FIRE IN COSTUME FACTORY.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 127, 1 June 1927, Page 8

FIRE IN COSTUME FACTORY.

RUTLAND STREET OUTBREAK.

BRIGADE MAKES SMART SAVE.

FIRM LOSES HEAVILY

Good work was done by the Auckland Fire Brigade last night in savin? a three-storeyed brick building in Rutland Street, but enough damage was done to cause much loss to Fraser, Liniite 1, costume makers, who were busv on spring orders, and will now probably lose the season. Their sewing machines, on the top floor, were all put out of action, many pounds' worth of costumes being manufactured, or finished, wore burned, and stock goods on the floor be lew were damaged by smoke ami water. It is a mystery how the fire started, but the assumption is that it originated at the back of the electric switchboard on the second floor, and the flumes swept upwards by the draught up the stairway. On the side opposite the stairway the building has not suffered so much, and fortunately most of the firm's patterns, representing years of experience and accumulation, have been saved.

Mr. Fraser was on the premises until some time after nine last night, and when ho left everything was perfectly safe and normal. Tho alarm reached the Central Brigade just before ten, and the suddenness supports tho theory that the trouble started behind the switchboard, that part of the building being he worst charred. In spite of the inflammable nature of the inside of the building, with its piles of dress fabric, the fire brigade, under Superintendent Wil«on, made a splendid "save," and confined the trouble to a comparatively small area.

On the proiind floor Messrs. Fojrjritt. Jones and Company, who deal in cheese, suffered only through water and smoke', the worst of tho damage being caused on the second floor where Messrs. Fraser. Limited, had their cutting rooms, and stored a large quantity of valuable dress material. The sewing machines wore all in the workroom at the top of the building, where there is a rather peculiar instance of the intense heat. A tweed costume hanging on a coathook readv for sending o«t has been literally baked to a cinder, but still hangs intact, the peculiar feature Win-; that it eould not have been in the direct path of the flames, and must have beon "cooked."

Owned by Messrs. Turnbull and •Tone*, the building was insured for £400 in the Royal Exchange- Insurance. Eraser, Limited, had their s-tock and fittings insured in the Eagle, Star, and British Dominions Insurance Company for £8000. The amount of the damage lias not yet been a=se>sod, but it must bo considerable.