HOUSEBOAT BURNT

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 50, 28 August 1933, Page 8

HOUSEBOAT BURNT

BLAZE ON WANGANUI RIVER

At midnight on Friday the houseboat near Whakahora, on the Wanganui Kiver, was burned, reports "The Chronicle." Two men who were sleeping on board, Messrs. J. Jackson and P. Ropiha, were awakened by the flames and just managed to get ashore before their means of escape had been cut off. AH their possessions were lost in the blaze.

It is surmised that the fire started in the kitchen, -which is situated in the stern. When the men awoke the flames were very much in command, and they had difficulty in getting clear, A wooden structure, the boat burned quickly and brightly. Settlers nearby gathered in the hope that they might be of assistance in checking the fire, but it had too great a hold. The upper portion of the boat burned rapidly, and provided a spectacle for those on shore. Towards morning what had once been one of the most popular tourist residences in the Dominion was nothing but a glowing hull resting on the stream, and at 5 a.m. that sank.

It must be about thirty years since the houseboat first made her appearance on the river. She was designed by Mr. Alex. Laird, of Wanganui, and built at Taumarunni. Captain Marshall was entrusted with the difficult task of bringing her down stream to her first permanent resting place, just below the Ohura River. A safe journey was made over the various rapids, and for many years the boat remained a landmark on the river where Captain Marshall first moored her. To cope with the altered trend of transport and the advent of the motor-car, however, she was moved to Whakahoro (Retaruke River), some seven years ago, so us to be linked by road with Tongariro National Park.

The houseboat was of picturesque design, with sleeping quarters, social room, diningroom, and kitchen mounted on a bargelike hull. The sleeping quarters lay between the hull and the dining-room, social room, and kitchen, and the two men who were on board faced the ordeal of coming up to the top of the blazing superstructure to find a way to shore.