FIRE AT TANNERIES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 238, 8 October 1936, Page 3

FIRE AT TANNERIES.

CONSIDERABLE DAMAGE DONE

i —.— OWNER CRITICISES BRIGADE. I (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, this day. "While the building was burning merrily the lire brigade took 25 minutes to get water," said, the owner of Paynes' Tanneries at Lower Hutt, which were damaged by a fire which is believed to have originated in the boiler room. The owner, Mr. R. G. Buckleton, said that when he arrived at the scene he found an engine from the Lower Hutt Brigade on the scene, but nobody seemed to have any idea where the fire plugs were. Although the Hutt River was only a few yards away, and there was an artesian well at the factory, the fire, he alleged, burnt for two hours, destroying the boiler room, one of the drying rooms and a quantity of stock and plant. The owner rang the Petone brigade which, he said, declined to come to the fire, as it was out of its district. He also telephoned the Lower Hutt fire station, asking them to send down another engine, but, he alleged, they answered that one was sufficient. The blaze was a spectacular one, and the brigade's work was hampered by heavy smoke. So far no estimate of the actual damage can be formed.