LAKE COUNTY

Otago Witness, Issue 2008, 18 August 1892, Page 20

LAKE COUNTY

Auuust 13.— 0n Tuesday last, about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, Mr M. Thompson, in passing Mr S. K. CarswelFs store in Buckingham street, Arrowtown, saw smoke issuing from the eaves of the building. Knocking at the door, he found that Mr Carswell, as ia his wont', had gone to bis piivate residence, about 200 yds down the same street, for refreshment, so as to be in attendance at his store when people knocking off at.between 5 and (j o'clock might be served. Upon the. alarm being given, a promiscuous crowd soon collected, and in their way lent a helping hand, which here, as is generally the ruse, meant assisting the Dames to spread. Front and back doors were simultaneously opened, causingadraughtagaiust which no amount of water could prevail, and before many minutes the whole of the interior of the store was one mass of flames. A few articles in and near the front windows were saved, which in all may amount in value to LSO, and in an hour after the outbreak of the fire both store and stock had disappeared, leaving nothing but a heap of smouldering ashes and a few blackened piles and studs. Of the origin of the fire nothing definite is known, but it is conjectured that it came from a defect in the chimney. The day being a wet and cold one, Mr Carswell, who is a more than ordinal ly careful man, had a /ire on all dayi v his back omce.Swhere the conflagration started. In the opinion of some it is held thatthe fire might have been got under had the hose been taken straight to the spot where it started. The building, which was an exceptionally well built and finished one, was insured for L 209, its original price being threu times that amount, and the stock for LIOOO, both iv the Standard office. Mr Carswell estimates his loss over and above the insurances at between LSOO and LfJOO. The amount of insurances were the original ones, and have been kept up since the stoic was built and the business stalled, about 10 years ago. Much sympathy is fell toy Mr Carswell, who is deservedly popular and respected by all classes \p. this district, taking an earnest and intelligent

Interest in its public and social well-being. The Arrow water supply, if it did not succeed in saving the store and stock, was instrumental in confining the fire to the one building, and it is clear that without it the fire would have spread to the next shop, occupied by Mr G. Stoddart, tailor, only a few feet away, aud perhaps also have ignited Mr Jopp's Commercial room across the street, in which case one half of the business portion of Arrowtown would have been consumed by the devouring element. As it was, Mr Stoddart' s shop was badly scorched, aud Mr Jopp's building shows signs of the narrow escape it had. The want of a properly organised fire brigade was plainly shown in this instance, and indeed the water supply without such a brigade is of very little use. Besides ordei and organisation are of the first importance on such occasions. ; As is usual in a promiscuous crowd, the least competent are the most forward, and I saw a man, who is better qualified to work the handle of a bar beer pump than to manage the nozzle of a hydraulic hose, holding the nozzle with both hands while the hose at the end of it dropped at almost a right angle to the ground, and sometimes he bent the nozzle downward, forming an acute angle with the hose, nearly stopping the flow of water. Near him was a Chinaman scooping up the dirty waste water with a bucket, and throwing it on the burning wood, thus doing more good than the man at the nozzle, who displayed an ignorance and carelessness of the flow of water that would be incredible in a mining community were the fact not practically illustrated. All this should be a lesson for the Arrowites to lay to their horts and consider the benefits derivable from a fire brigade. A New Way to Pay Old Debts.— lt is a sad but true, though rather an anomalous, fact that gold digging sometimes leads to fiscal as well as physical ruin, and that such unfortunates have to seek the friendly protection of the bankruptcy court and laws. In tho more isolated parts of Otago, such as the back country of the Wakatipu district, the miner deals frequently with one man only, who supplies him with all the necessaries of life, tools, &c, in which case there is of course only one creditor. Not long ago the relations between a certain debtor and creditor of this description became somewhat strained, and a settlement was pressed for. After some wrangling the debtor in question said : " Well, I'll pay you 10s in the pound." "All right," replied the creditor, " I'll take it." "Then give me a piece of paper, and I'll give you anIOU for the amount," was the ready and. obliging rejoinder. The language in which the creditor expressed his feelings at this is not fit for publication. <y V Earthquake.— On Tiiesday'morning'abouthalf11 an earthquake passed over the district, which was remarkablo for its duration in time, though otherwise mild in its character, lasting, it is estimated, from 20sec to 25sec. It was felt in Queenstown, Arrowtown, and other parts of the district.