THE ROYAL OAK HOTEL DESTROYED.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIX, Issue 302, 22 December 1898, Page 5

THE ROYAL OAK HOTEL DESTROYED.

TWO MEN BURNED TO DEATH.

MANY NARROW ESCAPES

INSURANCES £19,000.

LOSS ABOUT £40,000.

WELLINGTON, December 10

About one o'clock this morning" a. fire broke out in the Royal Oak Hotel, one of the largest hotels in Wellington, which covered an extensive area of ground at the corner of Cuba and Manners streets. The tire spread with such amazing- rapidity that soon; the whole oil that part of the building ; facing Cuba-street was a mass of | flames. A full complement of firemen j were speedily on the scene, but, despite their efforts it was obvious that the building- was utterly doomed. A large .number of boarders were sleeping in the hotel and some of them were aroused with the greatest difficulty. Ladies rushed from the burning building in scant attire, their shrieks of dismay being- heard a considerable distance away. Many very narrow escapes are recorded and in several instances boardders jumped from upstairs windows on to the pavement below. In essaying this feat one man broke his ankle, i Another man had to descend from a top storey window by a ladder supported on the cross-bar of a telegraph pole. All accounts agree that the flames spread with extraordinary rapidity, and the inmates were satisfied to escape with their lives without troubling about any of their personal effects. TWO DEAD BODIES FOUND. ' It was nearly 15.30 a.m. before the flames were subdued sufficiently to alillorw r tlie firemen to make their way into the interior of the building. They then discovered the charred, partly dressed body of a man in the passage, on the top storey of the new brick wing, lying partly covered with debris from the roof above. The body was identified as that of Mr Greer, a commercial traveller from Sydney, representing the firm of Greer, Fraser and I Co. Subsequently the body of Mr George Blandford. general manager for Bing, I Harris and Co., was found among the I debris. Practically nothing was saved from the hotel There is nothing now standing but brick walls, the whole of the interior of the building being burned clean. The outbreak occurred in the kitchen, but the cause is a mystery. Fortunately the night was calm. otherwise the fire might- have spread around the vicinity of; the building, which has quite recently been im- ! proved by the addition of a large wing j facing Dixon-street. Captain Hose (late Wellington manager of the N.Z. Shipping Co.) and his family, who were slaying at the i hotel prior to their departure for England by the Aorangi to-day, lost everything and will have to postpone their' departure indefinitely. The Misses I Rose were only rescued* with "difficulty j when the tire was at its height. The i fire then presented a grand spectacle, i lighting up the harbour and the suri rounding hills for a groat distance. i Captain Hose, who is very popular in j Wellington, was banqueted at the i Wellington Club last week. He has! | been a member of the Harbour Board j I for many years and a presentation '. I was made to him last week. All the i family are very popular and much j sympathy is felt for them. LOSS ESTIMATED AT £39,000. ! Mr Gilmer estimates his loss at .£20,000 over the Insurances. He has | £13,000 insurance on the building, i j £ 0,000 on the furniture. The new j I wing,, which was erected two years j ago, cost £5.000 to build and £3,000 !to furnish. Mr Gilmer values the I ! furniture in the whole building at £12,000. Only the other day he re- | ceived £000 worth of new cutlery, i which had not been unpacked, and all ■was lost. Mr Gilmer's family saved j none of their personal effects.' | Seven boarders whose names were on j the hotel list have not yet been accounted for, but the debris has been thoroughly searched, and there is no trace of any more bodies. It is expected the missing- men will report, themselves during the day. The occurrence has created a great sensation throughout the city, and the streets are thronged with people viewing the ruins. THE COMPLETE INSURANCE. Commercial Union had reinsured the following amounts out of their line of £ 19.000 on the building and contents. New Zealand, £ 1,750; South British, Victoria, Phoenix, Imperial, Royal, North British, and Mercvantile and Manchester. £1,000 each; Royal Exchange, £750; Alliance; aud'Liverpool London and Globe. United, Northern, North German, Norwich Union, National, London and Lancashire, Palatine, and Australian Alliance £500 each: total, £1-1.500.