DESTRUCTIVE FIRE IN INVERCARGILL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 6998, 22 April 1884, Page 5

DESTRUCTIVE FIRE IN INVERCARGILL.

[BY TELEGRAPH. —PBBSS ASSOOIATION.I Invergargill, Monday. Another extensive fire accurred in Tay- , street this morning, when the Theatre Royal, Provincial Hotel, and Catholic School-house were burnt down. The alarm was first given by a lodger in the hotel, who was aroused by the persistent howling of a dog chained in the yard. The inmates all got out safely. The fire began in the Theatre, which had not been occupied since the Salvation Army left it some weeks ago. The flames quickly spread to the hotel whioh adjoined the Theatre, and then on another side, the old building formerly known as the Mechanics' Institute. The Brigade was soon at work, but with a limited water supply, could do nothing but .protect the threatened buildings. A portion of the furniture was.removed from the hotel, and a billiard table from the saloon. A small structure alongside used by Cookerill and Co., implementmakers' office, was also destroyed. The buildings burnt down were ejected twenty years ago and burned rapidly, the heat at times being so great as to ba unbearable on the other side of the two chains street. The bell was rung by a young man named O'Brien," a. stranger in the town, who was subsequently arrested on a charge of larceny. It appears that' during the fire he was seen taking away some bottles of whisky from the hotel, putting it in an overcoat, which he afterwards "planted." When he left the epot a detective lifted the garment and put it in another place, and soon after O'Brien came and complained to the officer that his coat had been, stolen. The insurances are :—Hotel and theatre, £500 in Colonial J (£3OO reinsured), £250 in Australian Mercantile Union, and £200 in Union ; furnitnre, £200 in Royal, and £100 in the Union. The sohoolhouse was insured in the Union for £250.