have been realized. At about 4 p.m. on Tuesday, the residents in' Hastings-street were .alarmed by the cry of fire, and hurrying to their, doors, observed a cloud of, black smoke issuing from the roof of a two-storey house,: belonging to Mr Rcnouf, and occupied by Mrs Adams. The house .stood quite detached, the nearest building being Mr Holt's factory. The wind was blowing strongly at the time, but fortunately towards the vacant sections north of the building. "When first dis-. covered, the fire was in the roof in the fore part of the building, and had apparentlyinade but little progress. In the absence of any means for extinguishing the fire, the efforts of those who had assembled.were, principally directed to saving the property in the lower part of the house, in which they were to a great extent successful. In a few minutes from the first discovery of the fire, the Jflames had burst through the roof, and jfclie whole building was s6on oho great ••furnace of flame, the heat from Which kept the. numerous spectators at a. respectful distance. Great precautions were taken by the neighbors against the flying sparks a fruitful source of danger in such cases.- .In about half-iaii-hour from the first discovery of the fire, the building was aheap of ruins. "Tlie house was insured in the Victoria Company for £2OO. An ; inquest was held on the following morning at the Albion hotel, but no information as to the origin of the fire having been obtained, an open verdict was returned.