FIRE AT PALMERSTON.

Oamaru Mail, Volume III, Issue 724, 12 July 1878, Page 2

FIRE AT PALMERSTON.

(by telegraph, from our ows correspondent.) Pamerston, July 12.

About 5 p.m. yesterday, largo volumes of smoke were seen issuing through the roof of the Colonial Bank, giving evidence that the place was on fire. The Manager and Assistants were absent at the time ; but one of the assistants arrived just as the back dour was burst open by Mr. F. P. Stephenson, Fire Inspector. If. v,. . at once se'.'ii that the roof wr.-i 0:1 tire. The Inspector and other willing hands were soon on the roof, and, with the aid of axes and crowbars, a porti >ii was soon removed, and water, which luckily was plentiful, was passed up in buckets. A large number of the inh as-sUtlng at the work, in the .<=p;:oe of haif-an-honr all danger was past, although several of the rafters and a portion ot Ihe exiling were badly burnt. Had

tin re been any wind at the time, or had it occiii■! eit at night, nothing could have sav. d it from being burnt to the ground. Tile cause of Ihe fire is supposed to. have been a def.et in the ehiijiiioy, whereby a partition consisting of laths and plaster, must have first caught fire, and then ran up to the ci iiing. The extent of damage done is not at present known. Altogether, it was a most miraculous escape.