FIRE AT WALLACETOWN JUNCTION.

Southern Cross, Volume 9, Issue 2, 13 April 1901, Page 9

FIRE AT WALLACETOWN JUNCTION.

THE HOTEL DESTROYED.

Shortly after 12 o’clock on Monday night a fire broke out in the large two storeyed wooden building near the Invercargill sale yards, known as the Junction hotel, and which has been occupied for the last two and a half years by Mr Robertson, who, ably seconded by his wife, has made it one of the most popular hostelries in Southland. The fortnightly sales were due next day, and the bouse was full of boarders, some of whom had either ridden or driven a considerable distance. The alarm was given by Mr Robertson’s son, a youngster of five years, who called out that the children’s room, which was on the ground floor, was on fire. On rushing into the room, Mr Robertson found the curtains in flames, and tried to smother them with the bedclothes. Failing in this, he obtained some buckets of water from the pump, but this was a slow process, and the fire, which could easily have been mastered in a brick house, was meantime making rapid headway, the strong wind prevailing driving it upward and towards the front of the hotel, which was speedily reduced to ashes. Mr Robertson succeeded in saving an octave of whiskey and three barrels of beer from the bar, but was driven back by the smoke in attempting to get out the piano from one of the rooms. The stables fortunately escaped, and a number of the hastily aroused inmates of the hotel spent the rest of the night in them, while returned to their homes. It is understood it is deemed unnecessary to hold an inquiry, the circumstances indicating that the fire was purely accidental. The building was insured in the N.Z. office for £650, and the furniture in the National for £3OO. As already stated, scarcely anything was saved, and Mr Robertson’s loss is probably fully £SOO. The property belonged to the estate of the late Mr Jacob Ott, and it is understood that plans are already in hand for the erection of new premises. Meanwhile Mr Robertson has utilised the coachhouse for the temporary accommoda-

tion of patrons, and will supplement this with a large marquee as soon as possible, so that visitors on sale days can rely, as heretofore, on obtaining refreshment for man and beast. The hotel, which was first erected about thirty-five years ago, originally stood at the corner of the North and Wallacetown Roads. It was twice burned down on that site, once with the stables. The latter were also destroyed after the hotel was ere tted near the sale yards, and now the hotel itself has gone once more.