OUTBREAK AT GOVERNMENT HOUSE.'

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVIII, Issue 112, 14 May 1914, Page 8

OUTBREAK AT GOVERNMENT HOUSE.'

£6000 WORTH OF DAMAGE DONE

WELLINGTON, May 14. : A lire occurred at Government House at nine o'clock tins morning, while thol Governor and Gpen.pral .Sir j lan Hamilton were- at breakfast. There was a, Vice-Regal ball last niffht, of which tht oleetnc lighting was a feature. It is supposeu tnat the fire was caused by the, his:on o/ electric wires. . The alarm having be-on given, thebrigade responded smartly, arscl a. ■detachment- from 11.M.S Psyche, under Her commander, also arrived early on the scene. Lord Liverpool, Sir lan Hamilton, and their staffs assisted in .saving personal eftecte, and" removed some of the . furniture. When the brigade , arrived the nre had a, good hold, and it burned a i hole itt the wall immediately above the bed in which Sir lan Hamilton slept last night. It came .through the floor:of the passage leading to the Governor's, bedroom, and attacked the .roof-of the building. * The brigade got the fine under alter it had spread to several other rooms. The damage- by fire and water is estimated at £6000, and quite half the building is beyond repair. Sir lan. Hamilton's bed was-partly burned.' In the drawing-room on the around floor the weight of water o-uiried away part of the ceiling apd. ! the; Governor's room was flooded with ' water. The wall papers were torn away by the deluge of water. "The fee did not make much of & spectacle, the.;;.' only outwa.rd sign : ftomg) dense cloiids .of^smoke. ■ Sir laii;'"Hamilton- was down lat.e ■for1 the inspection of the forts. . Mr N. A. Nathan placed lus resi- , ,-donca, adjacent _to, Government Piouso at" his'.Excellency's disposal. '