FIRE OUTBREAKS

Greymouth Evening Star, 28 December 1934, Page 7

FIRE OUTBREAKS

MILLING PROPERTY DESTROYED. Damage estimated at not less than £5OO, was caused by fire to property owned by Messrs Stratford, Blair and Company, at Welshmen’s, near. Mai sden, yesterday afternoon. It is believed that sparks from a nearby bush fire were carried by the southeast wind on to the sawmilling property. These caught on to the dry timber, and set alight some 5000 silver pine sleepers, which, along with a shed, were destroyed. A bush locomotive’was also extensively damaged. The value of the sleepers, at 1/6 each, would amount to £375.. The locomotive was not damaged beyond repair, but the cost of restoring it to service will be considerable, while the Company will also have to renew a portion of its tramline that was visited by the outbreak. WATRARAPA HOTEL. MASTERTON, December 27. The Gladstone Hotel, an old wooden two-storey building, of eighteen rooms, was destroyed by fire this afternoon. The fire was discovered in a boarder’s room upstairs, and the proprietor, Mr. H. S. King, with assistance, extinguished all visible signs of the outbreak, and proceeded with the milking. It, was then discovered that the fire had broken out again, and this time the room was a mass of flames, which soon demolished the whole building, which was built of totara, and was as dry as tinder. The building, which bad eighteen rooms, was owned by Mr. King. . , The Ruamahanga River bridge, a wooden structure, was menaced by flames from the hotel, which quickly travelled along dry grass, igniting the end of the bridge. A party of twenty Maoris succeeded in saving the bridge from serious damage. Some old sheds on the opposite side of the road from the hotel were also scorched. Nothing was saved, except a few clothes. The hotel was one qf the oldest in the district, and it was looked upon as a landmark.