FIRE AT CHRISTCHURCH.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19967, 8 December 1926, Page 9

FIRE AT CHRISTCHURCH.

MACHINERY AND GOODS DAMAGED. LARGS WOOL STORES THREATENED. (Special to Dails Times.) CHRISTCHURCH. December 7. Aided by a heavy north-east wind a fire gutted the premises of Staniland (Ltd.), salt, spice and coffee merchants in Moorhouse avenue to-day. The outbreak was extinguished after a fight that lasted naif an hour, but not before a considerable amount of damage had been done. Much valuable machinery was damaged, but not beyond repair. A large quantity of goods, including salt, grain and other produce was destroyed by both fire and water. Many cases of skewers were burned and charred. The large wool stores belonging to the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Co. (Ltd.) were next door, and the floor board had caught when the fire brigade arrived. It took only a few minutes for the firemen to extinguish this outbreak, otherwise there might have been more serious results. The stock and machinery are insured for £3IOO, and the building was £SOO, both with the Southern Union office. A LOCAL CALL. An automatic alarm, registered from Messrs Hallenstein Brothers’ warehouse at 2.12 a.m. yesterday, was responsible for the City Fire Brigade despatching two machines to Dowling street.