FIRES.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIC, Issue 13395, 19 September 1907, Page 5

FIRES.

distress at murwillumbah. RELIEF FUND -OPENED. Press Association-By SYDNEY, September 13. The Lord Mayor has opened a fund for the relief of the sufferers by the Murwillumbah 'fire.

The Mayor of the town lias received massages of condolences from all parts, .including New Zealand. Many persons are homeless, and are sheltering in tents supplied' by the Colonial Sugar Company, and others in the houses of those who escaped the fire.,' Good order prevails. A sad feature of the fire is the large amount of looting. A band of .hooligans, while the flames iwere at: their :height, roamed round the town looting unprotected stores and houses. In.- some • .instances where the ..people saved everything, ,on returning to remove their tilings they found half missing;. ... • The lock-up was amongst t-lie buildings which Suffered. The cells were destroyed, and the prisoners be secured in the prison yards, which' were covered with iron grating. *The Police Court was held in the police stables. All the banks saved their books and valuables, and have re-opened business. GREAT LOS 3 AT KOTARO. THIRTY PEOPLE DP OWNED. Received 11 p.m., September 18t«li. . : TOIvIO. September 18. The fire which started in the Kosaknbli mine, Kotaro. destroyed 100 houses. While efforts were being made to, - extinguish. 'tS® flames, the mine reservoir .burst, flooding the village and drowning 30 persons, chiefly women and' children. •