FIRES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16506, 5 October 1915, Page 5

FIRES.

APeh United Pbess Association.) AUCKLAND, October 4. A fire at Devonport gutted a sevenroomed house, owned by Mr G. M. Maunder, 'and Occupied by Mr James Sanderson. The tenants were, absent. The contents of the house were destroyed.

The City Fire Brigade received a call to Jubilee Park shortly after \ o'clock yesterday afternoon, some bush and grass having caught alight. The outbreak was speedily extinguished. ' Shortly before midnight.last'night a serious fire occurred in South 'Dunedin. ■ Well before the brigade, received the alarm the suburb was illuminated by the blaze, which had a firm hold on three old four-arid fiveroomed cottages in Wesley street. The properties were owned .by. Mrs Trevor Wilson, a widow, who resides in Prendergast street. The South Dunedin Brigade, which responded -promptly:'to the call, had the assistance of a motor engine from the city, but very little could be done except in the direction 'of protecting houses nearby. Fortunately there was no wind, or the brigade would probably have been called upon to deal with an. outbreak of far more serious extent. How the fire originated is not known. Some people were shifting into ons of the cottages, in which pictures and clothing hadl been placed. The tenants of another of the houses were away. These two places -were badly'gutted. They'wero valued at £300 each, and were"'insured for a total of £350. The cottages closely adjoin each other, iand have no dividing walls, thus aiding the spread of the fire, which also destroyed sheds, and other outhouses: Complete details concerning the outbreak wero not available.