FIRE AT WOODHAUGH

Evening Star, Issue 17032, 1 May 1919, Page 6

FIRE AT WOODHAUGH

WOOL SCOURING WORKS GUTTED. IMPERIAL WOOL DESTROYED. NO INSURANCES. Between 5 and 6 this morning the wool scouring works adjoining the Paper Mills at Woodhaugh were attacked by fire, which completely destroyed the building (valued at £500) and plant (valued at £1,000), and partly destroyed some hundred bales of wool belonging to the Imperial Government, and valued at about £3,500. The building was a three-story wooden structure, erected some 30 years, and until latterly used by its owner, Mr E; S. Clarke, as a flock mill. Some two years ago his son, Mr R. S. B. Clarke, who was a Government wool scouring contractor at Omakau, decided to set up his works in Dunedin, and his father's flock mill was converted to this use. The hundred bales of wool had been scoured and pressed, and were to have been taken from the building this morning. A younger son of Mr Clarke's saw flames creeping out from the eaves shortly after 5 o'clock a.m., and informed his father, who, after sending him to start the Paper Mills whistle, rang up the City Brigade at 5.35. The engines were on the spot in a very few minutes, and the fire was smothered in about an hour, by which time the brick chimney, the discolored wool, and the twisted remains of machinery were the only monuments left of the structure's existence. The, origin of the the is a mystery. Work finished on the promises at 5 p.m. yesterday, and the only fire left was that under the boiler, which certainly was not the author of the mischief. The wool also was quite dry, and there is no question of spontaneous combustion. The plant was run by electric power, and it is stated that the tirst flickering flames appeared where the wires entered the building: but it does not appear that there was anything wrong with the wires. The loss is a total one, so far as the Messrs Clarke are concerned. Neither building nor plant was covered by insurance. It is not possible to state how, if at all, the Imperial Gowmment have their wool covered.