FIRES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCIII, Issue 10602, 11 March 1895, Page 5

FIRES.

[P«E Press Association. J AUCKLAND, March* 9. A six-roomed unoccupied house, off Newton Eoad, was destroyed by fire last night. It was owned by Mrs Glasgow, of Dunedin. It was valued at £l5O, and was insured in the New Zealand Office for £75. IN COLOMBO STEEET. On Saturday night a fire, which burned to ruin a wooden building in the heart of the city, occurred in Colombo Street. The alarm was given at a quarter to ten o’clock, and simultaneously a glare at the back of Messrs Minson and Co.’s china and fancy goods'shop indicated the locality of the fire. The building in which it occurred' was an old. wooden one, of two stories, and was used as a store by Messrs Minson and Co. and Mr F. A, Cook, grocer. The flames broke out upstairs in the part occupied by Messrs Minson and Go. Here a quantity of goods had been unpacked, straw was lying about, and it is surmi«ed that some person going in with a light may have accidentally set fire to some of it. The shop wss open at the time, but Mr Cook’s shop had been closed for the night. The brigade turned out promptly on the alarm, and the chemical engines were soon at work, the first in rather less than three minntea and a half, and the other a few seconds later. The two steamengines were taken to the tank at the corner of Colombo and Gloucester Streets. Two lines of hose from the Deluge, and one from the Ex inguieher, were taken along the right of way leading to the back of the premises from Gloucester Street, and ten minutes after the alarm, water was playing on the flames. Fortunately the night was calm, the wind which blow earlier in the evening having lulled, and the firemen, who worked with much energy and pluck, managed to confine the fire to the old wooden buildings, and to save the shops with which they were connected. Their task was hard, for the structure was old and dry as match wood, and the inflammable nature of the contents added to the difficulty of extinguishing the flames. An adjoining stable caught alight, but was saved, and the building in' which the fire broke out, though gutted, was not absolutely destroyed. Owing to the rapid spread of the flames, which had obtained a strong hold when the alarm was given, very little of the stock in the building could be got out. That in the shops was, however, uninjured. The two engines emptied the tank, and then the Delngo was taken to that at the corner of Gloucester and Manchester Streets, and played on the ruins till it was considered safe to leave them, which was not till midnight. The premises are the property of Mr John Cameron, and are insured in the Liverpool and London and Globe Office, but for what amount could not be ascertained. Mr Cook’s stock was insured for £1450, divided as follows:—Alliance Office £SOO, Manchester £450, Norwich Union £3OO, and Commercial Union £2OO. Mr Minson was absent at the time of the fire, and Mr Minson, jun., could not give exact information as to insurances on the stock. Thera is, however, a policy of £250 in the Phoenix Office and one of £250 in the United Office. > ■ • ’

On Saturday morning a cottage on the Eangioria-Woodend Eoad occupied by Mr P. Leach, narrowly escaped being destroyed by Are. A quantity of clothing and other contents of the house were destroyed, and the walls of one of the rooms were charred. An employe of Mr Leech’s observed the flee and succeeded in putting it out before any serious harm had been done.