FIRES.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1828, 13 December 1888, Page 3

FIRES.

Auckland, December 12. This morning the \ Phoenix Hotel, Morrinsvillo, was destroyed by fire. The outbreak occurred half-jan-hour after midnight. A strong breezfc was blowing, and the building and all contents were quickly consumed. The inmate? narrowly escaped by leaping. from the windows. No particulars are to hand. ; Dunewn', December 12. At half-past 7 this morning dense clouds •f smoke were seen issuing from the interior of the Fotburyr School, South Duaedin. The brigade was quickly on the spot, but were at a disadvantage owing to having only one sfet of hose, and being enabled to tlay on only one part of the building at a time. Thfc fire lasted jtbont aii hour, and ended in the total destruction of the building. , It la supposed to have been caused by train igniting 1 quantity of lime. The biddings belonging to the Government were, of course, uninsured. The Scotch libiary was valued at £4O. Mr‘ W better’s chemical apparatus and laboratory appliances, and the majority 0 f the teachers and children’s books,'were also destroyed, but a large number of books, etc., had luckily been taken Home by the ebildrsn after the breakiug-ub ceremony

An ArPAiLiNQ Atrocity.—Bad a» are the Whitechapel murders, thay are marcy itself compared with the appalling atrocity of matricide reported from Sherburn, near Selby. The man locked op hi* mother and her servant io an upper room, and spent two hours io kicking his mother to death, and then another two honra and a half in kicking her corpse to pieoea. He then burnt part of the remains in the fire, and then fell asleep. The uufertnnate servant girl, screaming and nearly delirious with terror, was threatened with similar treatment, and was kept on her knees nearly all night. Eight hours after the murder began she escaped and eecured his arrest. The man must be mad (adds a Home paper), but such an outburst of homicidal lunacy is fortunately very rare. It ia to bo feared that the attention given to the recent doings in London may yet bear baleful fruit, owing to the fascination which the spectacle of massacre has for certain disordered uainda.

A man named McDonald, falling bush on the Mountain Hoad opposite Colonel Trimble’s place, near New Plymouth, was seriously injured by a tree falling on him. Half an acre of land in Sc. Andrew’s streat, Dunedin, on which are erected •hope aod houses, has been sold to Mr H aliens tein for £9060.

At Dunedin, yesterday, Ehzt Nicbolls was fined £2O and costs for sly grog selling on the Otago Central Works. Another offender, named Sutton, elected to do a month’s imprisonment. At the grain sale at Dnsedin on Monday oats were dull, and as only 3* 7d was offered, the lots submitted were withdrawn. Best milling wheat brought 4i 9d.