PAEKAKARIKI HOTEL DESTROYED.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVII, Issue 52, 3 March 1909, Page 8

PAEKAKARI KI HOTEL DESTROYED.

NOTHING SAVED. NARROW ESCAPE" OF BOARDERS. News has been received by the police authorities to-day that a fire early this morning burned the Paekakariki Hotel to the ground. The lessee is Mr. Hilton. The hotel was built over thirty years ago, and was a stopping-place for the coaches which nsed to run between Wellington and Wanganui before the railway was built. It contained about thirty-five rooms, and was owned by Mr. G. Anyon, who is now residing in Fiji. FURTHER PARTICULARS. Later particulars show that the fire began in the back of the dining-room, downstairs. No cause can be ascribed for the outbreak, which was discovered by the laundress about 5 o'clock this morning. The housemaid immediately reused the thirty-one boarders, who escaped in their night clothing, absolutely nothing being saved. The licensee got away with nothing but his coat and trousers, so sudden and fierce were the flames. .A quarter of an hour after the alarm the building was in ruins. Mr. Hilton lost £80 worth of jewellery, and several of the boarders valuables to a smaller amount. The building was. insured in the Liverpool and London and Globe office for £2100, the furniture for £200, and the stock for £200 in the same office. < . It is just twelve months since Mr. Hilton entered into possession of the house. , The post office and telephone bureau, situated about 100 yards from the hotel, escaped without injury.