FIRE AT ASHBURTON.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 288, 29 August 1908, Page 5

FIRE AT ASHBURTON.

TWO LIVES LOST. BUSINESS PREMISES DESTROYED. INSURANCES TOTAL OVER £9000. (BY ASSOCIATION.) n £ xi. ' Ashburtooi August 28. Une or tho most disastrous fires in tho his-* tory of the town occurred at 10 o'clock last night, and,, besides destroying tjio main pgr* itipn of „ono of the principal brick business blocks, was responsjblo for t!w Jgjg of two hves.

Tlio fire broke out in two-storey premises occupied by Mr, A. L. Zouch, dentist, and jifter utterly destroying jt, spread to adjoining shops oil either side, some of which were gutted. ■ . . Mr, Zouch, two assistants; and a servant girl escaped safely, but Mrs. Zouch, mother of the occupier of the shop, who was bathing at the time, evidently jumped from an upstair window at tho back, after being fearfully burned. She was taken, to the hospital, and expired as the result of burns and shock .at' 5J5 a.m. '■ A hoy, three years old, son of Mr. Zouch, was asleep upstairs, and was burned to death, the charred remains being discovered after the fire had been subdued,. G. Hefford and Company's drapery establishment, at the corner of East Btreet ; was ijext attacked, and completely .demolished, nothing being saved. ' ■ Jas. MeUor's boot shop, on the other side of Zoiich's, and the adjoining painter's shop of A. and R. Terris, were both-badly damaged, tho stock being destroyed [is much by water as (ire. • • The efforts of tho fir© brigade and a trick party wall stayed the progress of the fire in East Street, and the premises of .Robinson (fruiterer), Burgess (stationer), and Young (bootmaker) were damaged pnly by water. '

■ Hefford and Co. wjll.be heavy losers over and above the insurance, having just got ill £800 worth of spring goods. All the premises were owned by Mrs. Coleman, in the estate of the late Captain George Coleman, and were insured for £3075 is the Phoenix , Office. Hefford's stock, was insured for £2700, the Phoenis having £1000, tilo Royal,£6oo, the NgrtK British £500, and t]ie gun £600. Terris had a policy of £700 in thp Liverpool, London,.and Globe. and Young of £400 jn the North JJrjtiih and Alliance, while pouch's stock, furniture, and dgntal instruments were insured in one policy in the Yorkshire for £45Q.: Mellpr . ira's'also insured, but details are unavailable. ' LATER, At the inquest on the bodies of the victims who lost their lives through fire Jaßt i)ight formal eyiclencQ pf identification of the bodies was tflkefl and the inquest adjourned for a week. Mellor's insurance on his stock was £1400 in the New Zealand Office. • The (total insurances ou the buildings, stock, etc., affected by the fire aggregate £907.5.. There is no due a§ to the origin pf the fire, though it is generally surmised, from its sudden andl otherwise unexplainablp outbreak, tbat it wag due to ap escape of gas. Mrs. Zouch was the wife of W- H. Zpuch, inspector of the Society for the Prevention pf Cruelty to Anii)ia]§ jij Christchurch. It is understood that the premises will be rebuilt at once, Jlr. Hefford having p si? ysar?' lease-to run.- •_ -■ •The Joss of. life created cpnsternation here, and Mr. A. L. Zoucli received numerous telegrams of-sympathy. The deceased lady had complained of indisposition prior to the fire, and her son had at 9.45 p.m. requested a .doctor to see her. At 10.15 p.m. the'fire was discovered. At 10.5. p.m. it is presumed she would have had time to escape -unharmed if sbe had not attempted to rescue the child.