SPECTACULAR FIRE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21976, 10 June 1933, Page 12

SPECTACULAR FIRE

OLD HOTEL BURNED DOWN. HURRIED ESCAPE OF OCCUPANTS. (Per United Press Association.) BLENHEIM, June 9. Fire at Picton at 3 g.m. completely destroyed the Post Office Hotel, an old wooden building of about 20 rooms, erected 40 years ago. It /also spread to Oxley’s Hotel adjoining, wiping out the wooden portion, comprising the kitchen, dining room, and other offices. The heat was so great that Clemens’s Kiosk and J. L. Jones’s booksellers shop, on the opposite side of the street, were scorched, and the windows broken. „ , , , The fire in the Post Office Hotel had a good hold when discovered, and the proprietress (Mrs Hazel Wilson) and the guests and staff had to escape hurriedly in their night attiie, nothing being saved. The building and contents were insured in the Sun office for £2500. The building was owned by Miff. Hicks, of Canterbury. The insurances on Oxley’s, owned by the licensee, Mr W. H. Gittings, are not available, but he is stated to be well covered. The fire attracted thp whole of the population of Picton and also brought in residents from some of the outlying districts, but the large crowd remained at a distance, which gave the fire brigade full scope for its arduous task. The fire made a striking spectacle, and the old hotel burned with such fierceness that in the circumstances it was fortunate that the occupants, including a blind Native, were enabled to get clear.