HOTEL DESTROYED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 307, 28 December 1934, Page 3

HOTEL DESTROYED.

FIRE AT MASTERTON. BRIDGE SAVED FROM FLAMES. i (By Tflegraph.—Press Association.) MASTERTON, Thursday. The Gladstone Hotel, an old wooden two-storeyed building of 18 rooms, was destroyed by fire this afternoon. The fire was discovered in a boarder's room upstairs and the proprietor, Mr. H. S. King, with assistance, extinguished all visible signs of the outbreak and proceeded with the milking. It was then discovered that the fire had broken out again and this time the room was a mass of flames. The building, which was built of totara and was as dry as tinder, was soon demolished. The hotel was owned by Mr. King, and was one of the oldest in the district, being looked upon as a landmark. Nothing was saved, except a- few clothes. The wooden bridge over the Ruamahanga River was threatened by the flames, which quickly travelled through the dry grass, igniting one end of the bridge. A party of 20 Maoris succeeded in saving it from serious damage. Some old sheds on the opposite side of the road from the hotel were also scorched. blaze at sawmill. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) GREYMOUTH, Thursday. A spark from a bush fire caused £500 damage to the sawmilling property of Stratford, Blair and Company, near Marsden, at 4 p.m. to-day. A stack of 4000 silver pine sleepers was destroyed, also a bush locomotive and engine shed. No water was available. The dry weather had rendered the material very inflammable.