FIRES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10417, 15 April 1897, Page 3 (Supplement)

FIRES.

FIRE AT RAILWAY WORKSHOP. LOSS ESTIMATED AT £20,000. The Government Railway Workshop and shed, Westport, together with three locomotives, and all the plant, tools, (Wα machinery therein, were destroyed by fire at 9.10 on March 28. SX lien the alarm Was given throo locomotive 3 were got out, bub nothing else could be saved. The steam fire engines wore saved, and the adjoining shops. There was no wind, or an important block in the main street would have gone. The origin of the fire is » mystery. Tho hands were on the premises 20 minutes before the outbreak, but there was no sign' of fire then. The loss is roughly estimated at £20,000. Traffic will not be interfered with, as engines will be borrowed from the Harbour Board.

A fife occurre'dat Waimate, Bay of Islands, on April 2, at the 9tore of Mr. F. Atkinson, which resulted in Its being burned to the ground. The building was insured for £200 and the stock for £500 in the Commercial Union. Mr. Atkinson, it is stated, will be a loser, as his risk was not fully covered. A destructive fire broko out in Paeroa about three o'clock on April 12th, and resulted in the total destruction of a ehopand dwelling occupied by Mrs, Morton, and of a shop occupied b/ Mr. G. Cullen, draper. None of Mfs. Morton'3 goods were saved. The goods of Mr. Cullen (draper) were saved. The building destroyed was owned by Mr. W. Ellis, and was insured for £100, whilst he also had a policy for £75 on the shop of Griffiths Bros , . The latter's stock and furniture were insured in the New Zealand office for £100. Mrs. Morton's stock and furniture were insured for £200.

While the fife was raging' at Paeroii the business premises of Messrs. Adams Bros., at Karangabake, were also on life, and as was the case with the Paeroa fire, the whole building was totally destroyed, and not one vestige of tho five shops which graced Karangahake were left standing. A cottage , , which was pSft of Adam 3' building?, and occupied by Mr. Hickton, Who had on Saturday night sub-leased a small restaurant business to Mr. Hieatb, tfas also destroyed. This building and the grocery wa9 owned by Mr.Barretb, butcher,of Paeroa, and was insured in the Standard office for £200. The other portion of the building, which comprised a bakery, ironmongery, and drapery departments, was owned by Adams Bros., and together with the stock was insured for £950, £350 of which was on the shop and contents, In the North German office; £100 on the bakery in the same office ; and £500 on the stock in the Commercial Union office. Messrs. Adams Bros.', however, are very heavy losers, their stock alone being valued at £3000, a heavy winter stock of drapery and new goods having just been received. Another very unpleasant incident connected with the fire was the losing oi £92 in notes by a woman named Mrs. Quinn, a boardinghouse-keeper. It appears that among the things taken out of her house in time of danger was a chest of drawers, in one partition of which Mrs. Quinn bad stored away the parcel of notes. However, when she recovered from the shock of tho fire, her mind reverted to the bag of money, but she found that during the time the piece of furniture was outside it was rifted, and the amount stated confiscated by aome person. A fire broke out in Marama Crescent, Wellington on Thursday afternoon, the Bth of April, by which three dwelling-houses were destroyed, another gutted, and a fifth damaged. All were new buildings. Messrs. C. Hill's and Newbold's houses were also destroyed, and McNicol'e gutted, and Mullins's injured to the extent of £600. The insurances on the first four amounted to £2700 in the South British, National, New Zealand, Norwich Union, and Phrenix. Pierard and Hill lost pretty well everything, In the other housee the furniture was mostly removed, and some of the neighbours' furniture also suffered by removal,

By a fire at Wairoa, Hawke'a Bay, On Tuesday, the 13th of April, Stuart's Hail, a cottage occupied by Baker, an interpreter, and two shops, occupied by P, joneon (tailor) and 0. Jonson (hairdresser), were destroyed. The insurances are in the South British; £185 in the Norwich Union, and £250 in the Royal.