Fires.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5168, 25 November 1884, Page 3

Fires.

Early on Saturday rnorning an unoccu- . pied cottage at Tinwald, the property of i Mr C. Sheppard, was burnt. The property > was insured in the Victoria office for .£IOO, i its full value. ' During Saturday night or early on Sunday morning an unoccupied house at Seafield, the property of Mr J. W. Maidens, was also destroyed. On the previous day : an Austrian, recently before the Resident Magistrate on a charge of vagrancy, \vas ' seen loitering about the place, and it is - thought probable that the man sought ' shelter for the night in the house now ! burned. The house was insured in the '> London ;m<l Lancashire office for .£IOO, an ■ amount considerably below its value. . The « agent of the Company interested, and the > police, are now investigating the matter. j At S o'clock last evening the Timaru firer bell rang out an alarm, and it was dis- [ covered that a fire had broken out in the old Frosbyterian Church, adjoining the new Trinity Church, Barnard street, and j about twenty yards distant from the Odd- } fellows' Hall, which was crowded with company at a tea-meeting. Fortunate]}' very few persons inside the hall knew of the fire till it was almost extinguished, or J a serious panic might have occurred. The i building belonged to Mr A. White, coal - merchant, and was used by him as a store. , A quantity of furniture, the property of Captain Morgan, of the barque Ganymede, » was stored in the front, while in the vestry f at the rear there was some straw, which j blazed fiercely. The brigade soon arrived i and set to work to extinguish the fire at [ the rear, while a party was told off to t break in at the front. This was done, and 1 most of the furniture removed uninjured. ; The value of the property is estimated at s .£IOO. It was uninsured, but the loss is 3 probably not half that amount. The origin I of the fire is not definitely known, but it is said to have been caused by a smoker r throwing away a lighted match, which 1 went through a broken window and set the straw ablaze.