DAMAGE BY FIRE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19891, 9 March 1928, Page 10

DAMAGE BY FIRE.

albert Street premises.

THEORY REGARDING ORIGIN.

RATS AND WAX MATCHES.

An outbreak of fire occurred in the premises of F. M. King, Limited, wholesale clothing manufacturers, Albert Street, shortly before 6 o'clock yesterday morning. Fortunately the fire was discovered shortly after it originated and the City Fire Brigade suppressed the flaijies before they had spread beyond a set of shelves and a wooden partition.

Although the amount of material affected was not extensive, it is considered .the damage will be heavy, as the shelves were stocked with expensive dress materials of high grade, while a number of samples of ladies' frocks and coats were, destroyed. ,

In the opinion of Superintendent Wilson tho fire was caused by rats nibbling wax matches, a box of which was kept on a shelf where the fire originated. It was known there were rats in the building, while no other possible cause of the outbreak had been discovered.

The building is a two-storeyed structure of brick and iron divided into two portions, one of which is occupied by F. M. King, Limited, and the other by Hope Gibbons, Ltd., dealers in machinery and motor accessories. The building is insured for £Booo' and tho contents for £14,000, both policies being with the New Zealand Insurance Company. Mr. Thomas Phillips, owner of The Rimus, a large house in Henderson Valley, about three miles from the township, which was totally destroyed by fire on Tuesday evening, wishes to make it clear that the property was not used as a boarding-house. The occupier, Mr. W. H. McPartland, used it as the homestead of his farm. HOUSE AT WAIHI BURNED. NO WATER SUPPLY AVAILABLE. [BY TELEGRAPH. —OWN COItRESPONDEN T. ] WAIHI, Thursday. Fire destroyed a five-roomed wooden house in Bulltown Road, owned and occupied bv Mr. Patrick Hayes, shortly after 8 o'clock this evening. The alarm was given by a fireman at 8.15 o'clock, but tho brigade arrived to find the house a mass of llames. The firemen were able to do little to check the flames, as there are no water mains in that part of the town.

Mr. Hayes, who lives alone, is understood to be a heavy loser. He was away at the time of the outbreak, having left the house nearly two hours before.