WOOL-SCOURING WORKS BURNT

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 26971, 21 February 1953, Page 6

WOOL-SCOURING WORKS BURNT

DAMAGE ESTIMATED AT £lB,OOO

BUILDING GUTTED IN FIFTEEN MINUTES (New Zealand Press Association)* HASTINGS, February 20. Thousands of pounds’ worth of machinery and wool were lost when a wool-scouring works on the banks of the Ngaruroro river at Clive was burned down this afternoon. The business was owned by McKendrick (Woolston) Holdings, Ltd. It had been sold to the firm in December by Dean Brothers, who had owned it for 20 years. Mr K. Dean is the present manager. He said it would take £14,000 to replace the building and machinery. He estimated that more than £5OOO worth of machinery and crushed dag wool worth £4OOO had been lost. Mr Dean said he hoped that some of the wool and a few pieces of machinery could be salvaged. “The fire started in the drier, but I can’t tell you any cause,” he said. “It was all over the shed, which had about 12,000 square feet of floor space, in less than a quarter of an hour.” The fire was fought by four fire crews—two from Napier, one from Hastings, and one from Whakatu. During the blaze, the flames shot up to a great height, and thick black smoke shrouded the Clive township and the countryside around it.