FIRE RAVAGE

Northern Advocate, 28 December 1934, Page 5

FIRE RAVAGE

HOTEL DESTROYED. OLD LANDMARK GONE. BRIDGE IN DANGER. [Per Press Association. — Copyright. ] MASTERTON, This Day. The Gladstone Hotel, an old wooden, two-storied building of 18 rooms, was destroyed by fire yesterday afternoon. The fire was discovered in a boarder’s room upstairs, and the proprietor, Mr H. S. King, with assistants, extinguished all visible means 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. The building, which was constructed of totara, and was as dry as tinder, was soon demolished. The hotel was owned by Mr King, and was one the oldest in.the district, being looked upon as a landmark. Nothing was saved except a few clothes. The wooden bridge over the Ruamahanga River was threatened by flames, which quickly travelled through the dry grass, igniting one end of the bridge. A party of 20 Maoris succeeded in saving it from serious damage. Some old sheds on the opposite side of the road from the hotel were also scorched. DAMAGE AT SAWMILL. STACK AND SHED DESTROYED. [Per Press Association.—CopyrightJ GREYMOUTH, This Day. A spark from a bush fire caused £SOO damage to the sawmilling property of Stratford, Blair and Company, near Marsden, at 4 p.m. yesterday. A stack of 4000 silver'pine sleepers was destroyed, also a bush locomotive and engine shed. ■No water was available. The dry weather had rendered the material very inflammable.