FATAL FIRE AT INVERCARGILL. [BY TELEGRAPH.—PRESS ASSOCIATION.]

Waikato Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2210, 7 September 1886, Page 2

FATAL FIRE AT INVERCARGILL. [BY TE LEGRAPH.— PRESS ASSOCIATION.]

Iv\ nw\l«!ll.L, Saturday. At the inquiry yesterday into the Liddle-sin-et hre, by which Mrs Kaill and child \\vi<> burnt to death, Flora McLean, servant in the hoi^e, deposed that she took three of thu children, cariying t\vr> and dragging the other, to the back door. She saw Mm Kaill fall partially to the floor »longside hi r b»d a* slie (witness) was lifting the children. There was then a pood d«al of .smoke in the room. Uv the tune witnp-s got the children together she told Mr* Kaill to co.nc quick. She leplied : " I cannot." She seemed fnirhtened. Witness thought Mi. Kaill had fainted w hen -he fell. Slie went round to thp bediootn window, and bioke it. She called to Mrs K.ull, whom she by tho li^ht of the flames aittinr in her b.»d with the child in her arms., to cmiip out. She apun rej>hed slie c<«uld not. She thought .she was l, PU ij» Hiiffocatwi by the Binoke v\luch via, coming out by the window*. The window was larpe, and witness broke it sufficiently for deceav;d to have got out if sho had been able to try. If a man hid been there Mr« Kaill could have been Witness could nenrlv rench her from where she stood outHifh> tho window. She liad no id»>a how the hre on^'inatpd. As she was pomg round by the window she sang out to two men (Lewis and It ihb >ndiut>) to come round to the window, that Mi a K-ull was in there. Xeithn- answeied. ]soth were standing looking at the fire. H<-lt'ii Thomson corroboiated. She was three tunes at the window within about ten minute*. On two occasions Mr» Kail! was "creaming. The firi> was all undei when witness went across hist. The flame* burnt from the kitchen window. Immediately after it Habbondine had cornP forward. Being a big man, she was certain Mis Kaill could ha\e been saved, as from the sound of her voice she was close to the window, and could ha\e been i cached. L<uws wa.s too short. After healing the evidence of Messrs Rabbondme and Lewis, the jury returned a verdict of " Accidental death." The foreman of the jury «aid that they were also of opinion that the action of Miss Flora McLean on the occasion was nin»t commendable, and deserving of recognition. Rabbondme as.serts he wa.s mistaken for another man.

One of the greatest instances of meanness w as the following- — Turner bad been commissioned by a nobleman to paint a landscape. He was to have a thousand t'lincas for it. Ho bi ought it home, and hi> I< »id.-.l\ip was very mui-b pleaded with if, and then and there wrote him a cheque f - >i the thousind guineas Turner took the .iiul Htamrnerod out, "Oh, there's the ha'-knoy coach I brought it in — th it's thiee and sixpence." Tkkkk «iie 700 religious and denominational newspapers published in tne United States, and neatly one-third of them are printed in New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Chicago. Three new are devoted to the silkworm, six to the honeybee, and not less than 32 to poultry. The dentists have IS journals, the phonographers nine, and the deaf and dumb and blind 19. The prohibitionists have 129 organs to the liquoi-dea!ei\ eight. The woman "suffragists iia\e "-even There are about (iOO newspapers printed in German and 42 in Fiench m the Sta'es. Thk ladies of Paris, tiled of wearing dL.id birds ate now spending fabulous sums in promt inu all sorts of creeping things — sue!) as beetles, spiders. <fee. — with which to adoin their hair and di esses It si-tms the idea oiiginated v. i th Mdme. Judic. win dm ing her tour m " the (golden South Amenca.s" was presented by a deputation of feminine admirers in I3r,i/il with some Dia/ilian beetle-, which, it appears, cm be trained, and arc tetheie.l by thin gold chains to <i hair pin and allowed to h.iinier about her head. In the IJia/ils ladies capture ihefius .and enclose them in long tubes of miKslin, wth which they trim the fronts of their d i esses. The effect after daik is magnificent. Thk following is taken from the Melbourne Leader of a recent date : —The system of terrorism piacti-ed by certain Rom m Catholic pnetts in the country disti lets towaids their parishioners, and the means by w hich they seek to extort money from their people, pai takes more of the chaiacter of a filibustering expedition than of the intercourse between a pislor and his flock. A priest in the north-eastern distiict has rendered himself especially conspicuous in tins counection. It appeats that he is desirous of building a large presbytery, having in view probably his own personal comfort rather than the advancement of the chinch. Keeping this purpose steadily before his c) es he ha-, for some time been pi isonallv engaged in a door to door canvass of his constituency, which comprises an area >ome pnits of which are over 20 miles from the site of the proposed presbytery. Nothing daunted by the somewhat unanswerable suggestion that distant parishioners can hope to obtain no benefit whate\er fiom the erection of a palatial structure so far from their own dwellings, tl.e indomitable priest pursues his begging caieer without leference to the fact that m many cases the selectors to whom he applies are on the verge of destitution, and find it a hard struggle to obtain the nccos-iai ies of duly life. One instance is iccorded in which he demanded 10s subscription from a poor woman whose husband had already paid his last mite. The woman replied that she had not a farthing in the world. The priest then inquired if she had no dairy produce or fowls that she could sell, and receiving a reply in the negative he suggested that as her husband was running a credit account at a store she should draw against this in her husband's name. Another pleasing little habit to which this worthy father is addicted is reading aloud in church on Sundays the names of those who have either refused to contribute or who have been debarred from doing so by poverty. The reading of this list of the proscribed has aroused a rebellious feeling in the congregation, and on the 10th mst. it led to a most extraordinary I scene. Amongst the names of those 1 who were reserved for special treatment was that of a highly respectable gentleman, who has for many yeais occupied the position of Government sunejor. This gentleman arose in the church "and emphatically reiterated his refusal to pay the priest more than he had already ghen. Amid the breathless awe of hi 3 congregation the priest ordered the unruly member to sit dowu, but the lattn positively refused, to do so till he hiid explained his position to the congregation, which he theie and then proceeded to do. He stated that he knew many men in the district who weie laising money and paying 10 per cent, for it for the puipoMi of h mding it to the priest, but he for one was determined to incur the displeasure of the church rather than contract liabilities of such a nature. Such an innovation upon the ordinary form of worship has probably not omit red— in a Christian chapel at any rate— since the meiiiotable occasion on which old Jenny Geddes threw the stool at the ministers head. An attempt has been made In interested parties to hush the matter up, but we can vouch for the accuracy of the uoo\ l details. Mi John Kno\ has been instiucml l>y th • Hamilton Road Board to «=ell bv auction at his matt on Satmdny next, land sitmt^d in lot >><>. 1, To Kapa. * Mi Fred, (idudin, ponndktvper, Hamilton. n<itifu*« in our ad\eiti>«mcc'>lumn- tint a bi.iwn and white cow will be to mouow, at noon, if not previously chimed und evpen»>e> paid.