FIRE AT OTAHUHU.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 9617, 15 September 1894, Page 5

FIRE AT OTAHUHU.

Yesterday morning, about one o'clock, a fire took place at the Criterion Hotel, Otahuhu. It appears to have originated at the partition between the kitchen and the lamp-room, and was rapidly gaining hold, when the smoke, penetrating the rooms, awoke Mrs. Looney, the cook, who roused the inmates, and all worked heartily to extinguish the flames. Mr. I. Harrison, the lessee, who had had some experience of bush fires in Australia, broke through the flooring, with an axe, in what used to be the old Masonic Clubroom, and by pouring water down the holes, hindered the fire from spreading, and with the assistance of Mr. Howey, a boarder, Airs. Looney, Ernest Beach, and Maggie, the housemaid, it waR soon got under, and I do not think the whole damage can exceed £10. '1 he Criterion Hotel is a very large building, and had the wind being blowing from the eastward with any force, not only would the hotel have been burnt to the ground, but the flames would have seized upon the eastern side of the township, and would have run up and down the main street. This shows the necessity for having a good water supply in country towns, and the Road Board should select a suitable place for a reservoir, and keep it always full, if only for the purpose of domestic uses, and putting out fires.—[A Correspondent.]