HAWERA’S BIG FIRE

Taranaki Daily News, 30 August 1935, Page 8

HAWERA’S BIG FIRE

FORTY YEARS AGO TO-DAY DESTRUCTION OF 17 BUILDINGS. FLAMES SWEEP THROUGH TOWN. To-day is the fortieth anniversary of the largest fire that ever occurred in the history of the borough of Hawera, no less than' 17 business premises and offices being destroyed. They included the new building erected" as a post office, which was ready for occupation. Transfer into the new premises was to have taken place in a few days. It was a fine twostoreyed wooden building erected by cooperative labour from plans prepared by the Public Works Department. The most tragic part of the fire, however, was the loss of life of two well known residents of South Taranaki, Messrs. W-. T. 'Caverhill and A; Toumer. Both were staying- at the' Egmont Hotel for the night. Mr. Caverhill was an uncle of Mrs. J. A. Duffill, Hawera. ’Mr. Tourner was an architect and builder. About half an hour after midnight on Sunday, August 30, 1895, residents of the town were awakened by the clanging of the firebell, then situated in a tower on top of the fire brigade station, the building now occupied by Mr. M. R. Jones in High Street. On investigation it was seen that a serious conflagration had broken out in the centre,of the town. A fierce gale from the north was blowing when the alarm was given by the nightwatchman, Mr. Condon. He was only a few chains away when he discovered the outbreak. . i

The fire had its origin in the branch drapery establishment of Mr. C. Smith, Wellington, situated in High Street next to the present Egmont Hotel. Two of the employees, Messrs. C. Jewell and J. A. Campbell, had been stocktaking that evening. It was in the days before gas or electricity were installed in the borough and a large hanging kerosene lamp being used fell, it was stated, from its position in the shop window, quickly setting fire to the flimsy material that the display window contained. So quickly did the fire gain a hold that it was no time before the building was a raging inferno. The Egmont Hotel next door, or more strictly speaking all in the one building, was soon a mass of flames. The proprietor, Mr. J. W. Kelly, and his family, together with boarders and staff, had very little time to escape clad only in their night clothes. In a very short time Smith’s building was a heap of ruins. EGMONT HOTEL ALIGHT. The Egmont Hotel, a much more imposing building than the present structure, was soon burning from end to end. All the boarders were unable to make their escape arid serious apprehension was felt for the safety of two of them, Messrs. Caverhill and Tourner, when they made no appearance after the building was completely destroyed. The fears were unfortunately realised 'as their remains were afterwards discovered in the debris. Mr. D. Nimmo Scott had a bookseller and stationer’s shop on the western side of Smith’s establishment. It also caught alight and was destroyed. But for the high brick wall which enclosed Mr. H. W. Sutton’s two shops, occupied respectively by Mr. Robert Tait, chemist, arid Messrs.' Newcomb and Massey, drapers, the fire would have travelled further along in that direction, and nothing short of a miracle could have saved the greater part of the business area on that side of High Street. Fortunately for the opposite side of High Street the wind was. blowing from the north. As it was, part of the old Empire Hotel, of which Mr. George Gibson was proprietor, and now the White Hart Hotel, did catch fire, but with the aid of a bucket brigade and wet blankets hung over the front of the building the blaze was kept in check. The fire brigade was early handicapped as it was only equipped with a manual fire engine and, the only two wells that supplied the engine with water being unapproachable, the brigade had to stand by and see the fire do its deadly work. The next building to catch fire after the Egmont Hotel was the Commercial Hotel across the road, on the corner of Princes- and High Streets. This hotel, which had only recently been taken over by Mr. S. Hooper, speedily became enveloped and was totally demolished. Then the flames licked up the business premises of Mr. Joseph Wilson, land agent, Mr. M. F. Purser, tobacconist (now of Regent Street), Mr. C. E. Parrington, wine and spirit merchant, and Mr. F. H. Semmens, bootmaker. The destruction of the new post office followed quickly and then the courthouse, recently altered and improved. A belt of trees saved the old post office, which was situated near the present postmaster’s residence. In the meantime the fire took toll of the stables occupied by Mr. Fred Faber, who subsequently went to Wanganui as mine host of the Rutland Hotel. Some residents of the. town, suggested blowing up the stables with dynamite, but when the explosive ignited it made only a feeble effort. While waiting for the result of this experiment much valuable time was lost for salvage, but for the delay it would have been possible to have saved a great deal of the machinery and appliances of the Hawera Star office next door to the stables.. However, there was sufficient time to salvage the formes of the previous day’s make-up and the type to enable the proprietor, the late Mr. W. A. Parkinson, to get out a diminutive paper the next day. . i FIRE GATHERS STRENGTH. The fire had been gathering strength in a south-easterly direction after the Egmont Hotel was practically destroyed. In its course it consumed the grocery shop of Mr. R. A. Kemp (father of Mr. H. R. Kemp, Hawera), the drapery shop of Mr. O. Cummings and the tobacconist shop and billiard saloon of Mr. A. Lewin. The fire met a check in the brick building of Mr. H. Caplen, solicitb", but it was still feared the wind would carry the flames over to the Bank of New Zealand so that they could complete the work of destruction by consuming the remainder of the business area in that part of the town. A willing bucket brigade was formed and by drenching the adjoining buildings with water and hanging out blankets, as had been done at the Empire Hotel, the flames were held in check.

The Taranaki representative football banner, which was left in th. Commercial Hotel by the representative team on its return from Wellington, was destroyed. The glare.from the fire could be seen for miles around. The scene was mosi spectacular. Hawera has always l?en fortunate in possessing an efficient fire brigade and at Vie present tune, under Superintend-

ent A. Morrison, it has earned encomiums as one of the smartest brigades in the Dominion. In the early days fire fighting appliances were primitive indeed. That was before ratepayers could be persuaded to go in for an efficient water supply. It was mainly owing to the efforts of a former progressive Mayor, Mr. C. E. Major (now of Auckland), that the borough eventually launched out on a scheme for the construction of the present system, recently been investigated by Mr. R. Worley, a Hamilton engineer. His report On the efficiency of the water and drainage scheme is not reassuring. When the system was first brought into operation there was a pressure of about 1001 b to the square inch, and at that time it appeared to be sufficient for the needs of a larger borough than Hawera is to-day. When comparing present-day fire-fighting with the days before the water supply was inaugurated, people do not realise what a strenuous business it was for the firemen to cope with an outbreak. The pumping system was a Herculean task, but .t was surprising even with those primitive appliances how the brigades of the past worked at fires. Thanks to the fine motor engine now in use, the residents of Hawera, even thougn the water supply is not anything like what it used to be, have no fears that an outbreak of any magnitude will not be held in check by the present efficient brigade. _