FIRES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9249, 31 December 1888, Page 10

FIRES.

At about a quarter-past seven p. m. on the jSth December a fire was observed raging on the Manukau Road, in a large building situated some distance from the road on the Remuera side, and adjacent to thd Church of .England Grammar School. The house, which contained i nine rooms seven on the ground floor and two upstairs— occupied by Mr. Joseph Smithers (a milkman) and his family. The whole family; were seated round the tea table when a boy named Lynch rushed in and informed them that the roof of the house was on fire, so they at once commenced to remove the furniture, and fortunately succeeded in saving the greater portion of it. In less than an hour the whole fabric, except the chimneys, was burnt to the ground. The building ; was a very old one, tiie property of the Melanesian Trust. It was leased to Mr. Griffiths, of the Carlton Club Hotel, Newmarket, for seven years, two years of which remained to run, and he had let it to Mr. Smithers, who carried on a dairy business. - Neither the lessee nor the tenant had any insurance on the house or furniture. The cause of the fire no doubt was some sparks from the chimney catching the dry inflammable shingles, whioh quickly biassed up. -. i. ; The Pbeenix Hotel, Morrinsville, Mr, J. j Smith licensee, was totally destroyed by tiro on December 12. Nothing whatever was saved, Bank notes to a considerable amount were also burnt. The origin of the fire is unknown. The hotel was lately enlarged and refurnished at considerable expense. The insurances are—in the South British, on the building, £700; stock and furniture, £500, in the Imperial, Mr. Missen, of Hamilton, was sleeping in the house, and had nob time to save his portmanteau and clothes, and, getting out on to the verandah, swarmed down one of the poles and reached the ground safely, ? A lire broke_ out at Hamilton on Dec, 5, at one a.m., in a four-roomed house belonging to Airs. Lees, a monthly nurse, who was away at the time at Taupiri, Her son, John Lees, was sleeping in the house, and awaking, found it in flames, and gave the alarm. Several persons were attracted by his cries, and the glare, but arrived too lata to render any assistance in saving the contents. The origin of the fire is not known. The house was insured in the New Zealand Company's office for £200, and the furniture for £150.

About two a.m. on Dee. 11a fire broke out in Lowe-street, Gisborne, in a -roomed house owned by the Union Bank and occupied by Messrs, P. Morgan, Grant, and Nicnol. The occupants barely escaped in their nightclothes, and saved nothing. A four-roomed cottage adjoining, owned by Mrs. E. K. Brown and occupied by Mr. C. Buller was burned to the ground. The flames gob hold of a ten-roomed house occupied by Mrs. Bourke, but were extinguished without any serious damage being done. Insurances :— On the six-roomed home, £250 in the Union office ; on the cottage, £150 in the New Zealand, and £50 on Morgan's effects in the Union. There is no clue to the origin of the fire.

The amount of the 1 )ss of the United Insurance Companies on the Belfast factory buildings is assessed at £10,500, which was paid to-day. The Waipoua flax mills, near Masterton, with stock and machinery, were totally destroyed by fire on the 21st December. They were owned by Joseph Wilson. The building was insured in the South British for £350, and the boiling-down plant for' £135 in the Nor th British.

Mrs. Cameron's Railway Hotel, at Dipton Station, near Invercargill, also a bakehouse and private residence, were burned down on the 22nd December. Only some of the effects were saved. Insurances : Stock and furniture, £300 in Norwich Union ; building, £400 in New Zealand office. t On Christmas morning, about one o'clock, a fire out in the general store of Bloxsome Brothers, at Gumtown, Mercury Bay, which resulted in the total destruction of the building and it 3 contents. The origin of the fire is unknown. The Colonial Insurance Company had a policy of £700 on the store and its contents.