FIRE AT HASTINGS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13647, 15 January 1908, Page 7

FIRE AT HASTINGS.

TWELVE SHOPS DESTROYED.

ALLEGED ARSON. y • A. KEEPER ARRESTED [BY TELEGRAPH. —PRESS ASSOCIATION.] Napier, Tuesday. Hastings was the scene of another big conflagration early this morning. Just before midnight the firebell rang out an alarm, and it was found that a small wooden building in Station-street, kept as a restaurant by M. Johnston, and known as tho " Silver Grid," was in flames. The fire spread with such rapidity that even before the arrival of the brigade a minute or two after midnight the buildings on either side of the restaurant had caught. Owing to some slight mishap it was some 10 minutes before water could be got, and during that time the fire had spread to Hartshorn. Wellwood's, on one side, and T. M. Robertson's fruiterer's shop on the other side. A further stoppage of the water pressure for five minutes enabled the fire to gain a further hold, but a few minutes afterwards the brigade had the flames well in hand, though tho fire continued to burn for nearly two hours after. Most of the" buildings were old, which probably accounted for the rapidity with which the "flames spread. The businesses burnt out were as follows:—Hartshorn and Wellwood, land agents; George Ebbett, solicitor; Johnston, restaurant; Edgar Lewis, jeweller; H. Christian's bicycle shop; S. Schaeffer, tobacconist; F. Cassin, land agent; F. Fitzpatriek's billiard saloon; Woostcr, baker; Eraser and Fagan, tea importers; Reynolds and Co., bicycle agents; and T. M. Robertson, fruiterer. Hyde and Co.'s billiard saloon, at the rear of Robertson's, and opening out into the Grand Hotel right-of-way, was badly damaged by fire and water, but the two billiard tables seem to have escaped injury. In connection with the fire, Martin Johnston, proprietor of the "Silver Grid," was arrested this evening on a charge of arson. i THE INSURANCES. The following are the insurances: — Building, owned by J. Blake, and occupied by Hartshorn and Wellwood, £90 in the Alliance; contents, £50 in the Standard. G. Ebbett, solicitor (owner and occupier): Building, £120 in the Yorkshire; contents, £35. "Silver Grid," owned by W. A. Becroft, occupied by M. Johnston, £150 in the Alliance and £50 in the Victoria. Building, owned by Sowcrby, occupied -byMr. E. Lewis, watchmaker: Building. £350 in 'the North Queensland; stock, £200 in the Sun. Woostcr and Co., pastrycooks, uninsured. Fagan and Fraser, uninsured. Fitzpatrick, billiard saloon, uninsured. H. Christian: Stock, £100 in the Alliance. Buildings, owned by W. G. Maddison, occupied by Reynolds and Co.: £350 in the Atlas; stock, £450 in the Alliance. T. | Robertson: Stock, £50 in the Standard. A. Hyde's billiard saloon, £250, in the ' Alliance.