DESTRUCTIVE FIRE AT FOXTON.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1648, 30 September 1903, Page 14

DESTRUCTIVE FIRE AT FOXTON.

EIGHT BUSINESS PREMISES DESTROYED. Special to the “Mail.” PALMERSTON, Saturday. One of the largest fires yet known in Foxton broke out at 1.30 this morning in a small shed at the back of Messrs T. Westwood and Oo.’s premises, in the centre of the principal business places of the town. There being no appliances for coping with the flames, they quickly spread to Messrs Westwood’s store, and eight places of business were reduced to ashes before an effectual check was put upon the fire. This was only accomplished by pulling down a barber’s shop adjoining a large store. “As it is, the premises of the following have been destroyed.—T. Westwood and G 0,., storekeepers; G. H. Stiles, draper; E. Ball, hairdresser; R. Noonan, painter; C. Spring, fruiterer; E. Mackie, stationer; L. E. Reade, barrister and solicitor; and E. Thomas, hairdresser.- -All the buildings being of wood, "the fire spread with great rapidity. An amateur salvage corps was formed, and the contents of the four last-named premises were saved, although considerable damage has been done through rough handling. The premises destroyed were owned by Mr E. S. Tynne and Austen Bros. This morning the main street was blocked by all manner of goods and chattels, piled up in wild disorder. What the actual djymage amounts to it is impossible to say, but estimates p’ace the figures at from <£Booo to <£lo,ooo. Insurances on the buildings occupied respectively by Westwood, Styles, Noonan, and Spring—*Bloo in the South British, £175 in the New Zealand. Building occupied by Mrs McKay and Thomas—<£2oo Commercial Union. Stock—Westwood’s, ,£BSO, in the Commercial; Stiles, £IBOO, iD the Standard; Ball, hairdresser, £SO, office at present unknown; Noonan, £75, in the Liverpool, London, andi Globe*.