FIRES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXIV, Issue 9268, 24 November 1890, Page 5

FIRES.

TWENTY-THREE HOUSES DESTROYED. IST ELECTRIC T ELS GRAPH,—COPTBJGET.J [Special to Press Association.] fßeceived Nov. 22, at 1,20 a.in.l HOBAKT, Nov. 22. By a fire last night, twenty*three houses were destroyed, and ninety persons, chiefly of the poorer classes, have been rendered homeless. The buildings were of an inexpensive character. [Pfr Press Association.] AUCKLAND, Nov. 22. A building on the Beach Road, used by Messrs Wingate, Burns and Company as a store, was burnt down this morning; The goods which it contained were of a valuable character. The insurances are in the Royal, the Equitable and the Standard offices. The stock, which was valued at .£4OOO, has only .51600 on it, while the building was only covered by £4OO, and there will be a considerable loss. AT O’BRIEN’S BOOT FACTORY. At a quarter past eleven on Saturday morning, an alarm of fire was sounded, and many people concluded that it was another of those false “ calls to arms ” of which the firemen have too many. However, such was not the case this time, as one of our large boot factories—that of Messrs O’Brien and Co,, in St Asaph street—had a narrow escape from destruction. One of the employees was engaged in mixing over a fire inside the building a preparation used for glossing the soles of boots, made up of beeswax and turpentine and other inflammable materials, when the pot boiled over, and there was a general flare-up. A wooden partition hear the fireplace was caught by the flames, and things looked very dangerous. The employees of the factory, however, soon got the fire under by beating it out with sides of leather and with the aid of buckets of water. Meanwhile the alarm had been sent on to the Fire Brigade Station from two places. Box No. 8, opposite Coker’s Hotel, and Box No. 16, opposite the Caversham Hotel, and the engines were quickly on the move towards the scene of the fire. When they arrived, however, it was found that the fire had been got under by the exertions of Messrs O’Brien’s employees, though a quantity of leather had been damaged and a portion of the wooden partition burnt. The man who was in charge of the pot of mixture, technically termed “fake,” which was the cause of the mischief, was rendered unconscious by the fumes that arose after the accident, and medical aid had to be procured before he recovered. The damage done amounted to about £3O. The stock was insured, in the National office for £IOOO, in the Phcenix for £ISOO, and in the Norwich Union for £2OOO.