DUNEDIN BLAZE

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12393, 12 March 1926, Page 11

DUNEDIN BLAZE

FLAMES CROSS ROAD SHOPS AND BOARDINGHOUSE INVOLVED CONSIDERABLE LOSSES Per Press Association. DUNEDIN, March 11.. A-fire with considerable loss started early this morning in one of two adjoining shops surmounted by seven rooms, used, as a boardinghouse, and situated in King Edward street. The outbreak ruined practically the whole of the stock of two shops and slightly damaged the upstairs portion, and at times the blaze was so fierce that the flames were well across the road, licking towards the hotel on the opposite corner. A number of hotel windows were broken by the intense heat. Mr Orr-Robertson occnpied two shops, one of which was a mercery store and the other a boot store. Mrs Silverster- is the lessee of the boardinghouse portion of the building, and she has eleven boarders. Two shops and their stocks were very badly damaged, and the upstairs boardinghouse part of the building was slightly damaged by smoke and water. The contents of seven rooms were not covered by insurance, but the building and shop stocks were insured. The insurances, which total £2BOO, were made up as follow: —United Insurance Company, Ltd., £llOO, on building; Royal Insurance Company, Ltd., £650 on stock-in-trade and £SO on fixtures and fittings; Victoria Insurance Company, £9OO on stock, £SO on fixtures and fittings, and £SO on machinery and tools. The stock was piactically a total loss, while it was estimated that the building was damaged to the extent of about one-third of the insurance covering it, or over £360.