FIRE AT OTAHUHU.—TWO HOUSES DESTROYED.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXII, Issue 2809, 27 July 1866, Page 4

FIRE AT OTAHUHU.— TWO HOUSES DESTROYED.

About 3 o'clock yes erday merniug, a fire broke oat in the new two-storey wooden houses situate at the corner of Rail way-stieet, immediately opposite the Star Hotel, and resulted in their total destruction. These buildings had been erected, a3 shops and dwelling-houses, by Mr. Thomas Forgham, Auckland, on a plot of ground belonging to Mr. John Hall, Ofcahuhu, and had only beau completed a short time ago. They had never been occupied. When the fire was first observed by Mr, Hall and a few other persons, the flames were bursting thiough the top of the roof, illuminating the neighbourhood for a considerable distance. They were satisfied, from the appearance of the burning, that the tire had originated iv a room at the south-west corner in the rear of one of the buildings. A short time after the fiie was discovered, the flames had obtained such power that it was impossible to save tha buildings ; and the persons present directed their efforts to the protection of the Star Hotel opposite, and the new public hall a short distance off, which were at one time in imminent danger of being ignited from the sparks which showered down upon them. Mr. Hall and others obtained a ladder, and got on the roof of the hali, and extinguished the sparks as they fell. The wind was blowing in that direction for some time, but, fortunately, it veered round and blew the embers down the passage, clear of the public hall. The buildings were totally consumed iv the space of an hour after the lire broke out. Of course various 1 amours were circulated as to its origin. A servant man, named Joseph Chiplin, in the employment of Mr. Edward Plumley, btates that about one o'clock he was passing the two houses when he heard a alight noise. On going up close to them to ascertain what it was, he observed two men, apparently sound asleep, lying on a quantity of shavings underneath the buildings. He went away without arousing the men, or taking any further notice of them. Whether the fire originated underneath the houses, or whether the windows were broken and burning material thrown inside, Mr; Hall cannot say ; but he is certain that when the buildings were completed the whole of the shavings had been removed by the carpenters. At the rear, the flooring is about 2 feet 8 im-hes from the ground, and shavings could not remain there any length, of time without being scattered by the wind. Mr. Hall also states that two days since he ha I been in the buildings putting up_ a notice "To Let" in the windows, and on leaving was particular to see that the doors aud windows were secure ; and then there were no fshavinga underneath or about the houses, which were peitectly empty. Ihe buildings weie insured by the trustees of Mr. Forgham's estate in the New Zealand Insurance Company's Office for £500, of which coinpauy Mr. Hall is an agent at Otahuhu.