FIRE IN WELLINGTON.

Evening Star, Issue 7409, 3 January 1888, Page 4

FIRE IN WELLINGTON.

—•- ■ WELLINGTON, January 1. A serious fire broke out in Lambton quay at 3.50 this morning, in a doublo Bhop occupied by Carpenter, fruiterer, and Bullock Bros., fancy repository. The fire was first discovered in the premises of the latter, and it spread with great rapidity through the buildings, so that in a few minutes the shop was enveloped in flames. Carpenter's shop was very soon gutted, and the buildings south of it were in extreme danger. The City Buffet Hotel, which adjoined Bullock's on the north, was soon a ball of flame, and the proprietors (Orr and Sons), along with the lodgers, who numbered over seventy, had but little time in which to escape, the majority saving but few articles of wearing apparel. Fortunately all were rescued. Within a few minutes of the alarm being rung the fire brigade arrived on the scene, and with a very high pressure of water soon mastered the conflagration, but not before some of the premises in the vicinity had suffered from water and the stock considerably damaged. Owing to the day being a holiday, there is difficulty in arriving at the correct amount of insurances; but the following may be taken as almost correct:—The building occupied by Bullock and Carpenter was insured for LI.OOO in the Colonial; Bullock's stock, LI.OOO in the Liverpool and London and Globe ; Carpenter's stock, L2OO in the Phoenix ; City Buffet Hotel and Btock and furniture, insured for L.3,800 in the Liverpool and London and Globe. A building on the south of Carpenter's, occupied by Nelson, Moate, and Co., tea merchants, and upstairs by Davenport, Caskie, and Davenport, clothing manufasturers (the building only was slightly damaged), was insured in the New Zealand Office for LI.OOO. Nelson, Moate, and Co.'s tea was insured in the Phtcnix for L3OO, and in the Liverpool and London and Globe for L7OO ; the stock, however, is only slightly damaged. Davenport and Co. had most of the material in their department destroyed, and are insured in the Phamix for LSOO. Halliday's stationery shop had a quantity of material destroyed by water forcing its way through the roof, and Mrs Richardson, who has a dressmaking establishment in the upper portion of the building, is a sufferer, but not to a large extent. The origin of the fire is a mystery. Mr Bullock states that he and his assistants left the shop at 10.30 last night, when all appeared safe. Bullock, Orr and Sons, and Carpenter estimate their loss at much more than the above insurance. Gardner's ironmongery stock, next to the City Buffet, was slightly damaged by water. The premises destroyed belong to the estate of the late Dr Evans.