A DISASTROUS FIRE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20323, 3 February 1928, Page 10

A DISASTROUS FIRE.

REEFTON’S HEAVY LOSS. SEVERAL BUILDINGS DEMOLISHED. DAMAGE £20.000 IN EXCESS OF INSURANCE. (Per United Press Association.)

REEFTON, February 2. The most disastrous fire in Reefton’s history broke out at 2.30 this morning. The premises of Stevenson s Hotel,

owned and occupied by Mr Fred. Keating, those of W. J. Morris (draper), W. J. Duff (chemist), Mrs Sullivan (fruiterer, owned by T. H. Lee), the City Hotel (owned and occupied by Mr B. P. M‘Mahon), the premises of F. Bonifacio (plumber), and J- W. Chalks, and Burke s Hotel (Mr P. Sullivan), and a building owned by Mr E. Williams on the opposite side of Broadway, were destroyed. The heat was intense, and everything was dry as tinder. The buildings at the rear and the stables at the rear of Stevenson’s and the City Hotel were destroyed. The inmates of the hotels mostly got out only in their night clothes. Patterson’s grocery and Prentice’s drapery warehouse were alight several times, and were saved after strenuous work by the brigade. The outbreak is supposed to have orirated at Morris’s. The insurances are as follow: Stevenson’s Hotel —£1300 in the Royal office and £SOO in the Standard; furniture, £SOO in the Standard. Burke’s Hotel, owned by Dr Conlon and occupied by Mr P. Sullivan —Building, £SOO in the Standard and £3OO in the Phoenix. City Hotel —Building, £B3O in the Standard and £l5O in the Phoenix. J. W. Chalks’s building—£4oo in the State office; stock, £BOO in the Atlas. J. W. Morris’s building. £3OO in the State office. Duff’s stock, £SOO in the Royal Exchange. Duff and Miss Sullivan, building owned by Mr T. H. Lee—£soo in the Phoenix. The damage to the premises of S. Patterson and Miller was covered by insurance.