FIRES

Southland Times, Issue 17787, 17 July 1916, Page 5

FIRES

GOVERNMENT HOUSE AT AUCKLAND (Per United Press Association.) AUCKLAND, duly IC. Hi gilt rooms anil two corridors in Government House were destroyed by fire shortly before S o’clock last night. Appearances indicate that the fire originated near the room occupied by Sir lan Hamilton when he visited Auckland. From the point of origin the fire spread back through the private Vice-Regal apartments and down the main staircase. Driven by the wind, it enveloped the eastern wing. Interest will attach to the fact that the Duke of Edinburgh’s hed, made doubly famous by the protest of Mr A. E. Glover, M.P., against, the removal of this historic piece of carved kauri, escaped almost without injury. It was standing in the dressing room of his Excellency’s, and the singeing of the varnish will he easily repaired. A dressing-room and other two bedrooms eastward of the Vice-Regal apartments, were damaged considerably. The fire swept down the main stairway, gutting the hall and destroying its furniture,. Evidently it was also driven down the stairwav of the western wing entrance to the ballroom. The entrance was slightly injured by smoke, but the ballroom, a separate building, was not damaged. Beneath the centre of the fire the drawing-room was situated, the other portion of the ground floor comprising the dining-room. Neither of these, apartments were greatly damaged by the fire, though the ceiling of the drawing-room was burned through in one comer. They were flooded with water, and this morning the water was still pouring down from the rooms above. All the drawingroom furniture was stacked in the middle of the room, and was not damaged. The dining-room furniture was removedwhile the fire was in progress. Other portions of the building, including the servants’ quarters, were not affected by either fire or water. The damage Is estimated at between £3OOO and £4OOO.